Useful Idiots with Katie Halper and Aaron Maté

By: Useful Idiots LLC
  • Summary

  • Useful Idiots is an informative and irreverent politics podcast with journalist Aaron Maté and podcaster/writer Katie Halper. Episodes feature analysis of the political news of the week and exclusive interviews, with humor, commentary and dissection of why both Republicans and Democrats suck. Join Aaron and Katie as they examine important stories that have slipped through the cracks and what the media got wrong – and laugh about whatever is left to laugh about.

    2023 Useful Idiots, LLC | Cumulus Podcast Network
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Episodes
  • Here’s Why Trump and Harris Both Fail on Immigration
    Sep 13 2024

    Click here for the full interview with John Washington: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/extended-episode-heres-why-trump?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

    Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: We found the WORST moment of the debate (and it’s not about pets) https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/we-found-the-worst-moment-of-the?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

    For $6 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and bonus content at www.usefulidiotspodcast.com

    Join 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.

    If you want to experience smoother digestion, a boost of energy, and an overall healthier body go to roundhouseprovisions.com/USEFUL for up to 44% off your regular-priced order plus a 90-day, money-back guarantee!

    Eight years ago, people were shocked at the insanity of the Trump campaign and his xenophobic border policies, pining for a more civil age where debates were proper and kids weren’t kept in cages.

    In 2024, those days seem simpler.

    John Washington, staff writer at Arizona Luminaria and author of The Case for Open Borders, joins Useful and reports something that may seem hard to believe: Trump’s campaign promises in 2016 are actually more progressive than either of the candidates’ we saw in this week’s debate.

    “Kamala Harris,” he says, “has wholeheartedly embraced policies that are to the right of where Trump was when he took office in 2016.”

    And it was all there in the debate. When Trump attacked her for being soft on the border, she didn’t argue that America is a nation of immigrants, built by immigrants. In fact, she didn’t talk about immigrants at all. “She talked about drug smugglers, human traffickers, and people who illegally crossed the border. But she didn't really give any idea of America as a nation of immigrants, which is the most boilerplate standard go-to on the left.”

    But in the past three years, what the US considers ‘left’ has shifted drastically. “It's also important to remember where we started,” Washington says. “At the beginning of the Biden-Harris administration, they were asking for a hundred-day moratorium on deportations. Now they've gone way past the center and are at the right.”

    The Biden administration in a single term has already deported or expelled over three million people. “He's taken the mantle of Deporter in Chief,” a title that was previously held by Barack Obama.

    And as we heard in the debate, Kamala Harris is following in his footsteps. “The policies that she is fighting for are vehemently anti-immigrant. They would raise the asylum threshold, build more wall. They would put more surveillance technology on the U.S.-Mexico border. They would detain people for longer.”

    Tell us, Democrats, which of those things counts as a lesser evil than Donald Trump?

    Subscribe for the full interview with John Washington, where he describes the violent reality at the border, how the media is spinning it to protect Biden and Harris, and how borders affect what is happening today in Gaza.

    00:00 Intro

    00:28 Dems love Dick Cheney now

    15:10 John Washington interview

    16:05 Are they eating the pets?

    19:29 Is Kamala Harris different than Trump?

    23:01 The case for open borders

    32:52 Do open borders make countries poorer?

    39:49 Why should I have to pay for immigrants coming here?

    43:49 The contribution to society



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    45 mins
  • Israel’s Sadistic Frenzy of Hate and Revenge – with Israeli activist Sarit Michaeli
    Sep 6 2024
    Click here for the full interview with Sarit Michaeli: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/extended-episode-israels-sadistic?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webWatch this week's Thursday Throwdown: AOC vs Predator – Is Anti-Genocide a Predatory Stance? https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/aoc-vs-predator-is-anti-genocide?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webFor $6 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and bonus content at www.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.If you want to experience smoother digestion, a boost of energy, and an overall healthier body go to roundhouseprovisions.com/USEFUL for up to 44% off your regular-priced order plus a 90-day, money-back guarantee!Though Western media has barely covered it, Israeli soldiers engaged in what can only be described as a gang rape of a Palestinian detainee at Sde Teiman, an Israeli military prison in the Negev desert, which Israeli media has dubbed the Israeli Guantanamo Bay.When Israeli police detained soldiers who engaged in the rape, which was recorded and broadcast on Israeli TV, Israeli citizens, including Israeli politicians, protested not the rape but rather the attempt to hold the rapists accountable. In addition to these "right to rape" protests, the governemnt has given the rapes its blessing. Hanoch Milwidsky, a member of Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party, said during a session of the Knesset, that “to insert a stick into a person’s rectum” is "legitimate." A one off gang rape would be bad enough. But the truth is this is merely one example of a systemic epidemic of abuse. In fact, the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem released a haunting report on the Israeli prison system which it described as “a network of torture camps.” The title of the report is what an Israeli jailer told a Palestinian prisoner when he arrived at one of these torture camps: Welcome to Hell. To learn more about this hell, we spoke to Sarit Michaeli, the international advocacy lead for B’tselem, which focuses on human rights abuses in the occupied territories. The abuse suffered by Palestinian prisoners was not random. Rather, “the most gruesome accounts” of the victims revealed “the systemic nature of what has been happening in the Israeli prison system. After October seventh, Israel turned the prison system that deals with Palestinians into a network of torture camps.”This is not a case of a few rogue actors or bad apples: “The most important thing,” says Michaeli, “is that none of this is the result of individual actions by any sort of individual prison guard. These are systemic actions inspired by [National Security] Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.” And while the torture may have been inspired by Ben Gvir, it's approved of and encouraged by the Israeli government. The testimony of the Palestinian detainees is harrowing. Fadi Baker, a 25 year old father and lawyer recalled, "they put cigarettes out in my mouth and on my body. They put clamps on my testicles that were attached to something heavy. It went on like that for a whole day. My testicles swelled up." Another detainee witnessed the killing of a Palestinian prisoner: "He screamed in pain constantly, begging for the doctor. The guard would come now and then and swear at him and tell him to shut up. In the morning, the guards came to count us. One said, 'Get up, you animal. Get up, you dog.' They checked him, and the whole place went silent. Finally, the doctor said, 'There’s nothing to be done.' One of the guards said to them, 'My condolences.' And they all started laughing. They put him in a black body bag and carried him out like trash."Eighteen year old Muhammad Nazzal recalls, "they kicked us and hit us with metal batons. Every time I tried to cover my head with my hands, they hit me on the hands as well as the rest of my body... people beat me again, and also strip-searched me and took photos of me naked." He also witnessed a fatal beating. When a prisoner dared to ask if there had been a ceasefire, "they beat him to death. The guards simply left him there for half an hour after the assault."Subscribe to watch the full interview with Sarit Michaeli where she describes the “sadistic... orgy of hate and revenge that Israeli society was plunged into," explains why it's Netanyahu, not Hamas, that's blocking a ceasefire deal, and argues that Netanyahu is rooting for a Trump victory. Plus, she reacts to a truly terrible clip from the Israeli podcast “Two Nice Jewish Boys.”00:00 Intro00:58 Jake Sullivan HATES that China chooses diplomacy14:58 The New Russiagate25:11 Sarit Michaeli interview26:01 What's happening in the West Bank?29:04 R*pe in the name of God33:42 Netanyahu erases the West Bank37:56 Israel's real goal43:07 Welcome to Hell47:44 Is r*pe ...
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    1 hr and 4 mins
  • France’s Neoliberal Coup – with French MP Danièle Obono
    Aug 30 2024

    Click here for the full interview with Danièle Obono: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/extended-episode-frances-neoliberal?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

    Watch this week's Thursday Throwdown: CNN is offended that Palestinians wanted to speak at the DNC https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/cnn-is-offended-that-palestinians?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

    For $6 a month, become a Useful Idiot! Get extended interviews, Thursday Throwdowns, and bonus content at www.usefulidiotspodcast.com

    Join 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.

    If you want to experience smoother digestion, a boost of energy, and an overall healthier body go to roundhouseprovisions.com/USEFUL for up to 44% off your regular-priced order plus a 90-day, money-back guarantee!

    In the name of democracy, neoliberal French President Emmanuel Macron is thwarting democracy in a move that some are calling a coup.

    The French left coalition, The New Popular Front, shocked the nation (and Macron) when they won the elections in July. Usually this would mean that a leftist candidate becomes the Prime Minister. But in the name of “institutional stability,” Macron is refusing to allow this to happen.

    So, the leftist France Unbowed party, a member of the New Popular Front, is calling for mass demonstrations on September 7.

    Our guest, France Unbowed Member of Parliament Danièle Obono, joins Useful Idiots to explain it all: “It's very disrespectful to the voters that their government would not actually be serious about what they voted for. They voted for us because our platform is to implement changes, to raise the minimum wage, to rebuild social services, to fund healthcare and education and environmental policy, to provide shelter and legal papers to migrant people. The voters should be respected.”

    But, Obono vows, “they won’t succeed in silencing millions of people.”

    Obono also criticizes Macron for cozying up to France’s fascist far right: “People [are] quite shocked that he would agree with the far right. It triggered something very deep within the people because the National Rally is an actual fascist party. They target migrant people, Muslim people. People feared for their lives, for the future of their kids.”

    Subscribe for the full interview with MP Danièle Obono where she explains how Macron plans to use the far-right to launch a coup, how her comments about Hamas incited a government probe on her, and why France just arrested Telegram founder Pavel Durov.



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    Show more Show less
    48 mins

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great dynamic and interviews

obviously passionate and principled people, they disagree in cool ways, focus is usually on point with an interesting angle… it’s tight

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