Useful Idiots with Katie Halper and Aaron Maté

Come see Aaron speak tonight (March 30) at a panel in Montreal: "The Struggle Continues: The Fight For Palestine Across Borders"Katie and Aaron watched the worst people on the corporate Sunday news shows. They picked out the worst moments from the worst people. And then they watched them all live.It’s a jam-packed episode making fun of Marco Rubio, Jake Tapper, Tom Cotton, and more unhinged warmongers. Subscribe to join our community and get full episodes, Friday Free-for-Alls, and bonus content.Thanks for supporting independent media!Your support makes a huge difference! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/subscribe

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This morning President Trump told Fox News that Iran “wants to make a deal badly,” and that the most recent talks happened last night with Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, and their counterparts.Awkwardly, the Iranians claim that no talks have happened. So who’s lying?Are the Iranians misleading the media? Is Trump boasting a deal he’s unable to make? Or is this a repeat of what happened in Cuba, where Marco Rubio lied to Trump about fake negotiations in order to convince him that war was the only possible option? Did Witkoff and Kushner fake these talks to Trump?Aaron and special guest Sana Saeed unravel the story and react to the varying degrees of warmongering responses given on social media. It’s an hour and 45 minutes jam-packed with liars, sycophants, warmongers, and corporate tools. You won’t want to miss it.During all this, Katie’s on a mission to Cuba with CodePink, Jeremy Corbyn, and other brave journalists to end the murderous siege on the country. Your support for Useful Idiots helps fund the journalism we do!Support independent media here! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/subscribe

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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.usefulidiotspodcast.comSubscribe for the full episode at the bottom of the page. Watch a free preview here:This week we’re speaking with Iranian Professor Behrooz Ghamari, whose unique history gives him an important perspective that challenges Trump’s regime-change war-of-choice in ways few others can.In the 1980’s, Ghamari was sentenced to death by the Iranian government for being part of a Marxist group trying to overthrow the Islamic Republic. He was held in Evin Prison’s death row, where countless political prisoners have been tortured, and was denied cancer treatment for his worsening lymphoma.But, Ghamari explains in his excellent new book, The Long War On Iran, four decades after getting freed from a place he never thought he’d outlive, Israeli airstrikes hit the prison, along with over 17,000 other civilian sites. Ghamari “had this feeling as if my home was attacked.”Today, we’re asking him why, after the horrible treatment he endured, does he still reject US regime change of a government he fought to oppose.Useful Idiots: It’s fascinating that you were literally scheduled to be executed, you were on death row, you were deprived of cancer treatment, and yet your analysis is so clear-eyed. You are able to criticize regime change. You are even able to give credit to this government that wanted you to be killed.Behrooz Ghamari: A political project cannot be the extension of your own trauma. We need to transcend that trauma in order to advance a political project. Unfortunately, I see a lot of people who are celebrating these military attacks. They’re supporting Israel bombing Iran, supporting President Trump bombing Iran. There are actually people who use the trauma of others to justify their own celebration, which is a very bizarre kind of logic. But I think it’s a sign of political maturity if one tries to transcend these things and understand: what price are we willing to pay? Because that’s the main question. People always cite Immanuel Kant, saying ‘dare to know and speak truth to power.’ But people usually forget the second part of it: ‘Speak the truth to power and be willing to lose your head for it.’ And so I challenge those people who are celebrating in the US, if they’re willing to speak the truth and also willing to lose their head for it. Because they stand at a distance and are quite ambivalent about loss of life in Iran.Subscribe to hear our full discussion with Professor Ghamari where we ask him to respond to the Iranian diaspora claims about foreign regime change, Iran’s treatment of its own people, and why Iranians should have to “pay the price for Palestine.”Plus, don’t miss our Friday Free-For-All: Jake Tapper: Iran Wants Us to Bomb Them!Thanks for supporting independent media, subscribe to watch the full episode here:

In the lead-up to the Iraq War, the Bush Administration, with the help of Democrats and corporate journalists, stuck firmly to coordinated lies, talking points, and fabrications to trick the American people into supporting of a war of aggression in the Middle East, using WMD and Saddam Hussein lies all in concert to make a single, cohesive story.This time around in Iran, they’re trying to do the same thing. But they’re doing it so much stupider.They’ve messed up talking points of how long we’ve “been engaged in war with Iran,” how long they expect this new war to last, whether or not we’re even at war, and so many more flubs. Katie and Aaron spend a mega 2-hour Monday Mourning debunking all the craziest and sloppiest lies from Lindsey Graham, Jake Tapper, Mike Waltz, Israeli ambassadors, and more.It’s a nicemare nightmare out there – watch with Katie and Aaron so you can laugh instead of cry at it all.Thanks for supporting independent media, subscribe to join the Useful Idiots community here: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/subscribe

This week’s interview and Friday Free-for-All have combined into one mega LIVE episode. We speak with Iran experts Negar Mortazavi and Trita Parsi about what is currently happening in the US and Israel’s war on Iran.But first, Katie and Aaron run a recap of the biggest lies and craziest takes from this week in corporate media, from Jake Tapper and Jon Stewart to Lindsey Graham and Chuck Schumer.It’s all insane – watch with Aaron and Katie to laugh instead of cry at it all.And please subscribe to the show to support independent media and get bonus content! Useful Idiots Forever This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/subscribe

After striking Iran in the middle of peace negotiations, murdering its leader, massacring over 100 young girls in an elementary school, bombing a hospital, and targeting civilian populations, Israel and the US took to Western media to accuse Iran of unprovoked attacks on US bases when they retaliated.From propaganda-soaked leading questions by news anchors from CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox News, to the warmongering lies of politicians and government officials in both political parties, this weekend’s Sunday news shows were a rat-infested cesspool of corporate scams.Don’t watch them without Katie and Aaron and the Useful Idiots community. It’s just too awful.It’s as big of a lie as we’ve ever taken on here at Useful Idiots. Which means this Monday Mourning is an EXTENDED episode! Watch it here so you can laugh instead of cry at it all.Thanks for supporting independent media, subscribe to Useful Idiots to beat the corporate elites: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.usefulidiotspodcast.comSubscribe for the full episode at the bottom of the page. Watch a free preview here:The big question hanging over the world right now is whether Trump, the guy who campaigned against endless wars, especially in the Middle East, is about to launch another endless war in the Middle East, assembling the largest military deployment there since the Iraq War and threatening to bomb Iran.There have been indirect talks in Geneva between the US and Iran, but the Trump Administration is still talking as if it wants to go to war because it sounds a lot like the Bush Administration when they were making the case to go to war with Iraq.Just this week, Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff claimed, without evidence, that Iran is a week away from having enough uranium for a nuclear weapon. Which means the WMD hoax is back in full swing.To understand all this, we spoke with Iranian journalist Ali Alizadeh, host of the excellent YouTube show Jedaal.Useful Idiots: There has just been a third round of indirect talks held between the US and Iran in Geneva. Based on what you’ve heard so far, what is your assessment of these talks?Ali Alizadeh: Americans have claimed they don’t want Iran to ever reach nuclear weapons, and Iranians have provided something which can give them such guarantee.But then if you just listen to the Americans, just before the two sides were supposed to sit at the negotiation table, it seems that they are cheating. Vance talked about the fact that the president has all the options on the table, and again threatened Iran militarily. Marco Rubio suddenly said Iran’s missiles and navy are a threat to the peace and security of America.Since when has Iran’s navy has been a threat? Iran has a navy in its own waters, which is called the Persian Gulf, and it’s been called that since 2,500 years ago.And then your navy and your aircraft carriers have come from 15,000 kilometers away to their land. So how can the Iranian Navy be a threat to your security? And so they are constantly adding pressure and trying to squeeze other things into the negotiation, which in my opinion can sabotage the deal.Useful Idiots: Do you think there’s a chance of an actual deal being reached?Ali Alizadeh: If Iran and America were sitting at a negotiation table, I think Iran could have given Trump something which was stronger than the JCPOA and would send him home happy so he could sell it to his people that he did something better than Obama.But is Iran negotiating with the United States? Or is it negotiating with Israel? Who is Steve Witkoff? Who is Jared Kushner? Because it seems that Israel has a completely different agenda, which is constantly pushing Trump. And now Trump, I think because of his lack of expertise in diplomacy and politics, despite what he thinks of himself, has badly cornered himself.Useful Idiots: You spoke about how you think that Trump miscalculated the strength of the Iranian government and how he’s actually strengthened the government, because the actions of the United States and the actions of Israel, flaunting the role of foreign intervention in people’s faces, has actually rallied the masses around the government. Can you talk more about that?Subscribe to watch our full interview with Ali Alizadeh on what actual Iranians want to change about their government, Nancy Pelosi’s murderous threat to working-class Iranians, and an update on the Geneva talks from an Iranian official.Plus, don’t miss our weekly recap of the craziest moments in corporate media, the Friday Free-for-All: Let’s talk about the Democrats who gave Trump a standing ovation for bombing IranThanks for supporting independent media. Watch the full episode here: