Useful Idiots

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It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it.

Rabbi Tarfon, Pirkei Avot 2:16

“The task is not yours to finish,” explains Dr. Gabor Maté in reference to the quote from Rabbi Tarfon, who lived around the time of Jesus. “But you have to take part in it, in this struggle and in this search for truth. Not because one is going to complete the task or even necessarily succeed in one’s lifetime, but because as human beings, what are we to do except to contribute to the cause of justice and truth and freedom as best as we can do it?”

This week, for a special edition of Useful Idiots, we are joined by two people leading the fight to ‘finish the work’: Gabor Maté and UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese.

Our discussion tackles Israel’s genocide in Gaza, from Francesca’s legal attempts to hold governments accountable and the backlash she’s received, including getting personally sanctioned by the US government for, according to Marco Rubio, engaging in “illegitimate and shameful efforts” to prompt the ICC to investigate, arrest, or prosecute U.S. and Israeli officials and executives, to Gabor’s philosophical battle for the light of humanity.

And he explains why, even though the work is far from done, the light will never go out:

“This great evil has been fighting forever to stamp out the small kernel of human kindness and humanity. But if it hasn’t succeeded until now, it never will. There is this light of human truth and kindness and justice. It’s going to keep burning.”

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Let’s take a look at the midterms: Democrats are looking pretty good in the polls, especially because Trump has betrayed two of his key promises, which was to have No New Wars and to address the cost of living.

In his second term, we’ve seen him do the exact opposite. He started a war on Iran, which has driven up the cost of living, especially energy prices. But are Democrats seizing the rage? Are they taking up the anti-war mantle?

No!

Here’s why: in an effort to escape this predicament of spiking energy prices and win back the polls from Democrats, Trump recently made a gas deal with Vladimir Putin to claim he’s bringing prices down. And rather than simply point out that Trump is only doing this to save face because he’s lost the anti-war lane, Democrats are instead accusing him once again of being a traitor, warmongering for Russia.

That’s right: it’s Russiagate Part (10?)

To discuss the Democrat blunder of missing the easy opportunity to pin Trump for his disastrous war of choice on Iran and potentially blowing their midterm lead, we speak with James Carden, author of the new book, The Great Betrayal: How the Democrats Became the Party of War.

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We also speak with journalist Kylie Cheung, author of the brand new book, Playing the Victim: How the Powerful Deny and Attack Survivors of Violence, From Domestic Abuse to Genocide, which makes the connection between the tactics of domestic abusers and the tactics of imperialism and Zionism.

She explains how the perpetrators of Israel’s genocide on Gaza, from decision makers like Benjamin Netanyahu to his chief propagandists like CNN’s Dana Bash, enact the domestic abuse term known as DARVO: deny, attack, reverse victim and offender.

Kylie shows us clips of Dana Bash and Vice President JD Vance and reveals how they manipulate their audience with each tactic of DARVO.

These interviews are free to all, but to support our work and get the ad-free version of the episode, please consider subscribing to Useful Idiots.

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You’ll also get our Friday Free-for-All: Hillary Clinton unveils a new plan to take down Trump once and for all: The Pee Tape Part 2

Thanks for being part of the Useful Idiots community, catch the full, ad-free episode here:

“I believe Abdul El-Sayed is Muslim Brotherhood!” yelled Ted Cruz in an interview this week.

“If he were to win, Chuck Schumer could place him on the Senate Intelligence Committee. He would have access to the very highest level of classified materials! There’s every reason to believe El-Sayed would share that classified information with Muslim Brotherhood terrorists!”

In the final days before the Michigan Senate election, down-in-the-polls Republicans have resorted to their favorite tactic: ridiculous Islamophobic slurs against Abdul El-Sayed.

"He’s part of the brother, mother, mother, moth-- the Muslim Brotherhood!" DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin stuttered out, thinking he was helping the cause.

“When El-Sayed goes to bed at night,” finished NRSC director Jason Theilman with the most incisive and believable blow of all, “it looks like he’s sleeping in Bin Laden’s jersey!”

Did Bin Laden… wear a jersey?

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This week, two special guests return to Useful Idiots.

First up is Trita Parsi, the geopolitical analyst who has kept us updated with on-the-ground information on Trump’s war on Iran that breaks through the walls of corporate propaganda.

We asked Trita what are the most important stories coming out of the Middle East that corporate media is hiding.

Trita Parsi: Look, this could change in three days because things are changing so fast. But right now, I would point to two things, one that the media is not necessarily ignoring, but the other one they’re largely hiding.

The open one is the fact that we are now seeing increasing movement towards what I think can end up becoming uncontrollable escalation. As bad as the war has been so far, it’s been calibrated escalations by both sides.

What is happening now between the Houthis and the Saudis risks transforming into something much bigger, and the calibration can be lost, control can be lost, and that would be very dangerous for everyone.

The second thing is the manner in which the Israelis are openly discussing how their security doctrine has changed and turned into something that you certainly wouldn’t associate with what claims to be a democratic country.

What I’m referring to is the article by the head of the INSS, the big Israeli think tank, in which he described several points of the new doctrine that should really give you chills.

There’s some stuff in it that from an American perspective, I’m sure many people in Washington would not like to hear, such as treating the United States as a declining power, believing that the US is going to abandon Israel anyway, and as a result Israel itself should sever ties with the US.

But the other parts of what they’re saying as principles of this new doctrine should really make decision makers and others in America think twice about what does it mean to be a strategic ally of a country that pursues this doctrine…

Watch the episode for Trita’s full take.

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Second, we speak with Israeli peace activist and founder of Palestine House of Freedom Miko Peled about the upcoming Israeli elections. Will the elections, which have the potential to oust Benjamin Netanyahu, lead to any major shift in Israel?

Spoiler alert: No.

Useful Idiots: A lot of people present Netanyahu as the unique cause of the genocide. Once they get rid of Netanyahu, it’ll be OK. What are your thoughts on that claim?

Miko Peled: It’s the most unfounded claim anybody can make. I have no idea why anybody would say something so ridiculous.

Everyone in the Knesset agrees with the genocide. Everyone rejects the idea of Palestinian self-determination. Everyone supports the nation-state law. Everyone supports settling all over Palestine. Everyone supports Israel as an apartheid state.

There’s a video where they questioned the heads of every single political party about the Palestinian state. And the worst thing a candidate can say about their opponent is that they support a Palestinian state. And that the other side is a lefty. I mean, they’re calling Netanyahu a lefty! It’s ridiculous.

So why is there any expectation that somebody else sitting in Netanyahu’s chair may do anything different? Where do they come up with this nonsense? How much more clearly do Israeli politicians and Israeli society need to be for people to believe that Netanyahu is not the issue?

Subscribe to support our work and get the full interview with Miko Peled.

You’ll also get our Friday Free-for-All: Kamala and Pete Are Trapped in a Cult

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“God did the State of Israel a favor,” announced Israeli Ambassador Michael Herzog in April 2025, “that Biden was the president during this period [2023 and 2024]. We fought [in Gaza] for over a year and the administration never came to us and said, ‘ceasefire now.’ It never did.”

The Biden Administration was there to help kick off Israel’s genocide in Gaza, supply them with endless weapons, silence protesters, and prevent international bodies like the UN and the ICC from holding the Israelis accountable.

And yet for some reason, members of the Biden Administration are continuously given second, third, and fourth chances to reverse their position, condemn Israel, and ditch Biden’s policy, which has been as disastrous politically as it has morally.

And for an even stranger reason, none of them will do it. Not even to win the White House. That’s how strong Israel’s cult holds onto them.

This week, after Michigan Senate Candidate Abdul El Sayed (who is now leading in the polls) refused to bow to pressure and say that Iran poses more of a threat to the United States than Israel does, Pete Buttigieg (who is not leading in any polls) could barely wait for the question to finish before he bowed and said:

"Iran is our enemy. Israel is not — they're an ally."

Kamala Harris was only slightly less weak than Pete. “We should,” she announced, bravely, boldly, powerfully, “have acted sooner, and more forcefully." This is the same candidate who, when asked if Israel’s bombing of a refugee camp in Gaza counted as a “legitimate military target,” responded: “We are not telling Israel how it should conduct this war, and so I’m not going to speak to that.”

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And that’s not all we cover in this week’s Friday Free-for-All: Ukrainian President Zelensky tells Piers Morgan a military secret in front of millions of viewers, a Republican Congressman melts down after his constituents laugh at him when he tries to blame rising gas prices on the Democrats, and Russiagate is back! Aaron has a field day dunking on an MSNow stenographer.

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