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

Click here to join Katie and Aaron LIVE at 3:15pm est:If you enjoy Useful Idiots, please support the work we do 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 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