Useful Idiots with Katie Halper and Aaron Maté

Useful Idiots, LLC

Details

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.

Recent Episodes

SEP 28, 2026
Iran Officially REJECTS Trump Negotiators: “There is no reason we should go back to diplomacy.”
Go to https://groundnews.com/useful to get 40% off the unlimited access Vantage plan and unlock world-wide perspectives on the stories shaping our world. Join Katie in NYC on Monday 9.28 at the SAY PALESTINE: Book Launch with Assal Rad https://www.eventbrite.com/e/say-palestine-book-launch-with-assal-rad-tickets-2001430016055?aff=oddtdtcreator Pre-order Aaron's new book on the Ukraine war: Their Blood, Our Bullets https://orbooks.com/catalog/their-blood-our-bullets/ Check out Quince and use our code https://quince.com/useful for a great deal: https://www.quince.com Check out TruDiagnostic and use our code USEFUL for a great deal: https://www.trudiagnostic.com Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com/IDIOTS Check out Chilipad and use my code sleep.me/USEFUL for a great deal: https://sleep.me/useful ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Support our work and get the extended interview with Leonid Ragozin: https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/extended-interview-anti-putin-russian?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web Watch the Friday Free-For-All: Beware Iran! The Colony of Reptile Quarterback Hookers! https://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. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
67 MIN
SEP 25, 2026
Putin Critic Exposes MAJOR Ukraine Weakness
Go to https://groundnews.com/useful to get 40% off the unlimited access Vantage plan and unlock world-wide perspectives on the stories shaping our world. Join Katie in NYC on Monday 9.28 at the SAY PALESTINE: Book Launch with Assal Rad https://www.eventbrite.com/e/say-palestine-book-launch-with-assal-rad-tickets-2001430016055?aff=oddtdtcreator Pre-order Aaron's new book on the Ukraine war: Their Blood, Our Bullets https://orbooks.com/catalog/their-blood-our-bullets/ Check out Quince and use our code https://quince.com/useful for a great deal: https://www.quince.com Check out TruDiagnostic and use our code USEFUL for a great deal: https://www.trudiagnostic.com Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com/IDIOTS Check out Chilipad and use my code sleep.me/USEFUL for a great deal: https://sleep.me/useful ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Support our work and get the extended interview with Leonid Ragozin: https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/extended-interview-anti-putin-russian?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web Watch the Friday Free-For-All: Beware Iran! The Colony of Reptile Quarterback Hookers! https://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. An important update on the Ukraine Proxy War came this week with the Russian parliamentary elections. Contrary to widespread predictions that Vladimir Putin’s days are numbered as a result of prolonged war, his party, United Russia, once again won a supermajority. It’s unclear how much rigging occurred to alter the vote, along with banning of opposition parties, but a sizable turnout gave Putin and the war an endorsement for now, much to the disappointment of neocons globally. To discuss these pivotal elections, we spoke with veteran Russian journalist Leonid Ragozin. Ragozin is very critical of Putin and the Russian government, but also critical of all the western chauvinism directed toward his country and opposes NATO and the US’s murderous proxy war and sanctions on Russia. And he explains that the real country in trouble is Ukraine: Subscribe to keep reading and get the full, hour-long interview with Leonid Ragozin. 00:00 Intro 01:32 Netanyahu jumps on the Hasan Piker craze 07:11 NYC hosts former Al-Qaeda chief 08:58 Leonid Ragozin interview 15:36 Were Russian elections legit? 21:09 Does Putin have support in Russia? 24:30 Zelensky threatens Russia 46:49 Former Zelensky official sounds the alarm Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
49 MIN
SEP 18, 2026
FBI Whistleblower: The US KNEW about 9/11 Attackers in August 2001
Go to https://groundnews.com/useful to get 40% off the unlimited access Vantage plan and unlock world-wide perspectives on the stories shaping our world. Pre-order Aaron's new book on the Ukraine war: Their Blood, Our Bullets https://orbooks.com/catalog/their-blood-our-bullets/ Check out Quince and use our code https://quince.com/useful for a great deal: https://www.quince.com Check out TruDiagnostic and use our code USEFUL for a great deal: https://www.trudiagnostic.com Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com/IDIOTS Check out Chilipad and use my code sleep.me/USEFUL for a great deal: https://sleep.me/useful ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Support our work and get the ad-free interview with FBI Whistleblower Coleen Rowley: https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/subscribers-only-ad-free-fbi-whistleblower?r=je5va&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web Watch the Friday Free-For-All: Antisemitism Czar Claims Macklemore is HIJACKING Concerts in Plot to Destroy Israel https://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. This week we’re speaking with former Time Person of the Year Coleen Rowley, the FBI special agent who tried to sound the alarm about 9/11 based on FBI intel about the attackers received BEFORE the attacks. Coleen Rowley: I found myself in a very weird position. The life and death type thing that people don’t expect they’ll ever be in. But after 9/11, we realized that in the Minnesota office, the agents had been working on the most suspicious flight student that had ever crossed their paths: Zacarias Moussaoui. They were called by flight instructors separately from a flight school. And this guy had said, ‘I just want to learn how to fly for a joy ride.’ There were pages detailing suspicion of him. The agents then sought emergency, not just the normal Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act request to search his belongings. They actually identified that he could fly into the World Trade Center from the start. Here’s where I come in. After 9/11, FBI Director Mueller went before the cameras and said, ‘We didn’t know any of this. We could have maybe prevented 9/11 if we’d had any intelligence.’ I actually got on the phone and said, ‘That’s not a good thing to say because there was a lot of intelligence.’ Dick Cheney had fought tooth and nail against any accountability. But in the spring of 2002, I get this call: ‘Well, Colleen, you’re going to be one of the people called to talk to the investigators of the Joint Intelligence Committee.’ And when I got the call, I went, ‘oh my gosh, there’s been a cover up.’ Now you can’t say that. Cover up is a verboten word. You can’t say cover up. But you know what? That’s what it was. After 9/11, no one would admit that they had all this information. Watch our full interview with Coleen to hear how she risked her job, and possibly even her life, to break the information out of the FBI. 00:00 Intro 00:44 Palantir's Alex Karp goes insane trying to sell AI 03:16 Corey Booker can't say no to bombs for Israel 05:31 JD Vance is losing control in Iran 06:48 Coleen Rowley interview: What really happened before 9/11? 21:44 Did you ever fear you'd be imprisoned? Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
47 MIN