Stick it to the Crooks with Austin Smith

Austin and the Useful Idiots hit every emotion from furious to hysterical in this riotous extended interview with the NY congressional candidate

When Austin Smith went to the banks with hard evidence of their student loan corruption and extortion, all he asked was that they just fix it and pay everyone back. Their answer? No.

“Yes, you caught us. Yes, we’re crooks. But no.”

And the awful truth was that they can do that. While Austin sues them and works for years in court to bring them to justice, they keep collecting millions in loans. And then in a few years they settle and pay far less than what they made. And they win.

Austin explains that “banks are afraid of committing securities fraud against JP Morgan. But stealing from poor people? Who cares?” What a fun, care-free approach to life!

So how’s he going to stick it to them? He’s running for congress in New York’s first district where he’ll have a real platform to expose the absurdity of the US judicial system and student-loan legislation. And even if he can’t show corporations that you can’t escape federal law with impunity, he’ll at least scare them into thinking he can.

Plus, we discuss his political transition from right to left, his health struggles, and how writing for The Onion showed him how satire is an important part of political culture:

“Don’t take yourselves so fucking seriously.”

It’s all this, and more, on this subscriber-only episode of Useful Idiots. Watch here.