Useful Idiots with Katie Halper and Aaron Maté

Go to our sponsor https://venice.ai/useful and use code useful to enjoy private, uncensored AI. Using our code will get you 20% off a pro plan.Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFULCheck out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFULCheck out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com/IDIOTS------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Watch this week's Friday Free-For-All: Jeff Epstein, the Russian Spy: Bari Weiss' CBS Brings Back Russiagate https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/jeff-epstein-the-russian-spy-bari?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webJoin us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to.For our recap of the week, including the new Russiagate conspiracy that Epstein was a Russian agent, subscribe to watch our Friday Free-For-All: Jeff Epstein, the Russian Spy.Our Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Webroot: https://www.webroot.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Go to our sponsor https://venice.ai/useful and use code useful to enjoy private, uncensored AI. Using our code will get you 20% off a pro plan.Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFULCheck out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFULCheck out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com/IDIOTS------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Watch this week's Friday Free-For-All: Jeff Epstein, the Russian Spy: Bari Weiss' CBS Brings Back Russiagate https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/jeff-epstein-the-russian-spy-bari?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webJoin us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to.For our recap of the week, including the new Russiagate conspiracy that Epstein was a Russian agent, subscribe to watch our Friday Free-For-All: Jeff Epstein, the Russian Spy.As the Trump administration turns the world into chaos, threatening to bomb Iran, killing Americans in Minnesota, kidnapping presidents in Venezuela, and gutting the nation’s already-terrible healthcare system, Israel’s genocide in Gaza has fallen out of the corporate news cycle.Our guest, Palestinian-American law student Ahmad Ibsais, joins Useful Idiots to explain that the reports from Gaza weren’t just pushed aside to get more views from higher-performing news stories, but intentionally buried for a much more pointed and, as always, nefarious reason.Useful Idiots: Why have we stopped seeing of coverage of Gaza in Western media?Ahmad Ibsais: Right before the ceasefire was a time where we saw so much public outrage that a genocide was taking place. And it wasn’t because Palestinian voices suddenly became credible in any way. It’s because the extremity of Israeli violence reached the Western consciousness in a way it could process.There were so many news stories about children starving to death, and people could conditionally recognize that Palestinians were dying in a way that was not their fault. And that’s where the ceasefire came.So now, any violation of the ceasefire or coverage of it, brings into question the fallacy that America was able to broker it. Like is America even a superpower anymore? Does the Israeli state even care what America says or does?Second, let’s keep up this illusion that America is not contributing to the genocide or that they’re in any way complicit. Coverage raises the question: Palestinians are still dying, so what are we doing and how are we enabling this?That’s why we don’t see it anymore. And they’ll wait, as they have done in the past, until Palestinians respond in a meaningful way. And that’s when the ceasefire ‘breaks.’Our full interview with Ahmad Ibsais is free to all. As an independent media team, we rely on your support to keep going, so please subscribe and join the Useful Idiots community!Our Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Webroot: https://www.webroot.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Go to our sponsor https://venice.ai/useful and use code useful to enjoy private, uncensored AI. Using our code will get you 20% off a pro plan.Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFULCheck out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFULCheck out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com/IDIOTS------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Watch this week's Friday Free-For-All: Jeff Epstein, the Russian Spy: Bari Weiss' CBS Brings Back Russiagate https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/jeff-epstein-the-russian-spy-bari?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webJoin us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to.For our recap of the week, including the new Russiagate conspiracy that Epstein was a Russian agent, subscribe to watch our Friday Free-For-All: Jeff Epstein, the Russian Spy.This week, amid volatile tensions, deadly protests, rumors of Mossad infiltration, and threats of war, the US and Iran are scheduled to have diplomatic talks, though one side pulling out would not be surprising as the US can’t seem to stop bragging about how sanctions destroyed Iran’s economy all while threatening to bomb them.For some much-needed clarity on the issue, we spoke to Professor Afshin Matin-Asgari, author of Axis of Empire, who participated in leftist protests during Iran’s 1978-79 revolution.He gives a history of Iran-US relations, mocks JD Vance’s obvious misunderstanding of how Iran’s government works, debates Aaron on which side is really responsible for the violence in recent Iranian protests, and analyzes Marco Rubio’s “unpredictable” diplomacy proposal.Useful Idiots: Secretary of State Marco Rubio laid out the terms for what he says would be ‘meaningful talks.’ Do you think that Iran will accept those terms?Afshin Matin-Asgari: To go back to the background of these talks, when Trump canceled the so-called Obama nuclear deal, he said that he did it to force a better deal on Iran. That was during his first term. And that never happened. All the pressure, sanctions, threats, and assassination of Iranian military personnel didn’t work.So he joined Israel’s war on Iran.What happens at this point? The Islamic Republic is in its weakest position it has ever been because of an accumulation of a lot of problems: it has domestic unrest, the axis of resistance, including Hezbollah in Syria, is gone, it’s more vulnerable than it ever was to military attacks.So Bahrain has accepted to come to negotiations. If Trump can make the Islamic Republic accept some of his terms, he could claim victory, impose the new deal on Iran, and kind of walk away from this, which may not be a bad thing because it at least averts a full-scale military confrontation, something that everyone knows would be a disaster. But it can’t be predicted.Our full interview with Professor Matin-Asgari is free to all. As an independent media team, we rely on your support to keep going, so please subscribe and join the Useful Idiots community!00:00 Intro00:59 Jeff Epstein, the Russian Spy?09:30 Afshin Matin-Asgari interview11:43 Responding to Rubio's terms22:56 JD Vance clearly doesn't understand how Iran's government works43:45 US Officials can't stop bragging about destroying Iran's economyOur Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Webroot: https://www.webroot.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFULCheck out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFULCheck out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com/IDIOTS------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Click here for the full interview with Alec Karakatsanis: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/dem-senator-exposed-for-reforms-that?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webWatch this week's Friday Free-For-All: Smug Man Accidentally Admits He's MAGA Now http://usefulidiotspodcast.com🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://streamyard.com/pal/d/4906030668972032It was a crazy weekend, but as Useful Idiots know, a disturbing world means an action-packed Monday Mourning. Here’s what we cover:– A seemingly drunk Lindsey Graham begs Trump to bomb Iran– Mike Pompeo can’t stop bragging about Mossad’s covert plants in the Iran protests– Republicans are flailing to defend ICE’s murder of ICU nurse Alex Pretti– Karoline Leavitt parrots Nancy Pelosi’s paid protester line (with not even a thought about giving evidence of who’s paying them)– TRUMP EPSTEIN FILES– CLINTON EPSTEIN FILES– CBS’s anti-Maduro propaganda– And so much more ridiculousness. Mock it all with Katie and AaronPlus, catch last week’s Friday Free-For-All: Smug Man Accidentally Admits He’s MAGA NowAnd our interview with a civil rights attorney who exposes Dems’ complicity in ICE’s rise to power: Dems EXPOSED for Secret ICE FundingOur Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Webroot: https://www.webroot.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Get Alec's book Copaganda: https://www.commabookstore.com/shop/p/copaganda-how-police-and-the-media-manipulate-our-news-pre-orderGo to our sponsor https://venice.ai/useful and use code useful to enjoy private, uncensored AI. Using our code will get you 20% off a pro plan.Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFULCheck out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFULCheck out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com/IDIOTS------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Click here for the full interview with Alec Karakatsanis: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/dem-senator-exposed-for-reforms-that?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webWatch this week's Friday Free-For-All: Smug Man Accidentally Admits He's MAGA Now usefulidiotspodcast.comJoin us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to.While the DHS is sending masked ICE agents into cities, rounding up immigrants and citizens alike, killing protesters, and creating chaos, Democrats are making a big show of being anti-ICE. They’re calling for reforms, body cams, accountability, and training.This sounds great, but civil rights attorney and Copaganda author Alec Karakatsanis reveals it’s actually “extremely dangerous.” Under the guise of reform, the Democrats are playing a key role in a centuries-old strategy of building an oppressive, high-surveillance police state used to target the most vulnerable communities in the country.And it’s all a plot.Useful Idiots: What are the most dangerous reforms being pushed by the Democrats and why are they dangerous?Alec Karakatsanis: One of the most important ones that you hear constantly from Democratic Party leadership right now is body cameras. Now, aside from how silly that is in this context, the officer who shot and killed Renee Goode literally filmed himself doing it, it’s actually much deeper.The evidence is overwhelming that body cameras do not make police less violent and they do not reduce police misconduct. So you have to ask yourself, why are Democrats proposing something that everybody agrees does not make police more accountable? And the history of this is that police agencies wanted body cameras for many, many years, but they couldn’t get the billions of dollars of funding for them.What they wanted is to link all this new footage and data into algorithms that train AI into massive databases. That’s why you see ICE with cameras. They scan people’s faces. Prosecutors also wanted body cameras so they could get guilty pleas really quickly, like trespassing charges against unhoused people and drug possession cases.So they had this problem: the industry wanted to make billions of dollars in contracts. The police wanted them for surveillance and to connect people to AI. But they couldn’t afford it.And then what happened was after Michael Brown’s killing in Ferguson, the Obama administration worked with local Democratic Party officials and the policing surveillance industry to just remarket body cams, not as police surveillance but as accountability and transparency for well-meaning liberals who were desperate for something to be done.That resulted in the greatest expansion of policing surveillance technology in modern history.Useful Idiots: So the Democrats’ current stance is that they’re threatening to block the funding of the Department of Homeland Security, where ICE is a component, unless there are certain reforms?Alec Karakatsanis: What the Democrats are basically saying is ICE needs to spend even more money on surveillance technology like body cameras and on so-called training.Anybody who knows what the police and military training industry is in the United States would not support more money going to that. It’s one of the most dark, violent, and fascist corners of our society.These training programs are where they learn to do the stuff that you’re seeing in these videos. That’s why in 2020 there were thousands of videos of police committing intentional, brutal crimes and violence, and it looked the same in hundreds and hundreds of cities. It wasn’t some one off mistake. This is what police are trained to do.The Democrats are saying, ‘if you do those reforms,’ which the police want anyway, because there’s huge industries behind them, ‘we will then give you this entire budget.’The main leverage Democrats actually have is reducing the ICE budget, but they’re starting the negotiation by saying we’ll give you everything you want. It’s really, really insidious.Subscribe to watch the full interview with Alec on why AOC and other Dems calling for the National Guard and police agencies to stop ICE is exactly what the police state wants, and why those videos of police playing basketball or handing out donuts evolve from colonialist tactics used by the French against Algerians.Plus, catch this week’s Friday Free-For-All: Smug Man Accidentally Admits He’s MAGA Now00:00 Intro00:30 Marco Rubio threatens to bomb Iran if they don't give up bomb defenses03:26 Rand Paul Calls Out Rubio's Hypocrisy06:17 Alec Karakatsanis interview06:55 How Dems are HELPING ICE17:28 Dem Sen. Chris Murphy EXPOSED21:12 How the surveillance industry THRIVES from body camsOur Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Webroot: https://www.webroot.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Go to our sponsor https://venice.ai/useful and use code useful to enjoy private, uncensored AI. Using our code will get you 20% off a pro plan.Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFULCheck out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFULCheck out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com/IDIOTS------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Click here for the full interview with Samira Mohyeddin: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/full-episode-total-clusterfk-iranian?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webWatch this week's Friday Free-For-All: Elon Musk Unknowingly Quotes Mel Brooks’ Hitler Character https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/elon-musk-unknowingly-quotes-mel?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webJoin us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to.🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://streamyard.com/pal/d/4906030668972032Our Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Webroot: https://www.webroot.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Watch Samira's show On the Line Media: https://www.youtube.com/@samiramohyeddinGo to our sponsor https://venice.ai/useful and use code useful to enjoy private, uncensored AI. Using our code will get you 20% off a pro plan.Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFULCheck out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFULCheck out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com/IDIOTS------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Click here for the full interview with Samira Mohyeddin: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/full-episode-total-clusterfk-iranian?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webWatch this week's Friday Free-For-All: Elon Musk Unknowingly Quotes Mel Brooks’ Hitler Character https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/elon-musk-unknowingly-quotes-mel?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webJoin us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to.As protests, violence, and confusion continue to unfold and escalate in Iran, with media coverage somewhere between ignorance and propaganda, we try to break through the lies to learn about what’s actually going on.We spoke to Iranian-Canadian journalist Samira Mohyeddin about why Iranians are protesting the government, how Israel’s Mossad is involved in those protests, the purposefully crippling and murderous effect of sanctions on ordinary Iranians, and why anyone who tells you they know what Iranians think is “full of shit.”Useful Idiots: At this point, what’s your understanding of what’s happened with the protests in Iran: To what extent are they peaceful? Who’s responsible for the violence? And what is the extent of state repression?Samira Mohyeddin: This is sort of unprecedented in Iran during the successive number of protests that we’ve had throughout the years. The merchants in the Grand Bazaar have never really protested until now. This happened because Iran’s currency just plummeted to its lowest that it’s ever been, which reduced their ability to import items.And then things took a very decidedly violent turn, both on the part of the protesters and on the part of the state. All of a sudden you saw buildings being burned, police and security personnel being killed, some of them burned alive. This is very weird. We have been watching protests in Iran for decades. This is not how Iranians protest. I really need to just put that out there.And then the state repression and violence started with Iranian security personnel using live ammunition on protesters.Then the internet went out.So it’s a very muddied story right now both because of the internet blackout, and because you have all these bellicose, reckless statements being made by people like Mike Pompeo and Israel’s heritage minister, Amihai Eliyahu, saying things like, “We were on the ground in June, you better believe we’re on the ground now, we have a hand in this.”[In addition, on January 2, Mike Pompeo tweeted: Happy New Year to every Iranian in the streets. Also to every Mossad agent walking beside them...]Making such statements really provides fodder to the Iranian government, who already thinks all of its grievances that its citizens have are something to do with a foreign hand. So it’s a really awful clusterfuck, to be honest.Useful Idiots: It’s almost as if Mike Pompeo and people in the Mossad wanted to endanger the protesters to justify whatever their plans are for further bombings of Iran.Samira Mohyeddin: I mean, it feels like that. This isn’t solidarity, this is sabotage. You can’t pretend to care about Iranians and then write “Happy New Year to the Mossad agents walking beside them.” You are putting a target on the backs of protesters when you say something like that.Useful Idiots: This week at Davos, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent bragged that “President Trump ordered Treasury to put maximum pressure on Iran, and it’s worked! Their economy collapsed. They are not able to get imports. And this is why the people took to the streets. So this is economic statecraft. No shots fired. And things are moving in a very positive way here.”Subscribe to hear Samira’s response to this blatant brag about murdering ordinary Iranians, plus how she landed on the “Top 4 Antisemites” list for calling out the most racist podcast clip you’ve ever seen.00:00 Intro00:49 Jared Kushner reveals MASTER PLAN for New Gaza03:39 Why didn't Russia and China veto Trump's Board of Peace?05:15 Elon Musk's horrible joke delivery (it was a Nazi joke too)06:31 Samira Mohyeddin interview07:04 What is happening at Iran protests?09:57 Is the Mossad behind them?32:55 The most racist podcast clip you've ever seenOur Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Webroot: https://www.webroot.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Go to our sponsor https://venice.ai/useful and use code useful to enjoy private, uncensored AI. Using our code will get you 20% off a pro plan.Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFULCheck out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFUL------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Watch this week's Friday Free-For-All: GOP Senator Accidentally Blows Iran Secret https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/gop-senator-accidentally-blows-iran?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=webJoin us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to.🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://streamyard.com/pal/d/4906030668972032Kristi Noem did not do well on her Face the Nation appearance this weekend. And Katie and Aaron did not miss the opportunity to make fun of it.From accidentally calling her own agency’s statistics a fake news lie, to contradicting her claim that ICE agents aren’t using chemical weapons against protesters, to admitting the First Amendment no longer exists when it comes to ICE, to claiming that even mentioning the public case of ICE officer and alleged murderer Jonathan Ross is the same as doxxing, she dug herself into hole after hole.We feel bad making fun of someone so…intellectually challenged, but she’s currently in power running what this week’s guest Craig Mokhiber called “the modern day Brown Shirts,” so we’ve got no choice but to do our part in mockery.Also in this Monday Mourning: Republicans are tripping over themselves over the stupidity of Trump’s Greenland takeover plans, Democrats continue to only call out Trump’s regime change operations for being unsuccessful, mentioning nothing about their moral implications, and Israeli mega-donors Miriam Adelson and Haim Saban accidentally get outed by their own moderator.Our Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Webroot: https://www.webroot.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Go to our sponsor https://venice.ai/useful and use code useful to enjoy private, uncensored AI. Using our code will get you 20% off a pro plan.Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFULCheck out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFULCheck out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com/IDIOTS------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Watch this week's Friday Free-For-All: GOP Senator Accidentally Blows Iran Secret https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/gop-senator-accidentally-blows-iran?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=webJoin us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to.In October 2023, Craig Mokhiber resigned as director of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights over the UN’s failure to act to stop the genocide in Gaza. Since then, he has been writing and speaking out about Israel’s crimes in Gaza as well as the other wars launched by the US-Israel Axis. This week, we’re focusing on Israel’s secret role in destabilizing Latin America, the Maduro government in Venezuela in particular, and in training ICE.Useful Idiots: Can you talk about the Israeli regime’s nefarious role in Latin America?Craig Mokhiber: It’s a long story, the history of the Israeli regime supporting far-right governments and death squads in Latin America and attacking or supporting attacks on progressive governments and movements in the region. And that’s why in her first address after the U.S. attacked Venezuela, the vice president, who’s now the interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, said that the attack on the country had “Zionist undertones.”People of the region are well aware that the hand of the Israeli regime in destabilizing progressive governments has been going on forever. We’re talking about Israeli weapons, Israeli equipment, Israeli surveillance technology, Israeli intelligence cooperation, spying on opposition, and so on. But what’s really sometimes missed in these conversations is that the Israeli regime has been exporting not just weapons and technology and tactics, but it also exports a kind of violent and racist ideology. Ideas that are very right-wing, very Zionist, very militarist, very anti-human rights, obviously deeply anti-Muslim and anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian and anti-left, and this general idea that tries to frame law enforcement as equivalent to military.That has been a big part of it. And that’s why, after the attack by the US on Venezuela, Israeli regime leaders were absolutely giddy celebrating the attacks on Venezuela and the abduction of the Venezuelan president.Useful Idiots: What about Israel’s role in U.S. crackdowns against its own citizens?Craig Mokhiber: This is what I refer to as the Zionist boomerang. This support for Zionism, fascism, apartheid, all of the crimes of the Israeli regime in Palestine, now it’s come back to our own cities. We’re talking about policing tactics that are entirely inconsistent with international human rights standards. You’ve got decades of the US underwriting apartheid, surveillance, repression, and genocide in Palestine. Those practices are now being brought home.We’ve seen it in the brutal persecution of student protesters. You see it in the distortion of US legislation by Israel. The official adoption of the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism as an Israeli tool to try to silence dissent about Israeli abuses. You see it in the wholesale suspension of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution in the U.S. on behalf of the Israeli regime.This is blowback from support for Zionism in Western Asia and you now see it in the corruption of U.S. law enforcement with this continuous structured flow of Israeli weapons and equipment and surveillance technology. A lot of these things come out of Israel’s so-called counterterrorism tactics. And whenever you hear that word counterterrorism, I think we’ve all learned, human rights runs for cover. It’s surveillance, it’s brutal crowd control techniques, racial profiling, intrusive intelligence gathering that’s now touching all of us.That is a product of this Zionist boomerang. And that alone should terrify everybody who lives in the United States.Watch and share our full, unpaywalled interview with Craig Mokhiber.And don’t miss this week’s Friday Free-For-All: GOP Senator Accidentally Blows Iran Secret00:00 Intro01:42 Lindsey Graham is DEVASTATED Trump didn't bomb Iran03:58 Treasury Sec brags about destroying Iranian economy07:40 Sen. Mullin accidentally admits he supports regime change08:28 Craig Mokhiber interview19:33 Israel's nefarious role in Venezuela26:06 The Israeli Boomerang51:09 Stephen Miller says ICE has full immunity58:11 An update on genocide in Gaza1:01:38 The end of the American empireOur Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Webroot: https://www.webroot.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Go to our sponsor https://venice.ai/useful and use code useful to enjoy private, uncensored AI. Using our code will get you 20% off a pro plan.Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFULCheck out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFUL------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Click here for the full interview with Professors Gabriel Hetland and Alex Aviña: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/full-episode-trump-shocked-after?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webWatch this week's Friday Free-For-All: Surprise! Dr. Phil is in Israel's Pocket at https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/surprise-dr-phil-is-in-israels-pocket?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webJoin us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to.🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://streamyard.com/pal/d/4906030668972032Our Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Webroot: https://www.webroot.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Go to our sponsor https://venice.ai/useful and use code useful to enjoy private, uncensored AI. Using our code will get you 20% off a pro plan.Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFULCheck out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFUL------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Click here for the full interview with Professors Gabriel Hetland and Alex Aviña: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/full-episode-trump-shocked-after?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webWatch this week's Friday Free-For-All: Surprise! Dr. Phil is in Israel's Pocket https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/surprise-dr-phil-is-in-israels-pocket?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webJoin us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to.Read our guests' books:Democracy on the Ground: Local Politics in Latin America’s Left TurnSpecters of Revolution: Peasant Guerrillas in the Cold War Mexican CountrysideThe Trump Administration’s regime change operations in Venezuela are escalating rapidly, making it a challenge to keep up with the facts, lies, hypocrisies, kidnappings, and killings. That’s why we’re speaking with Professors Gabriel Hetland and Alex Aviña, two experts on the historical implications of US destabilization attempts in Latin America, who deep dive into why Trump is attacking Venezuela, the role oil and natural resources play in this, and the broader conflict it will bring with China and BRICS.Useful Idiots: Despite the invasion, Alex, you’ve argued that this can be read as a sign of weakness of the United States. Can you elaborate on that?Alex Aviña: The fact that they didn’t opt for a larger military operation could be read as a recognition of the difficulty of such an operation. The military assets that the US had moved in the Caribbean are not nearly enough for an Iraq-style invasion or even what they did to Panama in December of 1989.If we think about the broader context, and thinking about the national security strategy that the Trump administration published late last year, they more or less have conceded that they can’t frontally challenge China and Asia. So one way that they are going to proceed in the future is to indirectly challenge China.China is the largest trading partner for South America, right? Historically every time that the US “comes home” and starts taking it out on Latin America, it’s usually after a moment of defeat or an admission that the global designs of the United States have met obstacles. So they have to retrench their power within Latin America.Useful Idiots: Gabriel, you have a recent article at The Intercept: “The U.S. Desperately Wants Back in the Business of Empire With Venezuela. America carried out a coup in Venezuela to plunder the country’s resources. But Latin Americans will have the last word.” So what do you mean by that, Latin Americans will have the last word?Gabriel Hetland: Trump’s attempt to dominate Latin America doesn’t always work out the way the US wants it to. Specifically, when the US attempts to push Latin Americans around, it sometimes has an immediate or more long-term backlash. And we’ve seen this repeatedly in Latin American history just this year.Trump went after Lula, the president of Brazil, because he was prosecuting Jair Bolsonaro for attempting a coup. He talked about slapping 50% tariffs on Lula, and that helped Lula’s popularity. We saw something similar in 2002 with Evo Morales in Bolivia. The U.S. ambassador called him a narco terrorist and he immediately went to number two in the polls.There’s also going to be a backlash against U.S. imperialism in other countries. In Colombia, Gustavo Petro has had huge rallies all week. Santos, the conservative former president of Colombia, who’s not an ally of Petro, actually said it was good that Petro and Trump were having a conversation. So when the president of the United States goes after leaders in Latin America, it can put conservatives in Latin America on the back foot and force them to actually defend leftists. It can also provide an electoral boost for nationalists and leftists and anti-imperialism overall. I think that it’s very, very likely that we’ll see more of that.Subscribe to watch full interview with Alex Aviño and Gabriel Hetland on the nearly-satyrical levels of racism in the Venezuelan opposition that MAGA is propping up, as well as a controversial question from Aaron.00:00 Intro00:47 JD Vance CAUGHT Lying About Minnesota ICE Murder07:12 Alex Aviña and Gabriel Hetland interview09:28 What's happening in Venezuela?13:50 Is the US weakening?35:09 The real MAGA agenda in Latin AmericaOur Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Webroot: https://www.webroot.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Watch the full Monday Mourning here: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/us-kidnaps-venezuelan-president-maduro?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webClick here for our episode on Trump's Venezuela War: https://youtu.be/-R9OJP5K21AWatch this week's Friday Free-For-All: Katie & Aaron React to Ridiculous 'Melania' Trailer https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/katie-halper-and-aaron-mate-react?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=webKatie Halper and Aaron Maté go over the worst moments of the Sunday morning news shows that they watch so you don’t have to.If it's Monday Morning, it's #mondaymourning🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://streamyard.com/pal/d/4906030668972032Our Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Webroot: https://www.webroot.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Go to our sponsor https://venice.ai/useful and use code useful to enjoy private, uncensored AI. Using our code will get you 20% off a pro plan.Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFULCheck out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFULClick here for the full interview with Francisco Rodriguez: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/full-episode-trumps-venezuela-war?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=falseSupport local jobs and get variety of high-quality clothing and activewear at https://www.american-giant.com and get 20% off your first order with promo code USEFUL. Thanks to American Giant for sponsoring the show!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Watch our Friday Free-For-All: Katie & Aaron React to Ridiculous 'Melania' Trailer https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/katie-halper-and-aaron-mate-react?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=webJoin us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to.Our Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Webroot: https://www.webroot.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Get the full episode, our Friday Free-For-All, and TWO MONTHS of Useful Idiots for FREE https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/subscribe?coupon=d5e84c49Go to our sponsor https://venice.ai/useful and use code useful to enjoy private, uncensored AI. Using our code will get you 20% off a pro plan.Click here for the full interview with Francisco Rodriguez: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/full-episode-trumps-venezuela-war?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=falseWatch this week's Friday Free-For-All: Katie & Aaron React to Ridiculous 'Melania' Trailer https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/katie-halper-and-aaron-mate-react?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=webKatie Halper and Aaron Maté go over the worst moments of the Sunday morning news shows that they watch so you don’t have to.If it's Monday Morning, it's #mondaymourning🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://streamyard.com/pal/d/4906030668972032Our Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Webroot: https://www.webroot.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Get the full episode, our Friday Free-For-All, and TWO MONTHS of Useful Idiots for FREE https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/subscribe?coupon=d5e84c49Go to our sponsor https://venice.ai/useful and use code useful to enjoy private, uncensored AI. Using our code will get you 20% off a pro plan.Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFULCheck out Webroot: https://webroot.com/USEFULClick here for the full interview with Francisco Rodriguez: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/full-episode-trumps-venezuela-war?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=falseSupport local jobs and get variety of high-quality clothing and activewear at https://www.american-giant.com and get 20% off your first order with promo code USEFUL. Thanks to American Giant for sponsoring the show!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Watch this week's Friday Free-For-All: Katie & Aaron React to Ridiculous 'Melania' Trailer https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/katie-halper-and-aaron-mate-react?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=webJoin us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to.For this week’s interview, we’re speaking with Francisco Rodríguez about the latest in Trump’s regime-change campaign in Venezuela. Rodríguez, a member of the Venezuelan opposition who formerly advised a challenger to President Nicolás Maduro, does not, like other members of the opposition, support the U.S. policy of starvation sanctions and military force to overthrow the government of Venezuela.Useful Idiots: You have warned that Trump’s naval blockade of U.S.-sanctioned oil tankers going in and out of Venezuela could lead to the first major famine in the Western Hemisphere. Can you explain what you mean by that?Francisco Rodríguez: The first thing to understand is that the Venezuelan economy runs on oil revenues. Oil is more than 90% of the country’s exports. It uses its export revenue in order to pay for imports of everything, including food and essentials.The Venezuelan economy doesn’t actually produce the food that it needs to feed itself. And that’s not atypical: that’s the case for many economies that are integrated into the world economy. But not many economies get blockaded. In fact, there’s really no precedent of a sustained blockade of any economy in the Western Hemisphere.Useful Idiots: Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro responded to Trump’s blockade announcement by ordering a naval escort for tankers that are carrying oil toward Asia. This obviously raises the risk, if Trump decides to enforce his social media post, of a military confrontation between the U.S. and Venezuela in the high seas.Francisco Rodríguez: The U.S. has essentially gone into this strategy of trying to scare the Venezuelan military into turning on Maduro, which is called the credible threat strategy. It’s the idea that if the US can credibly threaten that it’s going to invade, it doesn’t actually have to invade: the military is going to turn on Maduro who is going to give up power.Up until now, Maduro isn’t moving. You don’t have any sign of rebellion in the military, and this strategy has painted President Trump into a corner because now he’s almost forced to show that this threat is credible by carrying out a military attack.But on the other hand, there seems to be absolutely no appetite, at least in American public opinion and among the political leadership of both parties, for an actual war in Venezuela. So is President Trump going to pull the trigger? Is he going to go in and seize that tanker and fire on the Venezuelan ships that are escorting it? We don’t know. It’s highly unpredictable.But what we do know is that a lot of military conflicts begin this way. They begin with threats and then one side either miscalculating or believing that it has to enforce its threat in order to maintain its credibility.Subscribe for the full interview with Francisco Rodríguez for his thoughts on Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado calling regime change an “act of love.”And don’t miss this week’s Friday Free-For-All: Katie Halper & Aaron Maté React to Ridiculous ‘Melania’ Trailer00:00 Intro01:02 Fox News celebrates "squeezing" civilians06:48 Francisco Rodríguez interview29:44 What happened when he challenged President Maduro?Our Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Webroot: https://www.webroot.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Click here for the full interview with Suad Abdel Aziz: https://youtu.be/AQjkoX28EN0Watch this week's Friday Free-For-All: Aaron Maté on Confronting Hillary Clinton https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/aaron-mate-on-confronting-hillary?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=webKatie Halper and Aaron Maté go over the worst moments of the Sunday morning news shows that they watch so you don’t have to.If it's Monday Morning, it's #mondaymourningThis weekend, a mass shooting in Australia killed at least 16 people at a Hanukkah celebration. Australian lawmakers responded to the incident rationally: they’re creating new policy to tighten gun restrictions in the country. US politicians, who responded to their own mass shooting at Brown University with the usual “thoughts and prayers,” had a much more ridiculous takeaway:“My heart goes out to all of the Jewish citizens of America and around the world,” says Senator Jim Banks (R-IN). “In America we have to do more to deport terrorists out of the United States to make sure that something like this doesn’t happen in the homeland.” He then adds for good measure: “And our thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected.”Instead of dealing with the problem of gun violence, or assessing that the ethno-supremacist state of Israel waging a 2-year ethnic cleansing campaign is the leading cause for the rise in antisemitism, US politicians are using this atrocity to fuel Islamophobia and deport innocent people from the country, creating even more suffering in the name of Israel.But please, when you talk about the students killed at Brown, don’t politicize it. Just say thoughts and prayers.We cover this, and so much more, in this week’s Monday Mourning. Plus, don’t miss our limited-time offer to get 2 FREE MONTHS OF USEFUL IDIOTS.Our Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Webroot: https://www.webroot.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Get the full episode, our Friday Free-For-All, and TWO MONTHS of Useful Idiots for FREE https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/subscribe?coupon=d5e84c49Go to our sponsor https://venice.ai/useful and use code useful to enjoy private, uncensored AI. Using our code will get you 20% off a pro plan.Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFULSupport local jobs and get variety of high-quality clothing and activewear at https://www.american-giant.com and get 20% off your first order with promo code USEFUL. Thanks to American Giant for sponsoring the show!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Watch this week's Friday Free-For-All: Aaron Maté on Confronting Hillary Clinton at usefulidiotspodcast.comJoin us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to.This week we speak with Suad Abdel Aziz, a Sudanese-American lawyer and founder of the human rights advocacy organization Decolonize Sudan. The Sudan genocide is a topic we haven’t covered extensively at Useful Idiots, so Suad educates us with a history of the region, explains what’s going on now, and reveals how the US is involved.Useful Idiots: Can you give us a brief history of Sudan and how we got to where we are?Suad Abdel Aziz: Despite how mainstream media frames it, there is not an internal power struggle or civil war that’s happening in Sudan. What’s happening is a foreign-backed genocide, carried out by a militia called the Rapid Support Forces, or the RSF, as part of a colonial project to completely destabilize Sudan in order to seize land within a larger imperial scheme designed to extract resources, consolidate economic control of Sudan, and control Sudan’s foreign policy.Beginning in April of 2023, the RSF violently seized Sudan, and over the course of over two years now, destroyed and leveled the bulk of Sudan’s infrastructure and has displaced over a third of the population, which is over sixteen million people. They have waged a campaign of genocide and ethnic cleansing marked by mass killings, including killings of entire family lineages, sexual violence, and the deliberate starvation of entire communities.The RSF is only able to do this through the backing of the United Arab Emirates, who provide the funds, the fighters, and the weapons for this militia. In exchange, the UAE is extracting the resources of Sudan, with the main export that it’s smuggling being gold. And the UAE’s gold exports have increased by over 25% since this siege began.Useful Idiots: What is the connection between Sudan and Palestine?Suad Abdel Aziz: Sudan has historically been allied with Palestine and against Israel, which is key in understanding why the US seeks to align Sudan’s foreign policy with its own in order to serve its larger interests of domination of the Middle East. It’s very clear that if elections were to happen in Sudan, that the people would elect in anti-colonial Muslim governance. And this is a threat to US control of the Middle East and of Muslim countries.Listen to or watch our full interview with Suad Abdel Aziz, unpaywalled for all listeners. And don’t miss our limited time deal: 2 MONTHS of Useful Idiots FREE. Your support of independent media means everything.Plus, don’t miss this week’s Friday Free-For-All: Aaron Maté on Confronting Hillary Clinton00:00 Intro00:29 Chuck Schumer Supports Trump's Regime Change War02:46 CNN says stealing oil from other countries is cool now06:33 Suad Abdel Aziz interviewOur Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Webroot: https://www.webroot.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Get the full episode, our Friday Free-For-All, and TWO MONTHS of Useful Idiots for FREE https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/subscribe?coupon=d5e84c49Go to our sponsor https://venice.ai/useful and use code useful to enjoy private, uncensored AI. Using our code will get you 20% off a pro plan.Click here for the full interview with Greg Grandin: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/full-episode-cias-secret-drug-war?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=falseSupport local jobs and get variety of high-quality clothing and activewear at https://www.american-giant.com and get 20% off your first order with promo code USEFUL. Thanks to American Giant for sponsoring the show!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Watch this week's Friday Free-For-All: Stephen Miller Says What He'd Do With Pete Hegseth's Children https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/stephen-miller-says-what-hed-do-with?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=falseJoin us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to.This week we’re speaking to Pulitzer-Prize winner Greg Grandin about the Trump Administration’s regime-change war in Venezuela, which now is mired in controversy not just because we’re trying to overthrow a foreign government yet again, but also because Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth presided over a blatantly unconstitutional strike on a speedboat in the Caribbean.Useful Idiots: Can you walk us through what Trump is doing right now in Venezuela and what is motivating him?Greg Grandin: The big picture is the America First movement, which imagines that the United States no longer superintends a global liberal political economy in which everybody plays by the rules. That’s happened in the past, and Latin America is key to that.But then, of course, there’s Venezuela and there’s oil. There was a split within the Trump administration between so-called moderates, who are tied to Chevron, and the war party, Miller, Rubio, and Hegseth. I think those speedboat attacks were the war party’s attempt to preempt any normalization of relationships with Venezuela.And with Rubio, it’s a confluence of two different strands. One is he was a neocon before he became America First. But he’s also from South Florida, and he’s got deep ties to the Cuban community. And Venezuela is seen as the first step towards taking out Cuba, denying it its oil. So he’s doing it under the rubric of the War on Drugs, which of course is not Donald Trump. That’s a fifty year war.Behind every single horror that Donald Trump represents exists a long train of U.S. presidents that had first put in the policies that make what Trump does today possible. And that’s nowhere clearer than in the Drug War, which started formally with Richard Nixon in 1973. So there’s many things flowing into it.Useful Idiots: Do you think Trump will succeed with these plans in Venezuela?Greg Grandin: The momentum to get Maduro out is quite strong and surprisingly orchestrated, which included the Nobel Peace Prize Committee giving María Corina Machado the prize, and she immediately fulfilled her role as everybody’s worst expectation of what could possibly happen. I can’t imagine any other Peace Prize winner immediately embarking on an alliance with Donald Trump to stage a coup. But that’s where we are.I think that Trump wants Venezuela settled. That either means Maduro’s gone and some provisional government favorable to the United States is in power, or it means the Chevron faction within the Trump administration keeps Maduro and establishes some semblance of normalcy and keeps the oil pumping.Now deportation flights have restarted after being halted for a little while. That’s where I’m a little bit dubious about whether Trump is going to go all in on Rubio’s visions. They don’t have enormous support in the United States. It doesn’t have support in the MAGA base. And obviously Hegseth is having all of these problems. The leaking of the footage of that double-tap speedboat killing suggests there’s deep discontent within the military…Subscribe to watch the full interview with historian Greg Grandin. (Or watch it free with this deal. You’ll also get our Friday Free-For-All: Stephen Miller Says What He’d Do With Pete Hegseth’s Children)00:00 Intro00:59 Friday Free-For-All01:18 Hillary Clinton mocks her own students for opposing genocide07:30 Greg Grandin interview07:54 Pete Hegseth's war crimes31:32 Marco Rubio claims Hezbollah is working in VenezuelaOur Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Webroot: https://www.webroot.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Click here for the full interview with Marta Havryshko and Nicolai Petro: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/full-episode-ukrainian-scholar-exposes?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=falseWatch this week's Friday Free-For-All: Fmr Obama Speechwriter: "Genocide is Bad" Is WRONG Takeaway of the Holocaust at https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/fmr-obama-speechwriter-genocide-is?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=falseKatie Halper and Aaron Maté go over the worst moments of the Sunday morning news shows that they watch so you don’t have to.If it's Monday Morning, it's #mondaymourning🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://streamyard.com/pal/d/4906030668972032Our Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Webroot: https://www.webroot.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

This interview with Marta Havryshko is UNPAYWALLED from last week's show. We think Marta's message is important for everyone to hear so we're making it free to all!Go to our sponsor https://venice.ai/useful and use code useful to enjoy private, uncensored AI. Using our code will get you 20% off a pro plan.Click here for the full interview with Marta Havryshko and Nicolai Petro: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/full-episode-ukrainian-scholar-exposes?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=falseSupport local jobs and get variety of high-quality clothing and activewear at https://www.american-giant.com and get 20% off your first order with promo code USEFUL. Thanks to American Giant for sponsoring the show!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Watch this week's Friday Free-For-All: Fmr Obama Speechwriter: "Genocide is Bad" Is WRONG Takeaway of the Holocaust at https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/fmr-obama-speechwriter-genocide-is?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=falseJoin us LIVE on Youtube every Monday at 10am EST for Monday Mourning, where we watch the Sunday morning news shows so that you don't have to.There’s been a lot happening in Ukraine: there is talk of a new peace proposal floated by the US and Russia, and meanwhile, Ukraine internally is in chaos over a corruption scandal touching Zelensky and his inner circle.We spoke to two experts: returning guest Marta Havryshko, visiting assistant professor at the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University, and Nicolai Petro, professor of political science at the University of Rhode Island and author of The Tragedy of Ukraine.Useful Idiots: What is going on with this corruption controversy in Ukraine?Marta Havryshko: First of all, I must say that it’s not only a corruption scandal. It’s an entire political crisis. This energy scandal is part of a bigger picture, and different security services and state agencies are all involved in these corruption schemes crafted by Zelensky’s friends.The corruption scheme involves kickbacks with Ukraine’s energy production at a time when a lot of Ukrainians are going without power because of all the Russian attacks. So now, Ukrainians are sitting without water, electricity, and heat for twelve, fifteen hours per day in some cities.They are outraged. And they are thinking, ‘Why is this happening? How is it possible that ordinary Ukrainians are demanded to go to the front line, to send their sons away, but at the same time our political elites are making money out of their sufferings while we sit for hours without heat, water, and electricity?’Useful Idiots: We have word of yet another new seismic development in the Ukraine proxy war. There is talk now that Ukraine has been presented with a new sort of ultimatum from Trump. It includes ceding all of the Donbas to Russia and a reduction in the size of the Ukrainian military. What is your understanding of where things are both on the battlefield and at the negotiating table?Nicolai Petro: The battlefield situation is getting increasingly critical for Ukraine. There are some assessments that we’re reaching a tipping point at which it is possible that the front line collapses at several points and then the situation will be dire indeed. And perhaps it is to prevent putting Ukraine and its European backers in that kind of dire situation that the current proposal has been floated…Our Sponsors:* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Quince: https://quince.com/USEFUL* Check out Webroot: https://www.webroot.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mate/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy