Useful Idiots

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After finally doing one thing to back up his campaign promise of being an anti-war president, has President Trump folded to pressure from Israel and its corporate media stooges to go back on his peace deal with Iran?

Because now the message seems to be that we’ll bomb their civilians and terrorize their economy so that the ceasefire holds. Which doesn’t quite make sense at all, if you think about it…

From warmongering politicians to even more warmongering corporate media hosts, Katie and Aaron watch as Israel’s highest paid activists force war back onto the table.

But this Monday Mourning does have one corporate antidote: the freakout over the Mamdani Sweep. In the NYC elections last week, Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s endorsed progressive candidates overtook establishment Dems, signaling a sea change for the left movement. It’s fun to watch the meltdown.

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On this week’s show we look at the Mamdani Sweep in New York City where progressive, populist, pro-Palestine candidates, backed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, won important elections across the board in a huge rebuke to AIPAC and Israel.

As AIPAC and the entire Democratic establishment freak out about this successful insurgency, we speak with journalists Ross Barkan and Liza Featherstone about what went right for the left and how progressives can use this momentum to take back more power.

Useful Idiots: What’s your one-sentence takeaway from the elections?

Ross Barkan: It was a great night for Zohran Mamdani and he is emerging as the new political boss of New York politics.

Liza Featherstone: I wondered whether the left should have gone even bigger. Zohran won every single race that he endorsed and DSA won almost all of them. None of their incumbents were taken out and almost all their challengers won. If you’re not losing more, are you really trying hard enough?

Useful Idiots: Establishment Democrats are freaking out about these progressive winners, including Congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier who sparked controversy with a now-deleted tweet saying “Fuck Kamala Harris.” What’s your response to this?

Liza Featherstone: I would just like [these establishment Democrats] to actually spend a day gathering petition signatures for a candidate. When I did that for Zohran Mamdani in Bed-Stuy, a Democratic stronghold, the biggest obstacle was people saying, ‘fuck the democrats.’

I would lead with ‘are you a registered democrat?’ and even normie, middle-aged ladies, white ladies, black ladies, you know, who are normally the base of the Democratic Party, would be like, ‘no, fuck them.’ Everyone’s fed up. Everyone’s fed up.

To see the full interview with Ross and Liza on why Trump has more respect for Zohran’s game than Dems do; how fearmongering around antisemitism is no longer working; whether Brad Lander is actually a progressive or just establishment-in-disguise; and where AOC was while Mamdani was endorsing candidates, please subscribe to our show.

You’ll also get the Friday Free-for-All: CNN IS MELTING DOWN AS PROGRESSIVES TAKE OVER

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In a huge week for the progressive left, Zohran Mamdani-backed candidates swept New York elections, signaling high tide for progressives across the country like the Hasan Piker-backed Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan.

And CNN is freaking out.

Dana Bash thinks its 1939-Germany-all-over-again, Scott Jennings warns Jews to be afraid for their lives when “those people” (meaning Muslims) vote in elections, and Erin Burnett is enraged that the new left won’t allow space for genociders in the “big tent” party.

Every AIPAC-owned Israel-activist host and pundit on the channel seems to be more tone deaf and racist than the next, each trying to corner progressives with the dumbest takes we’ve heard. It’s a sure sign that Israel’s hold on US voters is finally slipping.

And it gets more ridiculous:

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Watch this week’s Monday Mourning here:

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This week, after months of demanding Iran’s unconditional surrender, Trump suddenly backed off his regime-change war, signing an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Iran.

And what’s even more surprising than this apparent admission of defeat and push for peace is the Trump administration’s sharp turn on Israel, with Trump distancing himself from Netanyahu and Vice President Vance directly calling the Israelis out:

“You have seen people within Bibi’s cabinet who have come out and attacked the deal and in some ways very personally attacked the President of the United States.

If I was in the Israeli cabinet, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have left anywhere in the entire world.

What is your exact proposal? You’re a country of 9 million people. You can’t just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem that you have.”

To discuss the peace deal, whether it can withstand Trump’s turbulent negotiation tendencies and expected sabotage from Israel, and why the administration is turning against its ally Israel, we spoke with two Iranians: Trita Parsi, author and executive VP at the Quincy Institute, and Negar Mortazavi, journalist at the Center for International Policy and host of the Iran Podcast.

Trita Parsi: The doubt of US power over Israel has now been completely blown up with the statements of JD Vance. I suspect that we’re going to see more of it, particularly if the Israelis continue to sabotage in the manner that they have been and probably will continue to do.

What JD is doing there is not just changing the conversation about Israel. He’s changing the paradigm of U.S.-Israeli relations. He’s clearly pointing out to them how isolated Israel is today, and how few friends it has, which should not be a surprise.

And at the same time, he’s reminding the Israelis the tremendous leverage that the United States has over Israel, even though most presidents have not had the backbone to use that leverage. But he’s reminding the Israelis of the extent to which the United States can really put a tremendous amount of pressure on them.

Negar Mortazavi: This is incredible. It’s unprecedented. And now J.D. Vance, even Donald Trump, are starting to sound like America-first, anti-war skeptics of militarism, everything that was part of the political discourse in the campaign.

I mean, it’s unfortunate that it took two wars, which also, by the way, took thousands of lives in Lebanon. But I think we see a gap and it’s very public and it’s widening. And this also comes after three years of genocide in Gaza, which has already created a gap between Israel and the U.S.

Even in Congress now, across the political structure, you’re seeing the beginning of a movement. There are members of Congress or candidates running for elections who say they don’t want to accept money from AIPAC. That has become an unprecedented thing that is publicly being said.

It’s a historic week, and extremely complex in terms of what the deal signifies and the shaky path it could have moving forward. Trita and Negar help us dig into the details and parse through the propaganda. This episode won’t be paywalled.

If you want to support our work, please consider subscribing. You’ll get our recap of the craziest and most cringe-worthy reactions to the deal across corporate media in the Friday Free-for-All: Even Hillary Clinton is Turning On Israel.

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When you’ve even got arch-Zionist Hillary Clinton making fun of you and throwing you under the bus, the ride is over.

This week marked a historic moment as Trump finally struck a peace deal with Iran in which the US gives up a whole lot more than it gets in an apparent admission of losing the war they started. But somehow even more striking has been the turn against Israel.

After weeks of rumors that Trump’s relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu has become tumultuous, JD Vance came out and said what the admin’s clearly been thinking.

“You have seen people within Bibi’s cabinet who have come out and attacked the deal and in some ways very personally attacked the President of the United States. My message to them would be twofold.

Number 1: If I was in the Israeli cabinet, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have left anywhere in the entire world.

Number 2: What is your exact proposal? You’re a country of 9 million people. You can’t just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem that you have.”

And after Vance shocked Israel and the world with this statement, other former Israel cronies followed suit. Even Hillary Clinton.

Don’t miss our weekly recap of the craziest moments in corporate media:

Watch this week’s Monday Mourning here:

Since the beginning of Trump’s war-of-choice on Iran, the administration has been telegraphing its inability to defend US aggression by refusing to let real decision-makers like Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth do interviews on the Sunday morning news shows, instead only sending economic advisors to struggle to justify the war.

And in a move that only confirms this acknowledgement of indefensibility, this week Pete Hegseth finally gave Sunday morning interviews on the day that a peace deal was announced, allowing him to claim victory without being pressed on why the US lost the Strait of Hormuz and broke the economy.

Unfortunately for Pete, however, peace these days doesn’t warrant cheers: Katie and Aaron watch every AIPAC crony from Mark Levin to Cory Booker to Morning Joe melt down over Trump’s peace announcement, complaining that the US is “sending a lifeline” to the Iranians. Because Dems and Republicans agree that death is what is best for the people of Iran.

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