Become a Useful Idiot for extended interviews and bonus content at http://usefulidiots.substack.com “Democracy is about having a say in how your country is run. Right now, that’s not happening. The way the system works, the politicians don’t feel under pressure to answer to the majority of the people.” Mick Wallace and Clare Daly, members of the European Parliament, are Irish progressives. This means they speak out against the proxy war in Ukraine, Julian Assange’s torture, and the Syria dirty w...
Jul 29, 2022•52 min•Season 2Ep. 68
Become a Useful Idiot for extended interviews and bonus content at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Michael R. Jackson had no idea that a monologue he wrote two decades ago would turn into a Broadway musical that would win countless awards, including a Tony and Pulitzer Prize. And when he criticized the political establishment, including Obama, he had no idea that Michelle Obama would be one of the countless celebrities who would flock to see the show. Nor did he imagine that Aaron Maté would fa...
Jul 22, 2022•51 min•Season 2Ep. 68
Become a Useful Idiot for extended interviews and bonus content at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Click here for the full interview where Chris talks psychedelics, paradigm shifting experiences, and how the government is lying to us. Chris Ryan, author of Civilized to Death and Sex at Dawn, as well as host of the podcast Tangentially Speaking, wants to help you live happier. He’s studied hunter gatherers; our closest relatives in the animal kingdom; and human philosophy/history to learn why we...
Jul 15, 2022•52 min•Season 2Ep. 67
Become a Useful Idiot for extended interviews and bonus content at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Click here for the full episode: https://usefulidiots.substack.com/p/extended-episode-richard-wolff-doesnt?r=je5va&s=w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Finally! A Marxist economist you can show to your parents and say “See?” Class is in session with economics Professor Emeritus Richard Wolff. He’s here to teach us about inflation, what steps could be taken to tame it, and why the hell ...
Jul 08, 2022•46 min•Season 2Ep. 67
Become a Useful Idiot for extended interviews and bonus content at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Host of Bad Faith podcast and Rising and former Bernie Sanders press secretary Briahna Joy Gray explains why dems are rapidly losing voters: Trump gets mocked for failing to put up his wall, but his supporters watched him try the whole time, putting up pieces of wall and getting blocked. He showed them what he will do if they get him more votes. So they’ll vote harder. Democrats have given their v...
Jul 01, 2022•50 min•Season 2Ep. 66
Become a Useful Idiot for extended episodes and bonus content at http://usefulidiots.substack.com The Intercept’s Ryan Grim shares his new article Elephant in the Zoom, which explains how internal struggles have progressive advocacy groups at a standstill during a critical political moment. He argues that workplace problems, while important to deal with, are distracting these groups from the issues they were created to fight for. And while progressives are doing internal evaluations, do you thin...
Jun 24, 2022•54 min•Season 2Ep. 65
Become a Useful Idiot for extended interviews and bonus content at http://usefulidiots.substack.com In secret meetings and leaked emails, Paul Mason and Nina Jankowicz work to silence journalists who don’t promote the approved message. In public, they complain that journalists bully them, and do vile things like publish past things they’ve said. And who does Youtube side with? The supercalifragicensors. The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal is here to explain. Leaked emails show that Paul Mason, a promi...
Jun 17, 2022•47 min•Season 2Ep. 64
Become a Useful Idiot for extended interviews and bonus content at http://usefulidiots.substack.com There’s a whole lot of terrible stuff going on which means Glenn Greenwald has a whole lot to say: •Biden’s failure at the Summit of the Americas: Latin American leaders are boycotting Biden’s summit because he refused to invite the dictatorships of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. Meanwhile, Biden’s packing for his big trip to the dictatorship of Saudi Arabia… •Jan 6 in Prime Time: “I don’t think ...
Jun 10, 2022•50 min•Season 2Ep. 63
Become a Useful Idiot for extended interviews and bonus content at http://usefulidiots.substack.com After another Israeli murder of a Palestinian journalist, The Electronic Intifada’s Ali Abunimah shares a scary truth: “The message Israel drove home with the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh was that no matter who you are, how famous you are, or what religion you are, no Palestinian is safe from Israel.” With US backing, Israel has been free to kill with impunity. But seeing the Palestinian people un...
Jun 03, 2022•41 min•Season 2Ep. 63
Become a Useful Idiot to get the extended interview: https://usefulidiots.substack.com/p/extended-episode-did-texas-police?r=je5va&s=w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Amid growing scrutiny of the police response to the Uvalde school massacre, Mike Prysner, producer of the Empire Files and Iraq war veteran, tell us: “In a way, they were accomplices to the mass shooter. The number of dead was aided by the police. Perhaps through cowardice or racism, Prysner says, the police stood outs...
May 27, 2022•50 min•Season 2Ep. 62
Click here for the full episode, including the extended interview with Lev Golinkin on disinformation, weapons manufacturers, and Aaron’s fight with a bloody normal Nazi denier: https://usefulidiots.substack.com/p/extended-episode-ukrainian-journalist?r=je5va&s=w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web The Nation’s Lev Golinkin has an important message that most people in mainstream news can’t seem to wrap their heads around: “Russia is committing war crimes. That is true. And not everyone ...
May 20, 2022•48 min•Season 2Ep. 61
Click here for the full episode, including the extended interview with Alan MacCleod and fan suggestions for military-grade baby names: https://usefulidiots.substack.com/p/extended-episode-media-and-biden?r=je5va&s=w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web This week, Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed by Israeli forces. The way the New York Times reported it was that she “die[d]”: The Times, CBS News, the Associated Press, and more corporate media outlets all refer...
May 13, 2022•48 min•Season 2Ep. 60
Click here for the full episode, including the extended episode with Mnar Adley, proof that Nancy Pelosi doesn’t care about Roe v. Wade, and a bonus Biden Stoned Moment. MintPress News’ Mnar Adley has bravely reported on Israel, Ukraine, and national security agents running TikTok. In response, PayPal shut down MintPress’s account and threatened to take their money. PayPal has begun doing this with multiple independent media outlets who don’t fall in lock-step with the Biden administration’s pol...
May 06, 2022•50 min•Season 2Ep. 59
Click here for the full episode, including the extended interview with Michael Hudson. We asked economist and “futurist” Michael Hudson, economic advisor and professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, his thoughts on the people who have run our country for the 50 years he’s studied US politics. “They’re sociopaths. They think it’s a game. They don’t care about the things you and I care about.” He shares a dark story of the Carter administration’s strategy to cause a drought that would ...
Apr 29, 2022•54 min•Season 2Ep. 58
Click here for the full episode, including an explosive extended interview with Scott Ritter. Former US Marine Corps intelligence officer and Chief UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter resigned his post in protest of US war mongering. Immediately, he was mocked by Joe Biden. And when the FBI came after him, well, as he puts it, it went something like: So when he joined the Useful Idiots to discuss Joe Biden, he (like many of our recent guests), didn’t have much nice to say. “The marine in me says h...
Apr 22, 2022•56 min•Season 2Ep. 56
Click here for the full episode, including an extended interview with Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly. Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly, professor at Carlton College, coordinating committee member of the Black Alliance for Peace, and author of many books including the upcoming Black Scare/Red Scare, has had it with liberals pretending to care about regular people. Biden promises to help people with student loans while prosecuting bankrupt people in courts. Obama pretended to fight for civil rights while sh...
Apr 15, 2022•51 min•Season 2Ep. 55
Click here for the full episode, including the extended interview with David Sirota and a Biden Stoned Moment. David Sirota, whose site Daily Poster is now The Lever, returns to Useful Idiots as an Academy-Award nominee for his movie Don’t Look Up. And he’s got a message for the Oscars: We’ve got to do something today about climate change. It’s like a giant comet is headed towards earth and no one seems to care. “The movie’s giant audience proves that you don’t have to choose between focusing on...
Apr 08, 2022•56 min•Season 2Ep. 54
Click here for the the full episode, including an extended interview with Larry Wilkerson on why the FBI is tailing him and why others don’t stand up to the machine. Larry Wilkerson, former US Army Colonel and high-ranking member of Bush’s White House as Colin Powell’s chief of staff, has spent his post-government career criticizing our war-mongering policies. Wilkerson discusses the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the US response from an inside-the-government perspective: He’s worked with Biden...
Apr 01, 2022•47 min•Season 2Ep. 53
This week, we’re unpaywalling our extended interview with multiple-Oscar-winner Oliver Stone. His new documentary Ukraine on Fire has been censored by Youtube, but you can still see it on Rumble. He wrote and directed multiple classic, culture-defining American movies. He created groundbreaking documentaries, interviewing Putin, debunking Russiagate, and uncovering JFK’s murder. He won three Academy Awards. There was only one thing left for Oliver Stone to do: Become a Useful Idiot. Stone’s new ...
Mar 25, 2022•34 min•Season 2Ep. 52
Click here for the full episode, including the extended interview with Abby Martin, the moment when Abby confronted Nancy Pelosi, the latest dishonest attack from The Young Turks against Aaron Maté, and Biden’s stoned moment. The Empire Files’ Abby Martin returns to Useful Idiots to speak out against censorship and the corporate media’s duplicitous and hypocritical coverage of Russia’s war against Ukraine. Censorship is something Abby knows quite a bit about, given that Youtube has removed every...
Mar 18, 2022•57 min•Season 2Ep. 51
Click here for the extended episode, including the full interview with Afshin Rattansi. And don’t miss Aaron’s take on The Young Turks meltdown over him. Afshin Rattansi’s show Going Underground is becoming harder and harder to see as the US, UK, and EU have all censored the RT. But Afshin has some good news for viewers: “With a VPN, you can always say you don’t live in unfree places like the US or Europe or Britain, and say you live in Pyongyang where there is freedom to watch it.” Rattansi, wh...
Mar 11, 2022•47 min•Season 2Ep. 50
Click here for the extended episode, including the full interview with Daniel Bessner and Derek Davison. For a while, pundits have been predicting the decline of American superpower. Although some decline is inevitable, don’t expect Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to precipitate it. As the American Prestige podcast’s Daniel Bessner and Derek Davison explain, the US ability to invade another country and commit war crimes that would merit US sanctions if it was any other country, and without any back...
Mar 04, 2022•45 min•Season 2Ep. 49
Click here for the full episode, including an extended interview with Branko Marcetic about Ukraine, Epstein & more, plus a chat about Vaush. Note: This episode was recorded before Russia invaded Ukraine. The interview with Branko Marcetic provides a lot of useful context on how we got here. When we look at the progression of this war, the Biden administration and cable news hosts will tell you that Mastermind Putin foresaw this six moves back in his chess game, and that the only thing we co...
Feb 25, 2022•54 min•Season 2Ep. 48
Click here for the full episode, including an extended interview with Rania Khalek. Breakthrough News’ Rania Khalek recounts her horrifying travel nightmare: “So I went to Cuba and it was terrifying… just like Marco Rubio said.” Then she laughs and proceeds to share an enlightening and inspiring story of a country perpetually beat down by the US that still continues to survive. Seeing the stellar healthcare, education, and public safety of a poorer nation only underscores that we’re doing someth...
Feb 18, 2022•52 min•Season 2Ep. 46
Click here for the full episode, including an extended interview with Margaret Kimberley: https://usefulidiots.substack.com/p/extended-episode-how-obama-failed?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web Black Agenda Report’s Margaret Kimberley is fed up with the US progressive caucus. With zero politicians in Congress calling out Biden for escalating tensions with Russia or doing little more for progressive causes than sending hopeful tweets, she believes that US politicians who call thems...
Feb 11, 2022•45 min•Season 2Ep. 44
There is only one truly bipartisan issue in the United States Congress these days: increasing military spending. Every year it passes, and every year we spend trillions of dollars on weapons and soldiers. Money that could be spent on education, homelessness, and infrastructure all goes to the war chest. The Nation’s Katrina vanden Heuvel joins the Useful Idiots to warn of the dangers of the US escalating tensions with Russia over Ukraine. It’s not about helping Ukraine, she explains. It’s about ...
Feb 04, 2022•56 min•Season 2Ep. 43
Hear the ad-free version at http://usefulidiots.substack.com “But if Obama knew,” Aaron and Katie ask Status Coup’s Jordan Chariton, “why didn’t he go to Flint and bust Wall Street and the Republicans for poisoning the city? It would’ve been an easy political win.” “If Obama didn’t go after Wall Street for tanking the global economy,” responds Chariton, “what makes you think he would’ve done anything to go after them for a fraud financial deal that led to a city being poisoned?” Today, Chariton ...
Jan 28, 2022•50 min•Season 2Ep. 42
“There’s an underestimation of how dangerous the United States government is right now.” Prolific and esteemed historian Dr. Gerald Horne, who holds the Moores Professorship of History and African American Studies and has authored over 40 books, warns that the greatest threat to world peace is the US government. Whether taking down civil rights leaders, starting countless wars, killing foreign civilians, using imperialism to rule other countries, causing economic ruin for entire regions… need we...
Jan 21, 2022•56 min•Season 2Ep. 41
Hear the ad-free version at http://usefulidiots.substack.com Mansoor Adayfi shares his harrowing story of being kidnapped and brought to Guantanamo: “Then I was dragged to my cage, naked. Six of the guards beat me and tied me with a hood and duct tape. It was messaging. When they took the hood off, I couldn’t see for hours because of the bright light and my eyes were swollen from the beating.“I was asking: Am I in Hell? Am I dead?” Fourteen years later, Mansoor was proven innocent and released t...
Jan 14, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Season 2Ep. 40
The infinitely funny and smart David Cross stopped by for a chat and we couldn’t contain our excitement. You know him from Mr. Show, Arrested Development, The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret (tip from Wilson: the best hidden gem show you’ll find), and his hilarious standup specials. And now you know him as a Useful Idiot. We talk comedy: creating a standup special, using audience feedback to perfect his set, and how he felt when Netflix took down an episode of w/ Bob and David for h...
Jan 07, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Season 2Ep. 38
