<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0" xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns:googleplay="http://www.google.com/schemas/play-podcasts/1.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[Useful Idiots ]]></title><description><![CDATA[Useful Idiots is an informative and irreverent politics podcast. ]]></description><link>https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com</link><image><url>https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ijBb!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb8985c73-d746-4cab-932c-9bbc0eac7469_1170x1170.png</url><title>Useful Idiots </title><link>https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com</link></image><generator>Substack</generator><lastBuildDate>Sat, 02 May 2026 23:28:24 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/feed" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><copyright><![CDATA[Matt Taibbi]]></copyright><language><![CDATA[en]]></language><webMaster><![CDATA[usefulidiots@substack.com]]></webMaster><itunes:owner><itunes:email><![CDATA[usefulidiots@substack.com]]></itunes:email><itunes:name><![CDATA[Katie Halper]]></itunes:name></itunes:owner><itunes:author><![CDATA[Katie Halper]]></itunes:author><googleplay:owner><![CDATA[usefulidiots@substack.com]]></googleplay:owner><googleplay:email><![CDATA[usefulidiots@substack.com]]></googleplay:email><googleplay:author><![CDATA[Katie Halper]]></googleplay:author><itunes:block><![CDATA[Yes]]></itunes:block><item><title><![CDATA[Journalist REVEALS Israelis Behind Secret Doxxing War on Americans w/ Mohsen Mahdawi & Jacqueline Sweet]]></title><description><![CDATA[Watch a free preview of our episode and subscribe for the full interview on the secret behind cracking the code to expose the Canary Mission]]></description><link>https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/journalist-reveals-israelis-behind</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/journalist-reveals-israelis-behind</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Katie Halper]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 01 May 2026 18:51:22 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/196125867/46baaa30535f0a9b75a29b72638b511e.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>Subscribe for the full episode at the bottom of the page. Watch a free preview here:</em></p><div id="youtube2-mPiY1r4hfow" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;mPiY1r4hfow&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/mPiY1r4hfow?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><p><em>Subscribers also get our Friday Free-for-All:</em></p><div class="digest-post-embed" data-attrs="{&quot;nodeId&quot;:&quot;d42a5ef5-2d4d-42f4-94ed-9c47a9bb6ed6&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;When even the Fox Business host thinks your economic plan stinks, you know something&#8217;s very wrong.&quot;,&quot;cta&quot;:&quot;Listen now&quot;,&quot;showBylines&quot;:true,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;lg&quot;,&quot;isEditorNode&quot;:true,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;\&quot;Gas prices may be up, but you'll be happy to know that Iranians can't feed themselves.\&quot;&quot;,&quot;publishedBylines&quot;:[{&quot;id&quot;:1109249,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Aaron Mat&#233;&quot;,&quot;bio&quot;:&quot;Journalist with The Grayzone, where I host \&quot;Pushback.\&quot; Contributor to Real Clear Investigations. Temporary co-host of \&quot;Useful Idiots.\&quot; In 2019, won the&nbsp;Izzy Award for outstanding achievement in independent media for Russiagate coverage in The Nation.&quot;,&quot;photo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/1701c374-bbb3-4c04-9c4f-01c9c9e5ad71_4417x4417.jpeg&quot;,&quot;is_guest&quot;:false,&quot;bestseller_tier&quot;:1000},{&quot;id&quot;:860072,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Katie Halper&quot;,&quot;bio&quot;:&quot;co-host of Useful Idiots podcast https://usefulidiots.substack.com/. Host of the Katie Halper Show podcast &amp; livestream. https://www.patreon.com/thekatiehalpershow&quot;,&quot;photo_url&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/bd2830a9-c6a3-42e7-ab1d-ab7f27a090bf_400x400.jpeg&quot;,&quot;is_guest&quot;:false,&quot;bestseller_tier&quot;:1000}],&quot;post_date&quot;:&quot;2026-05-01T11:01:00.628Z&quot;,&quot;cover_image&quot;:&quot;https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!592q!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d2323be-f55d-4a0c-87ed-c49d7bcf21c9_1280x720.jpeg&quot;,&quot;cover_image_alt&quot;:null,&quot;canonical_url&quot;:&quot;https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/gas-prices-may-be-up-but-youll-be&quot;,&quot;section_name&quot;:null,&quot;video_upload_id&quot;:null,&quot;id&quot;:196063138,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;podcast&quot;,&quot;reaction_count&quot;:33,&quot;comment_count&quot;:2,&quot;publication_id&quot;:304318,&quot;publication_name&quot;:&quot;Useful Idiots &quot;,&quot;publication_logo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ijBb!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb8985c73-d746-4cab-932c-9bbc0eac7469_1170x1170.png&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;youtube_url&quot;:null,&quot;show_links&quot;:null,&quot;feed_url&quot;:null}"></div><blockquote><p>&#8220;Being anonymous is very important to this group. And they had really good OPSEC, which is security to make sure they&#8217;re not found. When we saw their internal documents and communications, we found a marketing PowerPoint where they listed core values. And one of the core values was <strong>Anonymity to Scare the Enemy</strong>.&#8221;</p></blockquote><p>This is from independent investigative journalist Jacqueline Sweet, who recently exposed and revealed <a href="https://open.substack.com/pub/dropsitenews/p/canary-mission-israel-megamot-shalom-highest-paid-employees?r=je5va&amp;utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&amp;utm_medium=web">members of the Canary Mission</a> for <em>DropSite News</em>. The Canary Mission is a pro-Israel doxxing site which has been notoriously secretive since its creation in 2015, exposing and creating blacklists to target college students, professors, and others who have dared to even criticize Israel.</p><p>The Trump Administration has used their blacklists to kidnap, imprison, and target students for deportation.</p><p>One such student was Mohsen Mahdawi, Palestinian refugee, Columbia University graduate student, and organizer who was arrested when he appeared for a citizenship interview. He was detained for over two weeks and targeted for deportation over his pro-Palestine speech and activism in April 2025.</p><p>So for this week&#8217;s episode we spoke with both Mohsen and Jacqueline about the Canary Mission&#8217;s role in Mohsen&#8217;s case, Jacqueline exposing Canary Mission doxxers, and why Mohsen isn&#8217;t backing down in the face of threats from both the Canary Mission and the government:</p><blockquote><p>&#8220;If they succeeded in silencing me, it would have a much larger effect on others. So come at me harder and I will show you how I will continue to smile and I will speak up even louder. </p><p>I go around and people are sometimes surprised. They say, &#8216;What happened to you is really scaring me.&#8217; And I would say, &#8216;If you react to them, to their intimidation, that&#8217;s what they want us to do so we can lose sight, so we can&#8217;t envision, so we can&#8217;t imagine, so we can be pushed into survival mode.&#8217; </p><p>And I refuse to do that. I continue to plan. I continue to envision. And I keep telling them, keep coming harder because every time you do that, you&#8217;re pushing my profile much higher and you&#8217;re bringing more people into my life and you&#8217;re bringing me into more people&#8217;s life. So I&#8217;m making an opportunity out of it. And every crisis has an opportunity. This is my belief.</p></blockquote><p><em>Subscribe for the full interview where Jacqueline explains how she and DropSite News were able to break into the Operational Security (OPSEC) of Canary Mission to expose its members.</em></p><p><em>Subscribers keep us going by supporting our work, and also get Katie and Aaron&#8217;s analysis of the craziest moments of the week, the <a href="https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/gas-prices-may-be-up-but-youll-be?r=je5va&amp;utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&amp;utm_medium=web">Friday Free-for-All</a>: </em><strong>&#8220;Gas prices may be up, but you&#8217;ll be happy to know that Iranians can&#8217;t feed themselves.&#8221;</strong></p><p><em>Watch the full interviews here:</em></p>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA["Gas prices may be up, but you'll be happy to know that Iranians can't feed themselves."]]></title><description><![CDATA[National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett has a solution for Americans who can't pay their bills]]></description><link>https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/gas-prices-may-be-up-but-youll-be</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/gas-prices-may-be-up-but-youll-be</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Aaron Maté]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 01 May 2026 11:01:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!592q!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d2323be-f55d-4a0c-87ed-c49d7bcf21c9_1280x720.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!592q!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d2323be-f55d-4a0c-87ed-c49d7bcf21c9_1280x720.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!592q!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d2323be-f55d-4a0c-87ed-c49d7bcf21c9_1280x720.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!592q!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d2323be-f55d-4a0c-87ed-c49d7bcf21c9_1280x720.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!592q!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d2323be-f55d-4a0c-87ed-c49d7bcf21c9_1280x720.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!592q!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d2323be-f55d-4a0c-87ed-c49d7bcf21c9_1280x720.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!592q!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d2323be-f55d-4a0c-87ed-c49d7bcf21c9_1280x720.jpeg" width="1280" height="720" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/2d2323be-f55d-4a0c-87ed-c49d7bcf21c9_1280x720.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:720,&quot;width&quot;:1280,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:132359,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/i/196063138?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d2323be-f55d-4a0c-87ed-c49d7bcf21c9_1280x720.jpeg&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!592q!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d2323be-f55d-4a0c-87ed-c49d7bcf21c9_1280x720.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!592q!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d2323be-f55d-4a0c-87ed-c49d7bcf21c9_1280x720.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!592q!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d2323be-f55d-4a0c-87ed-c49d7bcf21c9_1280x720.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!592q!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d2323be-f55d-4a0c-87ed-c49d7bcf21c9_1280x720.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>When even the Fox Business host thinks your economic plan stinks, you know something&#8217;s very wrong.</p><p>After gas prices have shot up and Americans face an affordability crisis due to Trump&#8217;s disastrous war-of-choice on Iran, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett somehow argues that this will help Republicans in upcoming elections.</p><p>&#8220;People vote their wallets,&#8221; he tells Fox Business host Stuart Varney. &#8220;I don&#8217;t really trust surveys.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;But you gotta look at the numbers,&#8221; Varney says, doing his best to hide his concern in an effort to make Hassett look good, an apparently impossible and thankless job. &#8220;I mean, you got an average of regular [gas] of $4.35 a gallon. It's up 7 cents overnight. Diesel is $5.60. That hits voters hard. Can you give us any idea about when they&#8217;re going to come down?&#8221;</p><p>And to this, the always-grinning Hassett gives one of the most psychopathic and out-of-touch answers we&#8217;ve heard yet on a Friday Free-for-All:</p><p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; he smirks, thinking he has the perfect solution for Americans who are struggling to pay for gas and feed their children. &#8220;It you look at the situation in Iran, the Iranian economy is completely on the ropes, they&#8217;re running out of food, and a huge amount of the feed that goes to their animals is having trouble getting through the gulf.&#8221;</p><p>So the next time you&#8217;re stressed about your bills, Americans, just remember, Iranians can&#8217;t feed themselves because of murderous sanctions imposed on them by the US. Kevin Hassett thinks that&#8217;ll make you feel all better.</p><p>Plus, Bill Maher gives the most snowflake answer imaginable for why he thinks he&#8217;s been &#8220;soft canceled,&#8221; EU President Ursula von der Leyen says she&#8217;s stopping human rights abuses against Iranian women (by killing them), Pete Hegseth gets destroyed by Useful Idiots guest Rep. Ro Khanna, and so much more madness.</p><p>Subscribe to support our work and watch the full episode here:</p>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Full episode: Journalist REVEALS Israelis Behind Secret Doxxing War on Americans]]></title><description><![CDATA[Subscribers get the full interview early, including the secret behind cracking the code to expose the Canary Mission]]></description><link>https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/full-episode-journalist-reveals-israelis</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/full-episode-journalist-reveals-israelis</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Katie Halper]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 01 May 2026 03:21:34 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/youtube/w_728,c_limit/9T1S-W6waEc" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA["Tone Down the Rhetoric!" Say US Officials Who Want to Destroy All of Iranian Civilization]]></title><description><![CDATA[Fighting broke out across corporate media in the wake of a shooting outside the White House Correspondents' Dinner]]></description><link>https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/tone-down-the-rhetoric-say-us-officials</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/tone-down-the-rhetoric-say-us-officials</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Katie Halper]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 27 Apr 2026 16:07:03 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/195642234/6572b577e4c28991b929f56ddcbac7df.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>Don&#8217;t miss our recap of the craziest moments in corporate media:</em></p><div class="digest-post-embed" data-attrs="{&quot;nodeId&quot;:&quot;031fbf8d-8ac4-4ee9-8996-a35dfbb14187&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&#8220;What should happen if the Iranians don&#8217;t come to the table after 72 hours?&#8221;&quot;,&quot;cta&quot;:&quot;Listen now&quot;,&quot;showBylines&quot;:true,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;lg&quot;,&quot;isEditorNode&quot;:true,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Washington Post Columnist: \&quot;Kill the Iranian Leaders That Don't Want a Deal.\&quot;&quot;,&quot;publishedBylines&quot;:[{&quot;id&quot;:860072,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Katie Halper&quot;,&quot;bio&quot;:&quot;co-host of Useful Idiots podcast https://usefulidiots.substack.com/. Host of the Katie Halper Show podcast &amp; livestream. https://www.patreon.com/thekatiehalpershow&quot;,&quot;photo_url&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/bd2830a9-c6a3-42e7-ab1d-ab7f27a090bf_400x400.jpeg&quot;,&quot;is_guest&quot;:false,&quot;bestseller_tier&quot;:1000},{&quot;id&quot;:1109249,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Aaron Mat&#233;&quot;,&quot;bio&quot;:&quot;Journalist with The Grayzone, where I host \&quot;Pushback.\&quot; Contributor to Real Clear Investigations. Temporary co-host of \&quot;Useful Idiots.\&quot; In 2019, won the&nbsp;Izzy Award for outstanding achievement in independent media for Russiagate coverage in The Nation.&quot;,&quot;photo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/1701c374-bbb3-4c04-9c4f-01c9c9e5ad71_4417x4417.jpeg&quot;,&quot;is_guest&quot;:false,&quot;bestseller_tier&quot;:1000}],&quot;post_date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-24T11:03:19.186Z&quot;,&quot;cover_image&quot;:&quot;https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!b1Wu!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd951ffed-81ca-4fac-8b3f-fa29a2d7745a_1280x720.jpeg&quot;,&quot;cover_image_alt&quot;:null,&quot;canonical_url&quot;:&quot;https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/washington-post-columnist-kill-the&quot;,&quot;section_name&quot;:null,&quot;video_upload_id&quot;:null,&quot;id&quot;:195295750,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;podcast&quot;,&quot;reaction_count&quot;:45,&quot;comment_count&quot;:1,&quot;publication_id&quot;:304318,&quot;publication_name&quot;:&quot;Useful Idiots &quot;,&quot;publication_logo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ijBb!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb8985c73-d746-4cab-932c-9bbc0eac7469_1170x1170.png&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;youtube_url&quot;:null,&quot;show_links&quot;:null,&quot;feed_url&quot;:null}"></div><p><em>Watch this week&#8217;s Monday Mourning here:</em></p><div id="youtube2-D4_jexx9d58" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;D4_jexx9d58&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/D4_jexx9d58?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><p>After a shooting outside the White House Correspondents&#8217; Dinner, corporate media erupted in fights, with Republicans and CNN hosts alike pointing blame at Democrats for &#8220;using heated rhetoric&#8221; against President Trump.</p><p>Meanwhile, there was no discussion on these shows of the girls&#8217; elementary school that the US bombed in Iran, nor the hospitals in Palestine, nor the apartment buildings in Lebanon. Heated rhetoric, according to Israeli activists like CNN&#8217;s Dana Bash, only goes one way.</p><p>Katie and Aaron sift through a dense slate of Sunday morning news shows, analyzing and debunking lies about the shooting as well as, you guessed it, more warmongering against Iran.</p><p>It was a brutal one for us to watch. Like the YouTube stream or subscribe to us here on Substack to help support our work. Thanks for being part of the UI community!</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Join us! Join us! Join us!</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Iran Forces Israel To Backpedal in Lebanon w/ Mohamad Hasan Sweidan ]]></title><description><![CDATA[Plus see our bonus episode: Washington Post Columnist says "Kill the Iranian Leaders That Don't Want a Deal."]]></description><link>https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/iran-forces-israel-to-backpedal-in</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/iran-forces-israel-to-backpedal-in</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Aaron Maté]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2026 15:53:38 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/195355754/050f451b8a58668548fa2072e622e7b1.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>This interview is not paywalled so it can be heard by everyone. Support our work and get the <a href="https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/ad-free-iran-forces-israel-to-backpedal?r=je5va&amp;utm_campaign=post&amp;utm_medium=web">ad-free version here</a>.</em></p><div id="youtube2-z75lmbNOwqQ" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;z75lmbNOwqQ&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/z75lmbNOwqQ?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><p><em>Subscribers get Katie and Aaron&#8217;s recap of the craziest moments on corporate media this week:</em></p><div class="digest-post-embed" data-attrs="{&quot;nodeId&quot;:&quot;30ffec32-b598-4955-9e05-7ce70e749aab&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&#8220;What should happen if the Iranians don&#8217;t come to the table after 72 hours?&#8221;&quot;,&quot;cta&quot;:&quot;Listen now&quot;,&quot;showBylines&quot;:true,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;lg&quot;,&quot;isEditorNode&quot;:true,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Washington Post Columnist: \&quot;Kill the Iranian Leaders That Don't Want a Deal.\&quot;&quot;,&quot;publishedBylines&quot;:[{&quot;id&quot;:860072,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Katie Halper&quot;,&quot;bio&quot;:&quot;co-host of Useful Idiots podcast https://usefulidiots.substack.com/. Host of the Katie Halper Show podcast &amp; livestream. https://www.patreon.com/thekatiehalpershow&quot;,&quot;photo_url&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/bd2830a9-c6a3-42e7-ab1d-ab7f27a090bf_400x400.jpeg&quot;,&quot;is_guest&quot;:false,&quot;bestseller_tier&quot;:1000},{&quot;id&quot;:1109249,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Aaron Mat&#233;&quot;,&quot;bio&quot;:&quot;Journalist with The Grayzone, where I host \&quot;Pushback.\&quot; Contributor to Real Clear Investigations. Temporary co-host of \&quot;Useful Idiots.\&quot; In 2019, won the&nbsp;Izzy Award for outstanding achievement in independent media for Russiagate coverage in The Nation.&quot;,&quot;photo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/1701c374-bbb3-4c04-9c4f-01c9c9e5ad71_4417x4417.jpeg&quot;,&quot;is_guest&quot;:false,&quot;bestseller_tier&quot;:1000}],&quot;post_date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-24T11:03:19.186Z&quot;,&quot;cover_image&quot;:&quot;https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!b1Wu!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd951ffed-81ca-4fac-8b3f-fa29a2d7745a_1280x720.jpeg&quot;,&quot;cover_image_alt&quot;:null,&quot;canonical_url&quot;:&quot;https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/washington-post-columnist-kill-the&quot;,&quot;section_name&quot;:null,&quot;video_upload_id&quot;:null,&quot;id&quot;:195295750,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;podcast&quot;,&quot;reaction_count&quot;:23,&quot;comment_count&quot;:1,&quot;publication_id&quot;:304318,&quot;publication_name&quot;:&quot;Useful Idiots &quot;,&quot;publication_logo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ijBb!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb8985c73-d746-4cab-932c-9bbc0eac7469_1170x1170.png&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;youtube_url&quot;:null,&quot;show_links&quot;:null,&quot;feed_url&quot;:null}"></div><p>This week we&#8217;re looking at the latest in Trump&#8217;s regime-change war on Iran and how it&#8217;s spilled over into Lebanon, where Israel has just killed another journalist, Amal Khalil. </p><p>Khalil was assassinated in a &#8220;double tap&#8221; strike while she was reporting in South Lebanon: the Israelis first hit her car, and then the house she fled to in an attempt to seek refuge. Israeli soldiers then blocked rescue workers from reaching her and she died under the rubble.</p><p>She is the latest in the hundreds of journalists who have been targeted and killed by Israel since October 7th.</p><p>To discuss Amal Khalil, the broader regime-change war in Iran, and why Israel is &#8220;afraid&#8221; of invading Lebanon, we speak with Mohamad Hasan Sweidan, researcher and academic based in Beirut.</p><blockquote><p><strong>Useful Idiots: </strong>What explains Hezbollah&#8217;s resilience? They lost their leader, they suffered very big setbacks with the pager attacks, and lost their land bridge in Syria, through which they could receive arms from Iran. </p><p>But yet on the ground in Lebanon, they&#8217;re still able to fight toe-to-toe with Israel and impose serious costs, to the point where now Israel is afraid of invading and engaging in another land war. </p><p>So what explains how Hezbollah, which many people thought was on its last legs, has been able to persevere and still be effective militarily?</p><p><strong>Mohamad Hasan Sweidan: </strong>There are three main reasons. </p><p>Number one is ideology. Hezbollah has a very strong religious ideology that doesn&#8217;t believe in backing off. It believes it should continue fighting the oppressor until the end. </p><p>Number two is that Hezbollah doesn&#8217;t have a choice. If they don&#8217;t rebuild themselves and if they don&#8217;t return to the fight, then all of Hezbollah will be destroyed. It&#8217;s a battle of no choice. And when you are in a battle of no choice, you continue till the end. </p><p>Number three: Hezbollah represents a huge amount of the people inside of the country. There are Lebanese people who believe in resistance. So if Hezbollah decides to disarm, then you have other Lebanese people who will hold the weapons and go defend the land. Because history proved that the only way to defend the land is when you become a resistance. </p><p>So there are three main reasons. Ideology, battle of no choice, and the people. When you have these main factors, you don&#8217;t have really a choice other than trying to resist, even if the cost or the price of resistance is very high.</p></blockquote><p><em>Subscribe to our show to support our work, get extended interviews, ad-free episodes, and our weekly recaps: The <a href="https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/washington-post-columnist-kill-the?r=je5va&amp;utm_campaign=post&amp;utm_medium=web">Friday Free-for-All</a></em></p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Join our crew!</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Washington Post Columnist: "Kill the Iranian Leaders That Don't Want a Deal."]]></title><description><![CDATA[Plus, a Congressional candidate thinks saying "genocide" is as bad as the N-word]]></description><link>https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/washington-post-columnist-kill-the</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/washington-post-columnist-kill-the</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Katie Halper]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2026 11:03:19 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!b1Wu!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd951ffed-81ca-4fac-8b3f-fa29a2d7745a_1280x720.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!b1Wu!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd951ffed-81ca-4fac-8b3f-fa29a2d7745a_1280x720.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!b1Wu!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd951ffed-81ca-4fac-8b3f-fa29a2d7745a_1280x720.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!b1Wu!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd951ffed-81ca-4fac-8b3f-fa29a2d7745a_1280x720.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!b1Wu!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd951ffed-81ca-4fac-8b3f-fa29a2d7745a_1280x720.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!b1Wu!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd951ffed-81ca-4fac-8b3f-fa29a2d7745a_1280x720.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!b1Wu!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd951ffed-81ca-4fac-8b3f-fa29a2d7745a_1280x720.jpeg" width="1280" height="720" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/d951ffed-81ca-4fac-8b3f-fa29a2d7745a_1280x720.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:720,&quot;width&quot;:1280,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:127943,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/i/195295750?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd951ffed-81ca-4fac-8b3f-fa29a2d7745a_1280x720.jpeg&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!b1Wu!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd951ffed-81ca-4fac-8b3f-fa29a2d7745a_1280x720.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!b1Wu!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd951ffed-81ca-4fac-8b3f-fa29a2d7745a_1280x720.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!b1Wu!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd951ffed-81ca-4fac-8b3f-fa29a2d7745a_1280x720.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!b1Wu!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd951ffed-81ca-4fac-8b3f-fa29a2d7745a_1280x720.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>&#8220;What should happen if the Iranians don&#8217;t come to the table after 72 hours?&#8221;</p><p>This was asked to <em>Washington Post</em> columnist Marc Thiessen, author of such lines as &#8220;Iran is a death cult running a country,&#8221; who has previously campaigned for the use of enhanced interrogation techniques (AKA torture). You know, a real <em>Washington Post </em>type.</p><p>His answer: &#8220;If there are two factions in Iran, one that wants a deal and one that doesn&#8217;t, let&#8217;s kill the ones that don&#8217;t want a deal.&#8221; He pauses to laugh, and continues, &#8220;It&#8217;s that simple! We&#8217;ve killed over 50 Iranian leaders so far, let&#8217;s end the ceasefire and finish the job.&#8221;</p><p>It&#8217;s mafia-boss mentality with a war crime twist. When the New Nuremberg Trials begin, remember to add Thiessen to the list of complicit journalists, under T next to Tapper.</p><p>Katie and Aaron are all over this, plus about a million other war-crime whispers strewn across corporate media this week: Bill Maher is devastated over Democrats turning on his beloved Israel, former Biden National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan can&#8217;t believe anyone (other than himself) would help Israel commit mass murder, a Congressman grossly refers to the US as a &#8220;dominant predator,&#8221; and more skincrawllers all over mainstream media.</p><p>It&#8217;s dirty work watching all this news. If you want to support the show, please consider subscribing. You can watch the full episode here:</p>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[*Ad-free* Iran Forces Israel To Backpedal in Lebanon w/ Mohamad Hasan Sweidan]]></title><description><![CDATA[Subscribe to support our work, get interviews early, and bonus content!]]></description><link>https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/ad-free-iran-forces-israel-to-backpedal</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/ad-free-iran-forces-israel-to-backpedal</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Matt Wilson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2026 01:22:14 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/youtube/w_728,c_limit/jeyg9JbiGzo" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[
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          </a>
      </p>
   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[They got money for wars but can't feed the poor]]></title><description><![CDATA[The Trump Admin packed corporate media to argue why we need to blow up Iranian bridges, and why destroying civilian infrastructure isn't a war crime (unless Iran does it)]]></description><link>https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/they-got-money-for-wars-but-cant</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/they-got-money-for-wars-but-cant</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Aaron Maté]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 20 Apr 2026 16:48:21 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/194810797/b095140c384346e3abba02562a398795.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="youtube2-1CXavn41pmI" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;1CXavn41pmI&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/1CXavn41pmI?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><p>This week, NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani gave an exclusive interview for Meet the Press where he proved that he&#8217;s been watching Useful Idiots by reciting Aaron&#8217;s favorite lyric:</p><p>&#8220;I wish the words of Tupac from the 90&#8217;s weren&#8217;t still prescient,&#8221; Mamdani told Kristen Welker. &#8220;But they continue to be true for too many which is that we always have money for war and not to feed the poor.&#8221;</p><p>This quote comes on a day when the corporate Sunday shows were flooded with US politicians defending Trump&#8217;s disastrous war-of-choice on Iran.</p><p>The UN&#8217;s Mike Waltz, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Skeletor Senator Rick Scott, and even former Biden official (and IDF soldier) Amos Hochstein packed the Sunday shows to claim why this expensive war that&#8217;s splintering the global economy is so necessary, and why blowing up civilian infrastructure is not only &#8220;not a war crime,&#8221; but necessary.</p><p>It&#8217;s this bipartisanship that helps us remember that we really do have a strong uniparty in the United States, all united in one goal: to make money off war instead of feeding the poor. And speaking of Zohran Mamdani, he met up this week with the king of bipartisan warmongering, Barack Obama:</p><div class="twitter-embed" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://x.com/fatima__m7md/status/2046078182994952196?s=20&quot;,&quot;full_text&quot;:&quot;aw this is so cute. speaking of buses do you all remember when Obama sent a 500-pound, laser-guided MK-82 bomb to hit a school bus in Yemen, killing 40 children on their way to a field trip.&quot;,&quot;username&quot;:&quot;fatima__m7md&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Fatima Mohammed&quot;,&quot;profile_image_url&quot;:&quot;https://pbs.substack.com/profile_images/1713021028744445955/WGS56pjV_normal.jpg&quot;,&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-20T04:07:07.000Z&quot;,&quot;photos&quot;:[],&quot;quoted_tweet&quot;:{&quot;full_text&quot;:&quot;Barack Obama and Zohran Mamdani sing &#8216;Wheels on the Bus&#8217; at a childcare center in the Bronx.&quot;,&quot;username&quot;:&quot;PopBase&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Pop Base&quot;,&quot;profile_image_url&quot;:&quot;https://pbs.substack.com/profile_images/1268086791443230737/BRGz4AiW_normal.jpg&quot;},&quot;reply_count&quot;:600,&quot;retweet_count&quot;:30382,&quot;like_count&quot;:141148,&quot;impression_count&quot;:3196097,&quot;expanded_url&quot;:null,&quot;video_url&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false}" data-component-name="Twitter2ToDOM"></div><p>It&#8217;s a jam-packed episode, and that&#8217;s not even getting to the ELECTRIC debate between Jake Tapper and Rep. Elise Stefanik, where two of the most annoying people in the world fight live on CNN. It&#8217;s the kind of stuff Useful Idiots was made for.</p><p>If you want to support our work, please consider subscribing to our show. You&#8217;ll also get tons of bonus content, like this:</p><div class="digest-post-embed" data-attrs="{&quot;nodeId&quot;:&quot;1048ee86-fb9f-41ef-b4d4-dc18b127f10b&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;This week, two lists were published which outed the biggest Zionist tools in US office: one for Republicans and one for Dems, because here in the US we have a bipartisan array of political suckage.&quot;,&quot;cta&quot;:&quot;Listen now&quot;,&quot;showBylines&quot;:true,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;lg&quot;,&quot;isEditorNode&quot;:true,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Alan Dershowitz Threatens Trump If He Doesn't Follow Israeli Orders&quot;,&quot;publishedBylines&quot;:[{&quot;id&quot;:1109249,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Aaron Mat&#233;&quot;,&quot;bio&quot;:&quot;Journalist with The Grayzone, where I host \&quot;Pushback.\&quot; Contributor to Real Clear Investigations. Temporary co-host of \&quot;Useful Idiots.\&quot; In 2019, won the&nbsp;Izzy Award for outstanding achievement in independent media for Russiagate coverage in The Nation.&quot;,&quot;photo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/1701c374-bbb3-4c04-9c4f-01c9c9e5ad71_4417x4417.jpeg&quot;,&quot;is_guest&quot;:false,&quot;bestseller_tier&quot;:1000},{&quot;id&quot;:860072,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Katie Halper&quot;,&quot;bio&quot;:&quot;co-host of Useful Idiots podcast https://usefulidiots.substack.com/. Host of the Katie Halper Show podcast &amp; livestream. https://www.patreon.com/thekatiehalpershow&quot;,&quot;photo_url&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/bd2830a9-c6a3-42e7-ab1d-ab7f27a090bf_400x400.jpeg&quot;,&quot;is_guest&quot;:false,&quot;bestseller_tier&quot;:1000}],&quot;post_date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-17T11:03:31.915Z&quot;,&quot;cover_image&quot;:&quot;https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!xO7n!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc41cceb-10c0-442f-af61-a8ddd82400e8_1280x720.jpeg&quot;,&quot;cover_image_alt&quot;:null,&quot;canonical_url&quot;:&quot;https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/alan-dershowitz-threatens-trump-if&quot;,&quot;section_name&quot;:null,&quot;video_upload_id&quot;:null,&quot;id&quot;:194461685,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;podcast&quot;,&quot;reaction_count&quot;:114,&quot;comment_count&quot;:6,&quot;publication_id&quot;:304318,&quot;publication_name&quot;:&quot;Useful Idiots &quot;,&quot;publication_logo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ijBb!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb8985c73-d746-4cab-932c-9bbc0eac7469_1170x1170.png&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;youtube_url&quot;:null,&quot;show_links&quot;:null,&quot;feed_url&quot;:null}"></div><p>Thanks for watching!</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[US & Israel PLUMMET Globally After Iran and Cuba Disasters w/ Cuban Diplomat and the Makdisi Brothers]]></title><description><![CDATA[Watch a free preview of our episode and subscribe for the full hour-long interview where the Makdisi Professors debate the legitimacy of the "ceasefire" in Lebanon]]></description><link>https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/us-and-israel-plummet-globally-after</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/us-and-israel-plummet-globally-after</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Katie Halper]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 17 Apr 2026 16:32:49 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/194527819/92cc44c154c51dabd46c70b499bda0a0.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>Subscribe for the <a href="https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/full-episode-us-and-israel-plummet?r=je5va&amp;utm_campaign=post&amp;utm_medium=web">full episode</a> at the bottom of the page. Watch a free preview here:</em></p><div id="youtube2-8oFhYrHk8mo" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;8oFhYrHk8mo&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/8oFhYrHk8mo?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><p><em>Subscribers also get our Friday Free-for-All:</em></p><div class="digest-post-embed" data-attrs="{&quot;nodeId&quot;:&quot;ff8fddac-39ce-4078-9702-5b2a652f07e7&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;This week, two lists were published which outed the biggest Zionist tools in US office: one for Republicans and one for Dems, because here in the US we have a bipartisan array of political suckage.&quot;,&quot;cta&quot;:&quot;Listen now&quot;,&quot;showBylines&quot;:true,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;lg&quot;,&quot;isEditorNode&quot;:true,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Alan Dershowitz Threatens Trump If He Doesn't Follow Israeli Orders&quot;,&quot;publishedBylines&quot;:[{&quot;id&quot;:1109249,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Aaron Mat&#233;&quot;,&quot;bio&quot;:&quot;Journalist with The Grayzone, where I host \&quot;Pushback.\&quot; Contributor to Real Clear Investigations. Temporary co-host of \&quot;Useful Idiots.\&quot; In 2019, won the&nbsp;Izzy Award for outstanding achievement in independent media for Russiagate coverage in The Nation.&quot;,&quot;photo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/1701c374-bbb3-4c04-9c4f-01c9c9e5ad71_4417x4417.jpeg&quot;,&quot;is_guest&quot;:false,&quot;bestseller_tier&quot;:1000},{&quot;id&quot;:860072,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Katie Halper&quot;,&quot;bio&quot;:&quot;co-host of Useful Idiots podcast https://usefulidiots.substack.com/. Host of the Katie Halper Show podcast &amp; livestream. https://www.patreon.com/thekatiehalpershow&quot;,&quot;photo_url&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/bd2830a9-c6a3-42e7-ab1d-ab7f27a090bf_400x400.jpeg&quot;,&quot;is_guest&quot;:false,&quot;bestseller_tier&quot;:1000}],&quot;post_date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-17T11:03:31.915Z&quot;,&quot;cover_image&quot;:&quot;https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!xO7n!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc41cceb-10c0-442f-af61-a8ddd82400e8_1280x720.jpeg&quot;,&quot;cover_image_alt&quot;:null,&quot;canonical_url&quot;:&quot;https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/alan-dershowitz-threatens-trump-if&quot;,&quot;section_name&quot;:null,&quot;video_upload_id&quot;:null,&quot;id&quot;:194461685,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;podcast&quot;,&quot;reaction_count&quot;:36,&quot;comment_count&quot;:2,&quot;publication_id&quot;:304318,&quot;publication_name&quot;:&quot;Useful Idiots &quot;,&quot;publication_logo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ijBb!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb8985c73-d746-4cab-932c-9bbc0eac7469_1170x1170.png&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;youtube_url&quot;:null,&quot;show_links&quot;:null,&quot;feed_url&quot;:null}"></div><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><p>We&#8217;ve got another Useful Idiots Double Header this week: Second Secretary of the Cuban Embassy to the US David Ramirez Alvarez, as well as the Palestinian-Lebanese hosts of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@MakdisiStreet">Makdisi Street Podcast</a> Professors Ussama and Saree Makdisi.</p><p>And while their respective topics take place a world away from each other (Cuba and Lebanon), a common theme connected both discussions: the US and Israel are losing global support rapidly as they kill and starve innocent people for sinister political reasons.</p><blockquote><p><strong>Saree Makdisi:</strong> There&#8217;s a fundamental split taking place before our eyes. The recent polls show this very, very dramatic shift in American negative perceptions of Israel and Zionism. It&#8217;s most pronounced on the left of the spectrum, eighty-plus percent of Democrats. But when you look at people under fifty, even on the right, even among Republican Evangelicals, they&#8217;re souring too because they&#8217;re like, &#8216;What the hell, what are we supporting?&#8217;</p><p><strong>Ussama Makdisi: </strong>I mean, you can&#8217;t slaughter children. You can&#8217;t starve a population the way they did in Gaza.</p><p><strong>David Ramirez Alvarez:</strong> We don&#8217;t say that the US has sponsored terrorism against Cuba. What we say is that many of the terrorist actions that have been executed against Cuba have been financed and organized from the US. And polls have shown that the American people don&#8217;t even support the US blockade. They&#8217;re losing support as they make [the people of Cuba] suffer.</p></blockquote><p>The US and its Israel arm have been increasing their attacks against civilians, schools, hospitals, and children, either through outright war crimes and terrorism or a brutal criminal blockade. Subscribe for the full hour-long interview with Saree and Ussama Makdisi for a debate on whether the US is being controlled by Israel or if they have their own motive for following Israel into war.</p><p>You&#8217;ll also get our <a href="https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/alan-dershowitz-threatens-trump-if?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&amp;utm_medium=web">Friday Free-for-All</a>: <strong>"Step Aside!": Chuck Schumer LOSES Dem Support as Israel Opinion Plummets</strong></p><p>Thanks for supporting our work, subscribe to watch the full interviews here:</p>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Alan Dershowitz Threatens Trump If He Doesn't Follow Israeli Orders]]></title><description><![CDATA[Plus, "Step Aside!": Chuck Schumer LOSES Dem Support as Israel Opinion Plummets]]></description><link>https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/alan-dershowitz-threatens-trump-if</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/alan-dershowitz-threatens-trump-if</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Aaron Maté]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 17 Apr 2026 11:03:31 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!xO7n!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc41cceb-10c0-442f-af61-a8ddd82400e8_1280x720.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!xO7n!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc41cceb-10c0-442f-af61-a8ddd82400e8_1280x720.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!xO7n!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc41cceb-10c0-442f-af61-a8ddd82400e8_1280x720.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!xO7n!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc41cceb-10c0-442f-af61-a8ddd82400e8_1280x720.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!xO7n!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc41cceb-10c0-442f-af61-a8ddd82400e8_1280x720.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!xO7n!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc41cceb-10c0-442f-af61-a8ddd82400e8_1280x720.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!xO7n!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc41cceb-10c0-442f-af61-a8ddd82400e8_1280x720.jpeg" width="1280" height="720" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/dc41cceb-10c0-442f-af61-a8ddd82400e8_1280x720.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:720,&quot;width&quot;:1280,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:121660,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/i/194461685?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc41cceb-10c0-442f-af61-a8ddd82400e8_1280x720.jpeg&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!xO7n!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc41cceb-10c0-442f-af61-a8ddd82400e8_1280x720.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!xO7n!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc41cceb-10c0-442f-af61-a8ddd82400e8_1280x720.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!xO7n!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc41cceb-10c0-442f-af61-a8ddd82400e8_1280x720.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!xO7n!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc41cceb-10c0-442f-af61-a8ddd82400e8_1280x720.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>This week, two lists were published which outed the biggest Zionist tools in US office: one for Republicans and one for Dems, because here in the US we have a bipartisan array of political suckage.</p><p>First the Dems: Bernie Sanders introduced a bill in the Senate that would block the sale of bombs to Israel. It failed, in part because of seven Democrats who betrayed their base to side with the AIPAC lobbyists who own them:</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wvoA!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf4068c3-0af9-43ad-938a-8123e86a749b_1286x608.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wvoA!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf4068c3-0af9-43ad-938a-8123e86a749b_1286x608.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wvoA!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf4068c3-0af9-43ad-938a-8123e86a749b_1286x608.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wvoA!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf4068c3-0af9-43ad-938a-8123e86a749b_1286x608.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wvoA!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf4068c3-0af9-43ad-938a-8123e86a749b_1286x608.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wvoA!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf4068c3-0af9-43ad-938a-8123e86a749b_1286x608.png" width="614" height="290.2892690513219" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/df4068c3-0af9-43ad-938a-8123e86a749b_1286x608.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:608,&quot;width&quot;:1286,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:614,&quot;bytes&quot;:103424,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/i/194461685?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf4068c3-0af9-43ad-938a-8123e86a749b_1286x608.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wvoA!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf4068c3-0af9-43ad-938a-8123e86a749b_1286x608.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wvoA!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf4068c3-0af9-43ad-938a-8123e86a749b_1286x608.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wvoA!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf4068c3-0af9-43ad-938a-8123e86a749b_1286x608.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wvoA!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf4068c3-0af9-43ad-938a-8123e86a749b_1286x608.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>The list includes arch-Zionist / Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, who, as the the plummeting of Israel&#8217;s reputation spreads to the Senate, has begun facing calls from his colleagues to resign in shame.</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><p>The second list shows, after years of being called a foreign agent in the pocket of Putin by corporate spokespeople at CNN and MSNBC, that Donald Trump really is a foreign agent. It&#8217;s just not the Russians who own him.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!y5hI!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc9da2694-e822-4442-a861-3c204ddc24ea_994x402.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!y5hI!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc9da2694-e822-4442-a861-3c204ddc24ea_994x402.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!y5hI!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc9da2694-e822-4442-a861-3c204ddc24ea_994x402.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!y5hI!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc9da2694-e822-4442-a861-3c204ddc24ea_994x402.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!y5hI!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc9da2694-e822-4442-a861-3c204ddc24ea_994x402.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!y5hI!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc9da2694-e822-4442-a861-3c204ddc24ea_994x402.png" width="600" height="242.6559356136821" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/c9da2694-e822-4442-a861-3c204ddc24ea_994x402.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:402,&quot;width&quot;:994,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:600,&quot;bytes&quot;:71676,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/i/194461685?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc9da2694-e822-4442-a861-3c204ddc24ea_994x402.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!y5hI!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc9da2694-e822-4442-a861-3c204ddc24ea_994x402.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!y5hI!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc9da2694-e822-4442-a861-3c204ddc24ea_994x402.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!y5hI!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc9da2694-e822-4442-a861-3c204ddc24ea_994x402.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!y5hI!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc9da2694-e822-4442-a861-3c204ddc24ea_994x402.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Of this list of Trump owners, 4 of 5 are Jewish and all are radical Zionists. Which is how Epstein-lawyer Alan Dershowitz has now begun blackmailing the president, saying that Israel will &#8220;fight, even if it means confrontation with President Trump. We will take care of Trump. I met with him&#8230;and he was very receptive about Iran&#8230;and Miriam Adelson has met with him&#8230;&#8221;</p><p>Join Katie and Aaron for a deep dive into the Zionist lobby&#8217;s dealings with Trump and greedy Dems, plus Stephen Miller nearly slips up and calls for a &#8220;final solution&#8221; carried out by Israel, and Fox News&#8217; Maria Bartiromo uses ChatGPT to get some questionable information.</p><p>Thanks for supporting our work, subscribe to watch the full episode here:</p>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Full episode: US & Israel PLUMMET Globally After Iran and Cuba Disasters]]></title><description><![CDATA[Subscribers get over an hour of bonus content with the Makdisi Brothers and our Friday Free-for-All: Alan Dershowitz Threatens Trump If He Doesn't Follow Israeli Orders]]></description><link>https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/full-episode-us-and-israel-plummet</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/full-episode-us-and-israel-plummet</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Matt Wilson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 17 Apr 2026 02:57:16 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/youtube/w_728,c_limit/OibOEjLw5W8" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[“No one is willing to trade lower gas prices for Iran becoming a nuclear state.”]]></title><description><![CDATA[And other new GOP talking points to cover for the "economic disaster" of Trump's war on Iran]]></description><link>https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/no-one-is-willing-to-trade-lower</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/no-one-is-willing-to-trade-lower</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Katie Halper]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 13 Apr 2026 16:17:33 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/194085314/3332003a53183fb17574cfb34489b23b.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="youtube2-jBd4KOFjqTY" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;jBd4KOFjqTY&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/jBd4KOFjqTY?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><p>This week, after it went unreported on mainstream media that Israel destroyed a synagogue in Iran, Trump doubled down on the US-Israeli threat to Iranian civilization:</p><p>&#8220;I could take out Iran in one day. In one hour, I could have their entire energy, everything. And the other thing you take out are their bridges. I took out one just to show them."</p><p>Which means that this week&#8217;s Sunday shows have Republicans scrambling to cover for Trump&#8217;s increasingly unpopular war of aggression that has set fire to oil prices and the global economy.</p><p>In one of our favorite clips from last week&#8217;s <a href="https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/dana-bashs-obsessive-hatred-for-hasan?r=je5va&amp;utm_campaign=post&amp;utm_medium=web">Friday Free-For-All</a>, a CNBC anchor asked her guest: &#8220;President Trump has threatened to destroy a civilization. How does an investor process that? Is it a bigger upside risk or downside risk?&#8221;</p><p>So to answer this ridiculous question comes a cavalry of panicked Republicans like Mike Turner, who once again sputters through an interview, managing to get enough words out to claim that Americans wouldn&#8217;t prefer &#8220;lower gas prices&#8221; to the made-up threat of &#8220;Iran becoming a nuclear state,&#8221; Tim Burchett, Ron Johnson, and more hapless Republicans who aren&#8217;t doing much to help sway the voters.</p><p>Plus, we&#8217;re making fun of Israeli Ambassador Michael Leiter who&#8217;s now attacking the loyal <em>New York Times</em>, former Secretary of State Antony Blinken who&#8217;s trying to slip out of the blame for enabling Israel to begin it&#8217;s genocidal tirade, and NBC&#8217;s Kristen Welker for getting absolutely wrecked by Cuba&#8217;s President Miguel D&#237;az-Canel in an embarrassing exclusive interview.</p><p>Thanks for your support of our work, please subscribe to keep us going and get great content like this:</p><div class="digest-post-embed" data-attrs="{&quot;nodeId&quot;:&quot;4f33b871-083d-40f7-8a44-e18630f21dae&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Instead of reporting on the US and Israel&#8217;s mass assault this week on civilian infrastructure in Iran, Lebanon, and Palestine, CNN&#8217;s Dana Bash decided to give a rant about leftist Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who has been campaigning in Michigan for Democratic Senate candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed.&quot;,&quot;cta&quot;:&quot;Listen now&quot;,&quot;showBylines&quot;:true,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;lg&quot;,&quot;isEditorNode&quot;:true,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Dana Bash's Obsessive Hatred for Hasan Piker Reveals CNN's Fake Journalism Mentality&quot;,&quot;publishedBylines&quot;:[{&quot;id&quot;:860072,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Katie Halper&quot;,&quot;bio&quot;:&quot;co-host of Useful Idiots podcast https://usefulidiots.substack.com/. Host of the Katie Halper Show podcast &amp; livestream. https://www.patreon.com/thekatiehalpershow&quot;,&quot;photo_url&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/bd2830a9-c6a3-42e7-ab1d-ab7f27a090bf_400x400.jpeg&quot;,&quot;is_guest&quot;:false,&quot;bestseller_tier&quot;:1000},{&quot;id&quot;:1109249,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Aaron Mat&#233;&quot;,&quot;bio&quot;:&quot;Journalist with The Grayzone, where I host \&quot;Pushback.\&quot; Contributor to Real Clear Investigations. Temporary co-host of \&quot;Useful Idiots.\&quot; In 2019, won the&nbsp;Izzy Award for outstanding achievement in independent media for Russiagate coverage in The Nation.&quot;,&quot;photo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/1701c374-bbb3-4c04-9c4f-01c9c9e5ad71_4417x4417.jpeg&quot;,&quot;is_guest&quot;:false,&quot;bestseller_tier&quot;:1000}],&quot;post_date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-10T11:03:26.839Z&quot;,&quot;cover_image&quot;:&quot;https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8F2-!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F56b49205-9172-40a5-bfb8-98e9eaf6f476_1280x720.jpeg&quot;,&quot;cover_image_alt&quot;:null,&quot;canonical_url&quot;:&quot;https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/dana-bashs-obsessive-hatred-for-hasan&quot;,&quot;section_name&quot;:null,&quot;video_upload_id&quot;:null,&quot;id&quot;:193744381,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;podcast&quot;,&quot;reaction_count&quot;:63,&quot;comment_count&quot;:2,&quot;publication_id&quot;:304318,&quot;publication_name&quot;:&quot;Useful Idiots &quot;,&quot;publication_logo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ijBb!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb8985c73-d746-4cab-932c-9bbc0eac7469_1170x1170.png&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;youtube_url&quot;:null,&quot;show_links&quot;:null,&quot;feed_url&quot;:null}"></div><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[America’s “Strategic WEAKNESS” in Iran w/ Ex-State Dept Official Alan Eyre and Iranian Journalist Séamus Malekafzali]]></title><description><![CDATA[Watch a free preview of our episode and subscribe for the full analysis of what happens next in the Strait of Hormuz, whether this ceasefire is legit, and why the US secretly armed protesters in Iran]]></description><link>https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/americas-strategic-weakness-in-iran</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/americas-strategic-weakness-in-iran</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Aaron Maté]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 10 Apr 2026 16:15:18 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/193802014/596e13260249e3433eed86e69b6d3be9.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>Subscribe for the <a href="https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/full-episode-americas-strategic-weakness?r=je5va&amp;utm_campaign=post&amp;utm_medium=web">full episode</a> at the bottom of the page. Watch a free preview here:</em></p><div id="youtube2-39Nyvb86J64" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;39Nyvb86J64&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/39Nyvb86J64?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><p>This week, after Trump threatened to wipe out Iran&#8217;s civilization, he backed down and announced that he was instead accepting a two-week ceasefire with Iran. Israel responded to the ceasefire announcement by going on a rampage in Lebanon, killing well over 200 people, attacking civilian targets, including apartment buildings inside Beirut. </p><p>When Iran claimed that the U.S. is in violation of the ceasefire because of Israel&#8217;s continued attacks on Lebanon, Vice President J.D. Vance, touted by corporate media as a &#8220;skeptic&#8221; of Trump&#8217;s war, gave this response:</p><blockquote><p>&#8220;There&#8217;s a lot of bad faith negotiation going on. I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn&#8217;t. We never indicated that was going to be the case.</p><p>What we said is that the Israelis offered, frankly, <em>to check themselves a little bit</em> in Lebanon. Look, if Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart, that&#8217;s ultimately their choice. We think that would be dumb.&#8221;</p></blockquote><p>It&#8217;s just not factually true that Lebanon was never part of the ceasefire: Pakistan, the government that brokered the ceasefire, said explicitly that the ceasefire applies &#8220;everywhere including Lebanon.&#8221;</p><p>But Vance is pretending that Lebanon wasn&#8217;t included and then scolding Iran for daring to want to spare Lebanon from relentless Israeli attacks. So with Vance now joining Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff in negotiations, what is the expectation for this team to be able to produce diplomacy?</p><p>To analyze this, plus why Iran is emerging from these ceasefire talks with &#8220;a superior strategic position&#8221; while the United States &#8220;is greatly weakened from a strategic point of view,&#8221; we spoke with two guests: Iranian-American journalist S&#233;amus Malekafzali, who was formerly based in Beirut and co-hosts the podcast <a href="https://turbulencepod.substack.com/">Turbulence</a>, and former State Department Official Alan Eyre, who was part of negotiating the Iran nuclear deal under the Obama Administration in 2015.</p><p><strong>To see the full interviews with S&#233;amus and Alan, including a full analysis of what happens next in the Strait of Hormuz, whether this ceasefire is legit, and why the US secretly armed protesters in Iran, please subscribe to Useful Idiots.</strong></p><p>You&#8217;ll also get our weekly recap of the worst people in corporate media, the <a href="https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/dana-bashs-obsessive-hatred-for-hasan?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&amp;utm_medium=web">Friday Free-for-All</a>: <strong>Dana Bash&#8217;s Obsessive Hatred for Hasan Piker Reveals CNN&#8217;s Fake Journalism Mentality</strong></p><p>Thanks for supporting our work, subscribe to watch the full episode here:</p>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Dana Bash's Obsessive Hatred for Hasan Piker Reveals CNN's Fake Journalism Mentality]]></title><description><![CDATA[Plus, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte defends his 'Daddy' Donald Trump's disastrous war on Iran]]></description><link>https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/dana-bashs-obsessive-hatred-for-hasan</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/dana-bashs-obsessive-hatred-for-hasan</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Katie Halper]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 10 Apr 2026 11:03:26 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8F2-!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F56b49205-9172-40a5-bfb8-98e9eaf6f476_1280x720.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8F2-!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F56b49205-9172-40a5-bfb8-98e9eaf6f476_1280x720.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8F2-!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F56b49205-9172-40a5-bfb8-98e9eaf6f476_1280x720.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8F2-!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F56b49205-9172-40a5-bfb8-98e9eaf6f476_1280x720.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8F2-!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F56b49205-9172-40a5-bfb8-98e9eaf6f476_1280x720.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8F2-!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F56b49205-9172-40a5-bfb8-98e9eaf6f476_1280x720.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8F2-!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F56b49205-9172-40a5-bfb8-98e9eaf6f476_1280x720.jpeg" width="1280" height="720" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/56b49205-9172-40a5-bfb8-98e9eaf6f476_1280x720.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:720,&quot;width&quot;:1280,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:109662,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/i/193744381?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F56b49205-9172-40a5-bfb8-98e9eaf6f476_1280x720.jpeg&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8F2-!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F56b49205-9172-40a5-bfb8-98e9eaf6f476_1280x720.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8F2-!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F56b49205-9172-40a5-bfb8-98e9eaf6f476_1280x720.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8F2-!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F56b49205-9172-40a5-bfb8-98e9eaf6f476_1280x720.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8F2-!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F56b49205-9172-40a5-bfb8-98e9eaf6f476_1280x720.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Instead of reporting on the US and Israel&#8217;s mass assault this week on civilian infrastructure in Iran, Lebanon, and Palestine, CNN&#8217;s Dana Bash decided to give a rant about leftist Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who has been campaigning in Michigan for Democratic Senate candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed. </p><p>"Hasan Piker is excusing sexual violence by Hamas terrorists,&#8221; claims Bash. &#8220;In 2024, he said, quote, &#8216;It doesn&#8217;t matter if f***ing rapes happened on October 7th. Like that doesn&#8217;t change the dynamic for me&#8230; the Palestinian resistance is not perfect.&#8217;&#8221;</p><p>As you can imagine, Katie and Aaron have a lot to say to this.</p><p>First, for the millionth time, Dana, there is no documented evidence of <em>any </em>rape by Hamas on October 7th, let alone the mass rape hoax that you&#8217;ve regularly used as atrocity propaganda. If there was, surely you&#8217;d have pointed out even a single verified case and broadcast it endlessly on CNN.</p><p>What there <em>is</em> documented evidence of, and a lot of it, is the rape and torture of Palestinian prisoners by IDF guards. One such instance was even caught on video and the guards were arrested for their crimes. This led to &#8216;Right to Rape&#8217; protests across Israel, and the rapists were eventually cleared of all charges by an Israeli court. Has Dana reported this on her show? </p><p>She has not.</p><p>But second, more to Hasan Piker&#8217;s point, is that even if there <em>had </em>been sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas on October 7th, it would not justify committing a genocide against the Palestinian people. This is the law of proportionality under international law.</p><p>But Dana Bash clearly thinks otherwise.</p><p>Katie and Aaron flash back to a clip from 2023 where Rep. Pramila Jayapal tells Bash that &#8220;15,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli airstrikes, three quarters of whom are women and children.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;And it&#8217;s horrible,&#8221; Dana responds. &#8220;But you don&#8217;t see Israeli soldiers raping Palestinian women.&#8221;</p><p>Katie and Aaron go all in on Dana Bash&#8217;s psychotic Hasan Piker rant, plus we watch Dems Chris Murphy and Chuck Schumer give the worst possible critiques to Trump&#8217;s so-called ceasefire deal, Trump&#8217;s top economic advisor accidentally admit that this war has been an economic disaster, and the funniest corporate media reaction to Trump claiming that he is going to &#8220;destroy Iranian civilization.&#8221;</p><p>It&#8217;s a crazy week on corporate media. Watch with Katie and Aaron to laugh instead of cry at all of it. Thanks for supporting our work, subscribe to watch the full episode here:</p>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Full episode: America’s “Strategic WEAKNESS” in Iran w/ Ex-State Dept Official Alan Eyre and Iranian Journalist Séamus Malekafzali]]></title><description><![CDATA[Plus, when Israel took over Congress: Alan Eyre recounts the Netanyahu vs Obama showdown]]></description><link>https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/full-episode-americas-strategic-weakness</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/full-episode-americas-strategic-weakness</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Matt Wilson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 10 Apr 2026 02:01:03 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/youtube/w_728,c_limit/unsBwmu-4SM" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Trump Confirms US Armed Anti-Government Protesters in Iran, Accidentally Proving Iran Claim]]></title><description><![CDATA[Plus, Jake Tapper whitewashes Trump's "Open the Fuckin&#8217; Strait, you crazy bastards" tweet]]></description><link>https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/trump-confirms-us-armed-anti-government</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/trump-confirms-us-armed-anti-government</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Katie Halper]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 06 Apr 2026 16:10:09 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/193365441/33fde402dfc6e91f32966f8098a0f5d7.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="youtube2-MzHCajTj5IM" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;MzHCajTj5IM&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/MzHCajTj5IM?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><p>"Open the Fuckin&#8217; Strait, you crazy bastards, or you&#8217;ll be living in Hell," wrote President Trump on Truth Social on Easter as he threatened to destroy more civilian infrastructure in Iran. Targeting civilian infrastructure, of course, is a war crime against international law.</p><p>But pro-Israel activist Jake Tapper spins the post to defend his partner-in-US-Israeli-crime Donald Trump:</p><p>&#8220;We should note,&#8221; he says on CNN, &#8220;that destroying civilian infrastructure and power is <em>generally</em> considered to constitute a war crime under international law, THOUGH the president <em>could</em> argue that the infrastructure has dual use and also is utilized by Iran&#8217;s military.&#8221;</p><ol><li><p>There is no evidence that this civilian infrastructure is utilized by the Iranian military.</p></li><li><p>Even <em>Trump himself</em> isn&#8217;t arguing that it is. But since Jake Tapper is tasked to defend any attack on the enemy of his allegiance (the state of Israel), he must bend over backward to defend even President Trump in his deranged and illegal post.</p></li></ol><p>On the same Easter morning, Fox News reported that Trump told their reporter that the US did in fact arm anti-government protesters in Iran, which is what the Iranian government responded to in January. The Iranian response to these armed protesters was called unprovoked. Trump now accidentally proves it was not.</p><p>There&#8217;s a lot unfolding this week, and corporate media is going wild trying to whitewash it all. Katie and Aaron won&#8217;t let them.</p><p>Please subscribe to support our work, and don&#8217;t miss our Friday Free-for-All:</p><div class="digest-post-embed" data-attrs="{&quot;nodeId&quot;:&quot;68f3f336-5288-4fd1-bfdf-15cb1346930b&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Secretary of State Marco Rubio this week: &#8220;Imagine an Iran that instead of spending billions of dollars supporting terrorists or weapons, had spent that money helping the people of Iran, you&#8217;d have a much different country.&#8221;&quot;,&quot;cta&quot;:&quot;Listen now&quot;,&quot;showBylines&quot;:true,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;lg&quot;,&quot;isEditorNode&quot;:true,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Rubio Claims Iran Can't Take Care of Its Own People As Trump Announces Daycare Will No Longer Be Funded By the Government&quot;,&quot;publishedBylines&quot;:[{&quot;id&quot;:1109249,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Aaron Mat&#233;&quot;,&quot;bio&quot;:&quot;Journalist with The Grayzone, where I host \&quot;Pushback.\&quot; Contributor to Real Clear Investigations. Temporary co-host of \&quot;Useful Idiots.\&quot; In 2019, won the&nbsp;Izzy Award for outstanding achievement in independent media for Russiagate coverage in The Nation.&quot;,&quot;photo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/1701c374-bbb3-4c04-9c4f-01c9c9e5ad71_4417x4417.jpeg&quot;,&quot;is_guest&quot;:false,&quot;bestseller_tier&quot;:1000},{&quot;id&quot;:860072,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Katie Halper&quot;,&quot;bio&quot;:&quot;co-host of Useful Idiots podcast https://usefulidiots.substack.com/. Host of the Katie Halper Show podcast &amp; livestream. https://www.patreon.com/thekatiehalpershow&quot;,&quot;photo_url&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/bd2830a9-c6a3-42e7-ab1d-ab7f27a090bf_400x400.jpeg&quot;,&quot;is_guest&quot;:false,&quot;bestseller_tier&quot;:1000}],&quot;post_date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-03T11:02:32.006Z&quot;,&quot;cover_image&quot;:&quot;https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!29zb!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F22e6229b-9d13-42ba-949d-5dec05bac1f1_1280x720.jpeg&quot;,&quot;cover_image_alt&quot;:null,&quot;canonical_url&quot;:&quot;https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/rubio-claims-iran-cant-take-care&quot;,&quot;section_name&quot;:null,&quot;video_upload_id&quot;:null,&quot;id&quot;:193027736,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;podcast&quot;,&quot;reaction_count&quot;:55,&quot;comment_count&quot;:2,&quot;publication_id&quot;:304318,&quot;publication_name&quot;:&quot;Useful Idiots &quot;,&quot;publication_logo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ijBb!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb8985c73-d746-4cab-932c-9bbc0eac7469_1170x1170.png&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;youtube_url&quot;:null,&quot;show_links&quot;:null,&quot;feed_url&quot;:null}"></div><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Iran, Nukes & the Palestinian Death Penalty w/ Palestinian Lawyer Diana Buttu & Israeli Lawmaker Ofer Cassif]]></title><description><![CDATA[Watch a free preview of our episode and subscribe for the full interview with Knesset Member Cassif on whether Israel killed its own people on October 7 with the Hannibal Directive]]></description><link>https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/iran-nukes-and-the-palestinian-death</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/iran-nukes-and-the-palestinian-death</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Katie Halper]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 03 Apr 2026 17:30:46 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/youtube/w_728,c_limit/uASiUtI6GNk" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>Subscribe for the <a href="https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/full-episode-end-of-israeliran-nukes?r=je5va&amp;utm_campaign=post&amp;utm_medium=web">full episode</a> at the bottom of the page. Watch a free preview here:</em></p><div id="youtube2-uASiUtI6GNk" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;uASiUtI6GNk&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/uASiUtI6GNk?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><p>Israel, the so-called beacon of democracy, with whom the U.S. shares so many values, and, to quote Hillary Clinton, an &#8220;unshakeable bond,&#8221; just passed an <em>ethnicity-based death penalty law</em>.</p><p>On March 30, the Israeli Knesset approved a law that was introduced by the party of National Security Minister Ben-Gvir that calls for the execution of Palestinian prisoners by hanging. Israeli prisoners are effectively exempt from this new law.</p><p>To analyze this &#8220;genocidal&#8221; new law, we speak with two guests: Haifa-based Palestinian lawyer Diana Buttu, and Ofer Cassif, a member of the Israeli Knesset representing Israel&#8217;s Communist Party, who lives outside of Tel Aviv.</p><blockquote><p><strong>Useful Idiots:</strong> Ofer, you have called Israel&#8217;s new death penalty law &#8220;genocidal.&#8221; Can you elaborate?</p><p><strong>Ofer Cassif:</strong> The law doesn&#8217;t apply to Jews. It applies solely to Palestinians. No need to say much about it. It&#8217;s very clear. </p><p>Secondly, they are tried by <em>military</em> court, and this law also says that the military court &#8220;must accept the death penalty.&#8221; It has no other choice. And the law has another section which says that the Chief Commander of the West Bank is not entitled to pardon nor to mitigate the death penalty.</p><p>When I say it&#8217;s a genocidal law more than a death penalty law, it&#8217;s not because it&#8217;s going to actually carry out a genocide. It&#8217;s because it <em>enables</em> and <em>legitimizes</em> a genocide. That&#8217;s the point. </p><p>How come? Those who propose the law and the majority of those who voted in favor of the law consistently say that there&#8217;s no such thing as Jewish terrorism. If the law deals with terrorists, and there&#8217;s no such thing as Jewish terrorists, by definition they are excluded altogether. </p><p>But the other side is that <em>all Palestinians are terrorists</em>. </p><p>The vast majority of those who proposed this bill and in the public at large argue that there aren&#8217;t innocent Palestinians. You remember that after October 7, the common parlance in the Israeli discourse was that &#8216;no one is innocent in Gaza,&#8217; including the children. According to that, all Palestinians are terrorists. But if all Palestinians are terrorists, and this new law says the terrorists should be killed, what&#8217;s the logical conclusion? All Palestinians should be killed. </p><p>That&#8217;s the reason that I refer to it as a genocidal law.</p><p><strong>Useful Idiots: </strong>Diana, I heard you in an interview with <a href="https://www.jadaliyya.com/">Jadaliyya</a> where you said that this new death penalty law to some extent &#8220;doesn&#8217;t matter.&#8221; Can you expand on the law and what you mean that?</p><p><strong>Diana Buttu: </strong>There are two different legal systems that exist from the river to the sea. </p><p>If you are an Israeli, no matter where your crime is committed, you&#8217;ll be tried under the Israeli civilian system. So what that means is that if you&#8217;re an Israeli settler who&#8217;s living in an illegal settlement in the West Bank and you kill a Palestinian, you&#8217;re going to an Israeli civilian court. </p><p>If you&#8217;re Palestinian, you&#8217;re going to an Israeli military court. </p><p>So what&#8217;s the difference? Under this new death penalty law, the civilian court can sentence the death penalty if the defendant killed &#8220;with the intent to deny the existence of the state of Israel.&#8221;</p><p>So let&#8217;s think about who is going to have intent to deny the existence of the state of Israel: it&#8217;s not going to be an Israeli settler because they&#8217;re killing <em>in the name of</em> the state of Israel. </p><p>Just this year alone, from the start of 2026, Israeli settlers have killed eight Palestinians, and none of them have been tried. Nobody&#8217;s even been arrested, much less tried. If you look at the percentages of Israelis who actually get any form of prosecution, it&#8217;s three percent. That&#8217;s it. </p><p>Let&#8217;s go to the other side, which is the military court system. Only Palestinians fall under that system. And what will happen under this new law is that it&#8217;s going to be a <em>mandatory</em> death sentence. And let&#8217;s look at the prosecution rates: 90 to 96 percent. The reason it&#8217;s so high is because they use &#8220;secret evidence.&#8221; They extract confessions through torture. So we now have a system where they&#8217;re going to impose the death penalty. </p><p>The reason I&#8217;ve said that it effectively doesn&#8217;t matter is because we&#8217;ve seen that Israel&#8217;s now killed, at a conservative estimate, 75,000 Palestinians. It&#8217;s committed genocide in Gaza. The Israelis openly talk about there being no innocence. They gun people down at random. As I mentioned, there&#8217;s very low prosecution rates, so they can already kill with impunity. So they&#8217;ve just codified it. Because they can. Because they know they&#8217;ve been able to get away with genocide. So why not entrench it in law? Why not? Why do anything but?</p></blockquote><p>Subscribe to Useful Idiots to support our work and see the full interview with Knesset Member Ofer Cassif on whether Israel killed its own people on October 7 with the Hannibal Directive and the rise of Judeo-terrorism.</p><p>You&#8217;ll also get Katie and Aaron&#8217;s weekly news recap, including an analysis of Aaron&#8217;s latest appearance on Piers Morgan. It&#8217;s the <a href="https://open.substack.com/pub/usefulidiots/p/rubio-claims-iran-cant-take-care?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&amp;utm_medium=web">Friday Free-for-All</a>: <strong>Rubio Claims Iran Can&#8217;t Take Care of Its Own People As Trump Announces Daycare Will No Longer Be Funded By the Government</strong></p><p>Watch the full episode here:</p>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Rubio Claims Iran Can't Take Care of Its Own People As Trump Announces Daycare Will No Longer Be Funded By the Government]]></title><description><![CDATA[Plus, analyzing Aaron's latest appearance on Piers Morgan]]></description><link>https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/rubio-claims-iran-cant-take-care</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/rubio-claims-iran-cant-take-care</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Aaron Maté]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 03 Apr 2026 11:02:32 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!29zb!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F22e6229b-9d13-42ba-949d-5dec05bac1f1_1280x720.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!29zb!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F22e6229b-9d13-42ba-949d-5dec05bac1f1_1280x720.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!29zb!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F22e6229b-9d13-42ba-949d-5dec05bac1f1_1280x720.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!29zb!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F22e6229b-9d13-42ba-949d-5dec05bac1f1_1280x720.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!29zb!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F22e6229b-9d13-42ba-949d-5dec05bac1f1_1280x720.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!29zb!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F22e6229b-9d13-42ba-949d-5dec05bac1f1_1280x720.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!29zb!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F22e6229b-9d13-42ba-949d-5dec05bac1f1_1280x720.jpeg" width="1280" height="720" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/22e6229b-9d13-42ba-949d-5dec05bac1f1_1280x720.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:720,&quot;width&quot;:1280,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:133054,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/i/193027736?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F22e6229b-9d13-42ba-949d-5dec05bac1f1_1280x720.jpeg&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!29zb!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F22e6229b-9d13-42ba-949d-5dec05bac1f1_1280x720.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!29zb!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F22e6229b-9d13-42ba-949d-5dec05bac1f1_1280x720.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!29zb!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F22e6229b-9d13-42ba-949d-5dec05bac1f1_1280x720.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!29zb!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F22e6229b-9d13-42ba-949d-5dec05bac1f1_1280x720.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><strong>Secretary of State Marco Rubio this week:</strong> &#8220;Imagine an Iran that instead of spending billions of dollars supporting terrorists or weapons, had spent that money helping the people of Iran, you&#8217;d have a much different country.&#8221;</p><p><strong>President Donald Trump (who very clearly needs to arrange some sort of morning meeting with his staff to get their talking points down) this week: </strong>&#8220;The United States can&#8217;t take care of daycare. We&#8217;re a big country, we have all these other people, we&#8217;re fighting wars! We can&#8217;t take care of daycare! You&#8217;ve got to let a state take care of daycare and they should pay for it too! They have to raise their taxes. It&#8217;s not possible for us to take care of daycare, Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual things. We have to take care of one thing: military protection.&#8221;</p><p>Which means, by Marco Rubio&#8217;s own logic, that since he runs a regime change operation against any country who he claims to choose war spending over its own people, that his next regime change operation MUST BE against: the United States.</p><p>It&#8217;s only fair, Marco.</p><p>Also in this Friday Free-for-All: Aaron returns to Piers Morgan Live to make an Iran argument in front of an international audience that no one else is making, walrus war hawk John Bolton can&#8217;t say what Trump&#8217;s plan is but loves it anyway (as long as it includes regime change), and Lindsey Graham actually can&#8217;t stop grinning as he talks about murdering Iranians.</p><p>Everything&#8217;s SICK! Watch with Katie and Aaron so you can laugh instead of cry at all of it. Thanks for supporting our work, subscribe to watch the full episode here:</p>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Full episode: Iran, Nukes & the Palestinian Death Penalty w/ Palestinian Lawyer Diana Buttu & Israeli Lawmaker Ofer Cassif ]]></title><description><![CDATA[Listen now (102 mins) | Plus, Israeli Knesset Member Ofer Cassif on whether Israel killed its own people on October 7 with the Hannibal Directive]]></description><link>https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/full-episode-end-of-israeliran-nukes</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/full-episode-end-of-israeliran-nukes</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Matt Wilson]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 03 Apr 2026 04:53:49 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/cb5f7236-81d6-4930-b0c1-367d0d8df416_1280x720.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Our fundraiser for HEAL Palestine just hit our goal!]]></title><description><![CDATA[The Useful Idiots community raised over $20,000 to help kids in Gaza (again!)]]></description><link>https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/our-fundraiser-for-heal-palestine</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/our-fundraiser-for-heal-palestine</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Katie Halper]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 31 Mar 2026 15:37:42 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fRry!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F23ebea3c-254f-42ac-ac55-1d094275872d_1200x1600.webp" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" 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https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fRry!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F23ebea3c-254f-42ac-ac55-1d094275872d_1200x1600.webp 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fRry!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F23ebea3c-254f-42ac-ac55-1d094275872d_1200x1600.webp 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fRry!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F23ebea3c-254f-42ac-ac55-1d094275872d_1200x1600.webp 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Thank you to the generous Useful Idiots community: our second fundraiser just passed our goal of $20,000! </p><p>HEAL Palestine delivers urgent relief and long-term support to Palestinian children and families. Through their four pillars&#8212;Health, Education, Aid, and Leadership&#8212;they provide critical care and resources while centering grassroots leadership and community-led recovery.</p><p>This is our second fundraiser to get money to aid groups working in Palestine. Our first, for the Middle East Children&#8217;s Alliance, also raised over $20,000 to help kids in Gaza.</p><p>Thanks so much to our amazing community for sending help to those who need it most. To join our fundraisers for <a href="https://youtu.be/NR5knmI3Taw">HEAL Palestine</a> or the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6rr0E4tK8M&amp;t=319s">Middle East Children&#8217;s Alliance</a>, click on the linked text and select the DONATE button on the fundraiser next to the video.</p><p>And to continue to support our work, you can subscribe to Useful Idiots here:</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><p>Let us know in the comments what fundraiser you think we should run next! We&#8217;re very proud to be members of the Useful Idiots community today:)</p><p>&#8211; Katie, Aaron, and Wilson</p>]]></content:encoded></item></channel></rss>