Useful Idiots

On this week’s interview, Norman Finkelstein gave a take so hot that we’re worried it could get our entire YouTube channel demonetized or even removed. So we’re posting it here, exclusively for subscribers.

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In a cringey moment on Fox News, Jesse Watters asks Katie Miller, the husband of skin-walker Stephen Miller, what it’s like to be married to him:

“You are married to Stephen Miller,” Watters says with the mugging seriousness he uses before a sarcastic comment. “So you are the envy of all women. What is that like?”

“The sexual matador, right?” Katie Miller responds, smirking.

“What is it like,” Watters repeats, laughing now, “being married to such a sexual matador?”

We honestly can’t tell: is Stephen Miller’s wife making fun of him on Fox News? Apparently, we learn through more laughter out of Katie Miller, that Stephen wakes up every morning and fires out speeches at her, proclaiming “I am going to defeat the left!”

And judging from the thin-skinned tantrums he consistently throws on camera, we can’t imagine he’ll have much of a sense of humor about this one. For our money, it’ll be most similar to the Charlie Kirk-demon meltdown we just saw from Megyn Kelly:

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In the aftermath of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, we speak to Chris Hedges, the leading chronicler of America's slide into authoritarianism and how a society that's built around empire fuels an internal decay.

Useful Idiots: Where are you seeing the country now in the response to Charlie Kirk's murder?

Chris Hedges: As soon as Kirk was assassinated, he was elevated within the canon of his movement to the status of a martyr. That was instant. Even before they had apprehended Robinson as the suspect, you had Trump declare him a martyr. You had flags lowered and half-mast. He was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom instantly. I've watched this before in other conflicts, and it's very dangerous because the martyr is really the lifeblood of radical movements

Any kind of dialogue, any kind of compassion with the opposing movement is a betrayal of the sanctity of the martyr. It is to essentially collaborate with people who, through the eyes of the radical movement that you're in, have killed the martyr. And that's, of course, precisely what's happening. They are deadly serious, and they will use the death of Kirk to essentially sanctify this crusade against what is left of our open society.

Useful Idiots: You talked about the sanctification of Charlie Kirk when it comes from the right, but I'm curious what you think of it when it comes from the liberal side. Ezra Klein, who is a prominent liberal columnist for the New York Times, the paper of record, wrote an article called Charlie Kirk Was Practicing Politics the Right Way.

Chris Hedges: Well, that's why I don't read Ezra Klein. That's ridiculous.

Charlie Kirk was fomenting hate and demonization. Let's begin with the kinds of things he said about Muslims, the kinds of things he said about people of color, in particular Black people, the kinds of things he said about the LGBTQ community, the kinds of things he said about feminists. This was really vitriolic hate speech. And it is, like all hate speech, giving license to people to act upon that hate speech.

When I heard about the assassination, I was appalled and horrified, not because I have any love for Kirk, but because I know how it would be weaponized. And in all totalitarian states, vigilante groups are vitally important. And they serve this strange purpose: at once, the formal structures of power. They have a kind of deniability because it's not them. It's one step removed. On the other hand, the vigilante group carries out a lot of the dirty work that whatever police state or totalitarian state wants carried out.

Useful Idiots: What do you make of the fallout on the right when it comes to the issue of Israel? A number of sources reported that Charlie Kirk was shifting a little bit on Israel after some unpleasant experiences with pro-Israel donors, including Bill Ackman, and Charlie Kirk was insisting that he was going to keep on giving space to people like Tucker Carlson. The Trump Administration is so completely beholden to the Israeli agenda, and Charlie Kirk, whether it's accurate or not, is being upheld now as a voice of dissent on that. What do you make of that?

As right-wingers continue to use the murder of Charlie Kirk as a call for increased aggression and division, arch-villain Stephen Miller is fulfilling his dream of state-censorship through the guise of honoring a martyr.

"There are these nonprofit entities that organize attacks on ICE officers, attacks on border patrol agents, organized doxing campaigns, which are a violation of federal law. They have organized drop points for weapons, organized drop points for a gas mask, organized drop points for all the materials necessary to launch a riot."

And with no supporting evidence or concrete examples of this, he unveils his master plan to silence protesters.

"The key point the president's been making is somebody is paying for all of this. This is not happening for free. And so under the president's direction, the attorney general is going to find out who is paying for it and they will now be criminally liable for paying for violence."

Since there is no documented evidence of any of this, Miller’s White House will never find its culprit. But the trick, which he doesn’t say but Katie and Aaron expose immediately, is that the real goal is to never find a culprit:

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This week we’re joined by California Congressman Ro Khanna, one of the only members of Congress willing to appear on shows that are to the left of the Democratic Party. Our conversation spans from working with “bad guy” Republicans on releasing the Epstein Files, protecting Medicare, stopping Trump’s regime change operations in Venezuela, and taking on AIPAC:

Useful Idiots: You've been spearheading an effort to get Trump to recognize Palestinian statehood. Can you tell us more about this effort and any new developments around it?

Rep. Khanna: We have twenty six signatures to officially recognize a Palestinian state. Now people say, ‘Is this just moral preening? Why does it matter?’ First of all, it obviously matters to Netanyahu and it matters to AIPAC because they have been very opposed to it. So there is real value in recognizing the humanity of the Palestinian people and their national aspirations.

Secondly, the Palestinians need some hope, a horizon of hope to overcome the destruction and extremism that they are seeing. And third, the reality is that the United States recognizing a Palestinian state, unlike all the other countries, really matters because we have the ability to have consequences based on our aid and our support.

Useful Idiots: So when you bring this pitch to your colleagues in Congress, what kind of pushback are you getting? Why are they not on board with this yet, even though it's supposed to be U.S. policy to support a Palestinian state in just twenty two percent of their homeland?

Rep. Khanna: The reality is that when you have the United States actually do it, it sets a marker that says ‘if Israel is not committed to actually taking steps to recognizing a Palestinian state, then there are going to be consequences.’ And that is a red line for AIPAC. It's a red line for Bibi. And so members of Congress have been reluctant to get on.

Subscribe for our full interview with Rep. Ro Khanna on AIPAC ousting progressive members of Congress, why he’s teaming up with GOP Reps Massie, Mace, Greene, and Boebert to release the Epstein Files, and why even though he doesn’t support Maduro he is fighting Trump’s regime change operations in Venezuela.

Plus, catch this week’s Thursday Throwdown: Putin-Xi-Modi Summit Causes Neocon PANIC on CNN

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