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Norman Finkelstein, the prolific (and widely canceled) political scientist, and author of 11 books, joins the show to give us a sneak preview of his new book on cancel culture and identity politics. He explains what makes today's cancel culture new, what makes it not so new, and why it’s worse, in some ways, when the Left does it: “Obviously there’s cancel culture on the right. But the cancel culture on the right, or the mainstream, the establishment, whatever you want to call it, for a person of the left, is a given. That’s a part of what it means to be on the left. The true Left. You’re going to be marginalized, ignored. That’s the history of the Left.”  He critiques MSNBC's Bernie-bashing and identity-politics-weaponizing—Joy Ann Reid and her body-language expert, who diagnoses Bernie Sanders’ self-incriminating “turtling,” in particular— gives Noam Chomksy his due credit and sings the praises of W.E.B. DuBois. 

Finkelstein also directs his formidable fire at White Fragility author Robin DiAngelo: “And what's her message to white people? Her message to white people is every white person... who's laying out in the street because he or she is homeless, which there are quite a lot in my neighborhood. Every white person from that person to Jeff Bezos, they all profit from racism. And then they, the CEOs, they get to play the enlightened ones because they give money to Black Lives Matter. So, the message to white people is be careful what you're willing to give up, because you're benefiting from this system. Every white person benefits from the system. If you let them climb one rung higher, you are going to go one rung lower. So it's a warning to white people to be cautious, careful, wary, of the demands of black people.... ”

Plus, Katie and Matt lament the way Andrew Yang sabotaged his own campaign, depriving himself of what could have been a game-changing “Useful Idiots Show Bump,” and review some important penis-representation-related news stories. 

Stand by for the substack-only section of the interview where Norman talks more about Angela Davis, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and reveals an early crush. 

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Ross Barkan on the New York Mayoral Race and Cuomosexuals, Plus Whale Mouthwash, Republicans Hit the Pipe, and Jeff Bezos Should Eat the Mona Lisa

“This is kind of the Holy Grail for the left that can never quite get pulled off,” says Ross Barkan, author of The Prince: Andrew Cuomo, Coronavirus, and the Fall of New York. “It usually gets pulled off by moderates, or Barack Obama.”

We talked to Ross about one of our favorite people — the demented neoliberal monster/werewolf Andrew Cuomo — but also about the upcoming New York City mayoral elections, which will be the large-scale litmus test on the state of the Democratic electorate since the 2020 primaries.

New York City has one of the most rabidly progressive voter bases in the country, but the Democratic Primary next Tuesday has for some time now appeared likely to be dominated by moderates like former NYPD officer and Brooklyn borough president Eric Adams. Friend-ish-of-show Andrew Yang, who snubbed a Useful Idiots interview request during this campaign, has fallen off to fourth place in a recent poll, in the most recent demonstration of the ironclad Law of the Useful Idiots Bump. Will he make it back up in time to replace Bill de Blasio?

Barkan discusses with us some of the factors that may be influencing the quasi-surprising New York results. Three of the four top candidates — Yang, Adams, and former sanitation chief Kathryn Garcia — seemingly go against national type. “All three of these candidates, Yang, Garcia, Adams, are explicitly against de-funding the police,” he says. “Who’s going to win? I don’t know, but I think Adams has the inside track.”

Barkan, who wrote a pleasingly vicious book about Cuomo that depicts him in the garb of Machiavelli on the cover, also explained how the New York governor managed to pull off a surge in popularity last year despite horrific management of the pandemic.

“Journalism… too often takes on the tropes of fiction, and seeks narratives, heroes and villains,” Ross said. “Cuomo filled that void,” giving journalists the tough-talking uncle figure to Donald Trump’s crazy-nitwit act. Reporters ran with that simple storyline for months, ignoring things like Cuomo’s craven manipulation of death toll figures for nursing homes.

From there we basically just said gratuitous things about Cuomo and his doofus brother, but it’s worth a listen, particularly if you’re high.

Also: we plow through the four food groups, stopping to discuss ICE’s sterling wokewash efforts, a dude who maybe got too much credit for being swallowed by a whale, and what “POS” stands for on a U.S. State Department Twitter handle. That and more, on this week’s Useful Idiots. 

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“Protest with a guitar? Not this candidate.”

This written about a 21-year-old city council candidate with hippy sensibilities and a drive to help the underdog: Dennis Kucinich. Since that article in 1967, Kucinich served 16 years as the US house rep from Ohio, gained national fame in his two presidential bids, and was vindicated by the Washington Post as the future of American politics.

Now, Kucinich is out with a new book The Division of Light and Power, which shares stories of his early days in politics as a 23-year-old city councilman and later mayor in Cleveland, Ohio (read Matt’s full book review here). What he saw was a corrupt and bent system. So his career became a crusade against it.

In his first unsuccessful council run, he realized the incumbent never lost because he took care of people, giving favors to powerful donors and making sure his influential constituents were kept happy. ‘So,’ thought Kucinich, ‘that’s what I’ll do.’

But taking care of people for Dennis meant helping normal Clevelanders who, like his own family, couldn’t pay the rent, couldn’t keep the lights on, couldn’t feed their kids. He helped these people and they noticed. And he won.

Whether against cheating vote-counters, corrupt utility companies, war-mongering presidents, or racist legislation, Dennis Kucinich’s political career has been a constant battle against immorality and a fight for the helpless.

Kucinich describes how his life is echoed by the sound of coins clinking on a white metal table as his parents counted pennies to pay the rent. By the time he was 17, he lived in 21 different places, including a few cars. All this only built the man he is and “translated into the necessity of standing up for economic justice for people who are struggling.”

That, plus music, theatre, and ripping off doors in this Useful Idiots interview.

Meanwhile, we accept credit for the Breaking Points’ #usefulidiotsbump, read Hunter Biden’s drug-feuled texts about his tanned penis and love of the N-word, call out Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s attempt to imprison migrant children, and sell an invisible Kurt Loder sculpture for thousands.

All this, and more, on this week’s Useful Idiots.

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After a groundbreaking and enormously successful run at The Hill, Krystal and Saagar have followed the iconic path of a certain former rock music podcast, going solo by launching a subscriber-supported show called Breaking Point that debuts next week.

The longtime friends-of-show are true pioneers in the modern media age. At a time when virtually every other political discussion show is aimed exclusively at one political demographic or another, their Rising program represented literally the only mainstream effort to speak to all of America.

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Human rights lawyer Steven Donziger has been trapped in his apartment for two years without a fair trial. Hear his story.

Plus: Biden and Republicans kill journalists while the Queen kills her dog

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Longtime friend-of-show Abby Martin, maker of the remarkable documentary Gaza Fights for Freedom, drops in for a Zoom chat to discuss the outbreak of hostilities in Israel.

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Also, we semi mis-predict a patent waiver outcome, discuss a sex work ruling, and relive a beaver attack

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Friend-of-show Dr. Cornel West has been in the news a lot of late, and not always in a happy way. At the end of February, the brilliant professor of Philosophy, Divinity, and African-American studies announced he was leaving his longtime employers at Harvard University, and moving back to Union Theological Seminary, where he began his teaching career back in 1977. Harvard denied his request to be considered for tenure, apparently for political reasons.

On Useful Idiots, West talked about the likely reasons behind Harvard’s decision (outspokenness on Palestine?), Joe Biden’s first 100 days, and the influence of his late mother Irene B. West.

Also: Katie and I debate how many Secret Service agents it takes to get Mike Pence up a ski hill, we denounce the deeply unfunny campaign against the #YangGang, and we give detailed reviews of all of the movies nominated for Best Picture from this year’s Academy Awards ceremony (without seeing them of course). Is Nomadland a space adventure? Is Mank a misspelled fur-bearing animal? What’s the over/under on debilitating-disease themes for next year’s Oscars?

We explore all these important questions, and more, on this week’s Useful Idiots.

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David Sirota of The Daily Poster weighs in on SALT deductions, Biden's presidency, and the future of journalism.

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