Mehdi Unfiltered

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comIn this segment of Mehdi Unfiltered, Lindsey Boylan, former Cuomo aide who blew the whistle on his sexual misconduct, speaks to Mehdi about the former New York governor's mayoral bid.SUBSCRIBE TO ZETEO TO SUPPORT INDEPENDENT AND UNFILTERED JOURNALISM: https://zeteo.com/subscribeWATCH ‘MEHDI UNFILTERED' ON SUBSTACK: https://zeteo.com/s/mehdi-unfilteredFIND ZETEO:Twitter: https://twitter.com/zeteo_newsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/zeteonewsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@zeteonewsFIND MEHDI:Substack: https://substack.com/@mehdirhasanTwitter: https://twitter.com/@mehdirhasanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/@mehdirhasanTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mehdirhasan

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comIn this week's episode of Mehdi Unfiltered, Mehdi is joined by The Atlantic's Derek Thompson to discuss his new book with Ezra Klein, 'Abundance,' and the criticism it's received from progressives.SUBSCRIBE TO ZETEO TO SUPPORT INDEPENDENT AND UNFILTERED JOURNALISM: https://zeteo.com/subscribeWATCH ‘MEHDI UNFILTERED' ON SUBSTACK: https://zeteo.com/s/mehdi-unfilteredFIND ZETEO:Twitter: https://twitter.com/zeteo_newsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/zeteonewsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@zeteonewsFIND MEHDI:Substack: https://substack.com/@mehdirhasanTwitter: https://twitter.com/@mehdirhasanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/@mehdirhasanTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mehdirhasan

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comIn this segment of Mehdi Unfiltered, free speech advocate Nico Perrino talks to Mehdi about the Trump administration's attacks on student protestors and the media, and the right's free-speech hypocrisy. SUBSCRIBE TO ZETEO TO SUPPORT INDEPENDENT AND UNFILTERED JOURNALISM: https://zeteo.com/subscribeWATCH ‘MEHDI UNFILTERED' ON SUBSTACK: https://zeteo.com/s/mehdi-unfilteredFIND ZETEO:Twitter: https://twitter.com/zeteo_newsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/zeteonewsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@zeteonewsFIND MEHDI:Substack: https://substack.com/@mehdirhasanTwitter: https://twitter.com/@mehdirhasanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/@mehdirhasanTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mehdirhasan

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comIn this week's episode of Mehdi Unfiltered, Mehdi is joined by MSNBC host Chris Hayes to discuss his new book, ‘The Siren's Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource.'SUBSCRIBE TO ZETEO TO SUPPORT INDEPENDENT AND UNFILTERED JOURNALISM: https://zeteo.com/subscribeWATCH ‘MEHDI UNFILTERED' ON SUBSTACK: https://zeteo.com/s/mehdi-unfilteredFIND ZETEO:Twitter: https://twitter.com/zeteo_newsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/zeteonewsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@zeteonewsFIND MEHDI:Substack: https://substack.com/@mehdirhasanTwitter: https://twitter.com/@mehdirhasanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/@mehdirhasanTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mehdirhasan

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comIn this week's episode of Mehdi Unfiltered, Mehdi is joined by Iranian-American relations expert Trita Parsi to discuss the possibility of a US-Israel-backed war with Iran, and the threat of it all going nuclear. SUBSCRIBE TO ZETEO TO SUPPORT INDEPENDENT AND UNFILTERED JOURNALISM: https://zeteo.com/subscribeWATCH ‘MEHDI UNFILTERED' ON SUBSTACK: https://zeteo.com/s/mehdi-unfilteredFIND ZETEO:Twitter: https://twitter.com/zeteo_newsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/zeteonewsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@zeteonewsFIND MEHDI:Substack: https://substack.com/@mehdirhasanTwitter: https://twitter.com/@mehdirhasanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/@mehdirhasanTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mehdirhasan

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comAfter enduring almost three months of the Trump-Musk agenda, Democrats finally gained a victory last week, after voters elected Democratic-backed judge Susan Crawford, defeating billionaire Elon Musk's attempt to flip the court to conservative control. SUBSCRIBE TO ZETEO TO SUPPORT INDEPENDENT AND UNFILTERED JOURNALISM: https://zeteo.com/subscribeWATCH ‘MEHDI UNFILTERED' ON SUBSTACK: https://zeteo.com/s/mehdi-unfilteredFIND ZETEO:Twitter: https://twitter.com/zeteo_newsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/zeteonewsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@zeteonewsFIND MEHDI:Substack: https://substack.com/@mehdirhasanTwitter: https://twitter.com/@mehdirhasanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/@mehdirhasanTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mehdirhasan

Ten British nationals are now facing allegations of war crimes over their service in the Israeli military and its war on Gaza. To respond to this groundbreaking news, Mehdi interviews one of the lawyers behind this report: renowned human rights barrister Michael Mansfield KC.SUBSCRIBE TO ZETEO TO SUPPORT INDEPENDENT AND UNFILTERED JOURNALISM: https://zeteo.com/subscribeWATCH ‘MEHDI UNFILTERED' ON SUBSTACK: https://zeteo.com/s/mehdi-unfilteredFIND ZETEO:Twitter: https://twitter.com/zeteo_newsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/zeteonewsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@zeteonewsFIND MEHDI:Substack: https://substack.com/@mehdirhasanTwitter: https://twitter.com/@mehdirhasanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/@mehdirhasanTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mehdirhasan This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zeteo.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comMehdi was in New York this past week, and he was joined in the studio for a fascinating and wide-ranging conversation by none other than Molly Jong-Fast, acclaimed author, host of the ‘Fast Politics' podcast, and a special correspondent for Vanity Fair.You might find this to be a cathartic conversation as Mehdi and Molly unleash on the idiocy of the Trump tariffs - and the Trump administration in general.“We are governed by morons,” says Mehdi, “and we are in an episode of ‘Idiocracy.'”“I feel that the thing that got us the most furious was the stupid, right?” responds Molly. “I mean, I'm offended by the racism, I'm offended by the xenophobia, but the thing that keeps me up at night is the moronics. Like, none of this works, right? The math on this does not work.”The two of them also address the deficiencies in the modern, cautious, elderly Democratic Party. “The fundamental problem with Democrats, and this is not all of them, but with the older generation, is they can't get online,” argues Molly. “They can't do a Substack.”She believes the next Democratic presidential candidate has to be a master of messaging and has to be “someone who is gonna go out and do every interview and every podcast.”If you're a paid subscriber, please do watch the full 20-minute conversation above to hear Mehdi and Molly Jong-Fast's fun and passionate political discussion, in which they also tackle the failures of the mainstream media and Molly gives her prediction as to which Trump sycophant in his current cabinet will be fired soon and then write a tell-all book. Free subscribers can watch a 5-minute preview. To watch the full interview, consider upgrading to a paid subscription today.In case you missed them, here are some recent stories from Zeteo:

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comThe United States Constitution was written nearly 240 years ago, laying the foundations for an independent, successful, democratic country. But, like most of the nation's laws, it was written by and for wealthy white men. To put it simply, the US legal system today feels, in some ways, both outdated and discriminatory – especially when it's either under attack or weaponized by Donald Trump. It's this exact issue that Elie Mystal, lawyer, author, and justice correspondent at The Nation magazine, tackles in his new book, Bad Law: Ten Popular Laws That Are Ruining America. Mehdi speaks with Mystal about US democracy, voter suppression, and the Trump administration.SUBSCRIBE TO ZETEO TO SUPPORT INDEPENDENT AND UNFILTERED JOURNALISM: https://zeteo.com/subscribeWATCH ‘MEHDI UNFILTERED' ON SUBSTACK: https://zeteo.com/s/mehdi-unfilteredFIND ZETEO:Twitter: https://twitter.com/zeteo_newsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/zeteonewsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@zeteonewsFIND MEHDI:Substack: https://substack.com/@mehdirhasanTwitter: https://twitter.com/@mehdirhasanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/@mehdirhasanTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mehdirhasan

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comIn this segment of Mehdi Unfiltered, Mehdi interviews the lawyer for a Georgetown scholar who is facing deportation for his pro-Palestine views. SUBSCRIBE TO ZETEO TO SUPPORT INDEPENDENT AND UNFILTERED JOURNALISM: https://zeteo.com/subscribeWATCH ‘MEHDI UNFILTERED' ON SUBSTACK: https://zeteo.com/s/mehdi-unfilteredFIND ZETEO:Twitter: https://twitter.com/zeteo_newsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/zeteonewsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@zeteonewsFIND MEHDI:Substack: https://substack.com/@mehdirhasanTwitter: https://twitter.com/@mehdirhasanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/@mehdirhasanTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mehdirhasan

With the sun setting over Gaza's skyline and warplanes flying overhead, trauma surgeon Dr. Feroze Sidhwa and orthopedic surgeon Dr. Mark Perlmutter huddle in front of their webcam at Nasser Hospital in the south of Gaza to describe some of the horrors they have seen over the last week. SUBSCRIBE TO ZETEO TO SUPPORT INDEPENDENT AND UNFILTERED JOURNALISM: https://zeteo.com/subscribeWATCH ‘MEHDI UNFILTERED' ON SUBSTACK: https://zeteo.com/s/mehdi-unfilteredFIND ZETEO:Twitter: https://twitter.com/zeteo_newsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/zeteonewsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@zeteonewsFIND MEHDI:Substack: https://substack.com/@mehdirhasanTwitter: https://twitter.com/@mehdirhasanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/@mehdirhasanTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mehdirhasan This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zeteo.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comIn this segment of Mehdi Unfiltered, culture commentator Taylor Lorenz talks about the ‘Misogyny Slop Ecosystem' and how Republican influencers are using pop culture to funnel women into the right-wing pipeline.SUBSCRIBE TO ZETEO TO SUPPORT INDEPENDENT AND UNFILTERED JOURNALISM: https://zeteo.com/subscribeWATCH ‘MEHDI UNFILTERED' ON SUBSTACK: https://zeteo.com/s/mehdi-unfilteredFIND ZETEO:Twitter: https://twitter.com/zeteo_newsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/zeteonewsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@zeteonewsFIND MEHDI:Substack: https://substack.com/@mehdirhasanTwitter: https://twitter.com/@mehdirhasanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/@mehdirhasanTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mehdirhasan

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comIn this week's episode of Mehdi Unfiltered, Mehdi is joined by New York Times business investigations editor David Enrich to discuss his new book, ‘Murder the Truth: Fear, the First Amendment, and a Secret Campaign to Protect the Powerful.'SUBSCRIBE TO ZETEO TO SUPPORT INDEPENDENT AND UNFILTERED JOURNALISM: https://zeteo.com/subscribeWATCH ‘MEHDI UNFILTERED' ON SUBSTACK: https://zeteo.com/s/mehdi-unfilteredFIND ZETEO:Twitter: https://twitter.com/zeteo_newsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/zeteonewsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@zeteonewsFIND MEHDI:Substack: https://substack.com/@mehdirhasanTwitter: https://twitter.com/@mehdirhasanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/@mehdirhasanTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mehdirhasan

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comTrump is once again trying to reassert himself as the law and order president.During his recent joint address to Congress, the president called for a mandatory death penalty for anyone who kills a police officer. This of course comes less than two months after Trump himself pardoned more than 1,500 Jan. 6 rioters, including over 300 who pleaded guilty to either assaulting or obstructing law enforcement.One of those law enforcement officers who was assaulted on Jan. 6 was former Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino Gonell, who tells Mehdi that he “had to laugh” last week when Trump tried to claim he's on the side of law enforcement.“He is culpable of what led up to January six and the aftermath,” Gonell says to Mehdi. “He sat at the White House and as the events were happening, instead of calming the situation, he continued to tweet about it and make it more volatile for us on that day. And while he was watching it on TV, we were fighting for our lives trying to protect elected officials.”Sgt. Gonell tells Mehdi that he was assaulted by more than 40 rioters that day and had to undergo two surgeries as a result. When asked what his reaction was when Trump pardoned those rioters on his first day back in office, Gonell told Mehdi it was like a “stab in the heart.”“This is a consequence of people not believing that Donald Trump's gonna do what he says that he's gonna do,” Gonell tells Mehdi. “He pardoned these people, now he emboldened them, and instead of doing something positive with their lives, with their second chance, they decide to go back and harass the people who did the right thing on January 6th.”Gonell was specifically referring to an incident a few weeks ago, when he and his fellow former Capitol Police officers were harassed by the ex-Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio. Tarrio had previously been sentenced to over two decades in prison for his role in January 6th, but was ultimately pardoned by Trump.If you are a paid subscriber, watch the full interview to hear Gonell tell Mehdi what it was like to continue protecting the GOP lawmakers who helped incite January 6th, how Capitol Police officers view Trump and his actions from that day, and how Gonell has to interact with members of his own family who still support Trump.Free subscribers can watch the first five minutes of the interview. Consider becoming a paid subscriber today to watch the full segment.In case you missed it, here are some recent stories from Zeteo:

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comElon Musk gets called a lot of names by a lot of people, but not many elected officials find the courage to call him a “dick” without fear of the DOGE bros coming for them, unless you're Senator Tina Smith that is, the Democrat from Minnesota who sat down for a wide-ranging interview with Mehdi in her office on Capitol Hill.“It's so important that we speak out, that we speak the truth, that we don't hold back,” says Smith, a progressive Democrat who found Musk's move to email federal employees asking them to list their weekly completed tasks a step too far for an unelected billionaire.“I felt so angry for everybody who had gotten that email, understanding they were under so much pressure and so much uncertainty anyway, and I'm like… Who are you? Like, what gives you the right?” The answer? Trump, but Smith has a theory about that:“Trump is responsible, but don't you think that sometimes he's happy to have Musk out there, sort of absorbing some of that attack?... it's all performative.”The senator's harsh words are not exclusively reserved for Musk and Trump though, as the Minnesota senator is just as unfiltered in her criticisms of the Democratic Party to which she belongs, a party that she describes today as being “too cautious.”“I think Democrats have to have a real reckoning about the fact that the relationship that we thought we had with voters, our base voters and others, that relationship is not that great. It's weak. People don't think that we're standing up for them.”The Minnesota senator recently announced that she will not be seeking reelection next year, making this her final term as an elected official. “I think there's great power in coming, serving for a while, doing everything that you can, and then moving on,” she tells Mehdi.If you are a paid subscriber, you can watch the full interview above to hear why Smith thinks Democrats should be “getting the hell out of Washington,” the Biden administration's support for Israel, and her response to Mehdi's questions on leadership, Chuck Schumer, and more.Note: This interview was taped just prior to Friday's controversial cloture vote in the Senate.Free subscribers can watch a 10-minute preview. Consider becoming a paid subscriber today to watch the full interview.In case you missed them, here are some of our other interviews with House officials:

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comIn this week's episode of Mehdi Unfiltered, Mehdi is joined by Democratic Rep. Jim Himes to discuss his censure vote for Rep. Al Green, the detainment of Mahmoud Khalil, and the ‘pro-fascist instincts' of Elon Musk.SUBSCRIBE TO ZETEO TO SUPPORT INDEPENDENT AND UNFILTERED JOURNALISM: https://zeteo.com/subscribeWATCH ‘MEHDI UNFILTERED' ON SUBSTACK: https://zeteo.com/s/mehdi-unfilteredFIND ZETEO:Twitter: https://twitter.com/zeteo_newsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/zeteonewsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@zeteonewsFIND MEHDI:Substack: https://substack.com/@mehdirhasanTwitter: https://twitter.com/@mehdirhasanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/@mehdirhasanTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mehdirhasan

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comAntisemitism is sadly very much alive and well in the US, but conservatives want you to believe it is located in the placard-waving crowds at pro-Palestine rallies, or the student protests on college campuses, rather than within their own bigoted ranks, where talk of ‘great replacement' and Nazi-looking salutes are all the vogue right now.The conservative moment in the US has even taken to declaring liberal Jewish critics of Israel as not Jewish enough, says one leading Jewish expert on antisemitism, who warns against the conflating of antisemitism with anti-Zionism.“It's called us JINOs, ‘Jewish in name only,'” Lara Friedman, President of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, tells Mehdi on ‘Mehdi Unfiltered.'“It's a framing that started not with this Trump administration, it was there during the Biden administration, was there during the previous Trump administration… it has almost become a cult-like fealty that is demanded to Zionism and the state of Israel.”Friedman has not been shy to point out the hypocrisy displayed by people who are outraged by phrases like “from the river to the sea,” but are seemingly unbothered by Nazi-looking salutes on stage here in the US.“That brought forth the biggest wave or tsunami of vitriol against me I've ever experienced, which really boiled down to ‘shut up you… and fill in your epithets' followed by the word ‘Jew'. Outright anti-Semitism, including from Jewish people,” she says.Some of the concerns and fears that members of the Jewish community in the US are feeling right now are based on real trends, Friedman says, but those concerns and fears are aimed at the wrong group.“The people that they are afraid of are not the right wingers who…attacked a synagogue in Pittsburgh. The people they're afraid of are the people who are trying to speak out for Palestinian lives and rights.”If you are a paid subscriber, you can watch the full interview above to hear Friedman explain the way in which the right's cynical cozying up to Israel is a way of laundering antisemitism, the dangerous threat posed to free speech by the controversial IHRA definition of antisemitism, and why everyone should pay attention to what Steve Bannon and Elon Musk are saying and doing.Free subscribers can watch a 7-minute preview. Consider becoming a paid subscriber today to watch the full interview.In case you missed them, here are some recent stories from Zeteo:

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comIn Part Two of Mehdi's interview with Joe Walsh, the former Republican congressman turned Never-Trumper, Mehdi challenges Walsh on his support for Israel's war on Gaza. Mehdi presses Walsh on his use of the term “genocide” to describe Russia's attack on Ukraine but his refusal to apply it to Israel's attack on Gaza; on his smearing of the International Criminal Court for having “anti-israel bias”; and on his refusal to condemn Israel's mass displacement of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, not just Gaza. SUBSCRIBE TO ZETEO TO SUPPORT INDEPENDENT AND UNFILTERED JOURNALISM: https://zeteo.com/subscribeWATCH, LISTEN AND SUBSCRIBE TO ‘WE'RE NOT KIDDING' ON SUBSTACK: https://zeteo.com/s/were-not-kidding-with-mehdi-and-friendsFIND ZETEO:Twitter: https://twitter.com/zeteo_newsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/zeteonewsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@zeteonewsFIND MEHDI:Substack: https://substack.com/@mehdirhasanTwitter: https://twitter.com/@mehdirhasanInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/@mehdirhasanTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mehdirhasan

“I think Americans are going to take to the streets. There's part of me that believes Trump wants Americans to take to the streets, because Trump wants to use the military.” - Joe WalshFormer Republican Congressman Joe Walsh was once a proud ally of the right-wing Tea Party – the movement that many believe paved the way for Donald Trump.But today, Walsh is no fan of Trump. In fact, he's become one of the most vocal ‘Never Trump' Republicans and is now officially an independent, having endorsed Joe Biden in 2020 and Kamala Harris in 2024.In this first of a two-part interview, Mehdi and the former Congressman discuss the fallout from Trump term two so far, the Democrats' failure to fully push back against him, and whether the US is heading towards civil war.“The Democrats seem to be caught flat footed,” Walsh tells Mehdi. “He [Trump] told us every single freaking day during that campaign what he was going to do. He told us every day during that campaign he was going to be a dictator, a king, and for him to win and then be sworn in, and the Democrats really don't know how to react to it – that's been mind boggling to me.”Walsh also explains to Mehdi why he believes the US is currently in a “constitutional crisis” and how Congress should have confronted billionaire Elon Musk.“We're supposed to have three independent branches of government… Congress isn't there,” Walsh says. “A healthy Congress would have hauled Elon Musk's ass in front of them under oath three weeks ago and just said, what in God's name are you doing?”Mehdi asks Walsh whether he believes the US may be heading to civil war, to which Walsh replies: “Hell, yes.”Watch Part One of this discussion above, which we are making available in full to both free and paid subscribers, to hear Walsh on whether Harris's catering towards Republicans cost her the election; Elon Musk's role in the White House; and why Democrats are still playing by the “old rules.”Also, keep an eye out for Part Two of this wide-ranging interview, coming soon, where Mehdi challenges Walsh – a vocal supporter of Israel – on the Israeli government's genocidal rhetoric and the many accusations of war crimes.In case you missed them, here are some recent stories from Zeteo: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zeteo.com/subscribe

New York City Mayor Eric Adams' days seem to be numbered as he faces mounting pressure – from New Yorkers and beyond – to resign.The embattled mayor had faced charges related to bribery, campaign finance violations, and conspiracy offenses - until that is, the Trump DOJ stopped the charges against Adams just two months before his trial, in return for the mayor's support for the administration's immigration policies.Adams has denied the charges and stated that he will serve his full term, despite the national outrage, but one man is ready to step up if needed: New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams – the first in line to succeed Adams and become acting mayor.While Williams has not officially joined in on the public calls for Adams to resign, he told Mehdi, “I am very, very clear that this mayor cannot lead this city based on everything that's going on.”As Andrew Cuomo, the disgraced former Democratic governor of New York, reportedly considers a mayoral bid of his own, Williams doesn't hold back. “I believe we often confuse bullying with leadership and competency,” he tells Mehdi, referring to Cuomo, and saying how he hopes New Yorkers remember “how harmful he was to New York City, how harmful he was to vulnerable communities, how harmful he was to black communities.”We are making this interview fully available to all subscribers. Watch the full interview to hear the discussion, including Williams' views on how the immigration issue has been cynically weaponized by MAGA and the right.If you enjoyed this interview, please consider becoming a paid subscriber to Zeteo and support our mission towards free and honest journalism. In Case you missed them, here are some recent Zeteo stories you might be interested in: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zeteo.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comAward-winning novelist and journalist Omar El Akkad has just released his first non-fiction book titled One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This. The book follows his previous fiction novel, American War, which was named by the BBC as one of 100 novels that shaped our world.The book's title, inspired by a viral tweet Akkad posted in October of 2023, gives you a good hint that the main theme is the genocide in Gaza. Akkad joins ‘Mehdi Unfiltered' to discuss the many themes in his book, what inspired it, and why so many are silent when they shouldn't be.“I think there's a lot of people who have become very well versed in looking away and keeping their head down and then checking every once in a while, to see what the prevailing opinion is,” he tells Mehdi. Indeed, the silence from so many on the suffering of Palestinians is deafening, but it isn't new, nor is it exclusive to Palestinians, as he explores in his powerful new book.“It is very difficult to find somebody who was on board with apartheid in South Africa. Everyone's against it, in hindsight. That avenue has always been available.” The more time passes, the more it seems everyone was on the right side of history. But in Gaza's case - the first live-streamed genocide - Mehdi asks Akkad if looking away is the same as it used to be.“I think operating under the systems of power that we have generally, relies in large extent on looking away, and this was much, much more difficult to look away from,” Akkad says.You can click here to buy a copy of Akkad's latest book ‘One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This' and also, do share your review with us in the comments below! If you are a paid subscriber, you can watch the full interview above to hear what Akkad considers as the “most instructive form of failure” in the media's coverage of the genocide in Gaza.Free subscribers can watch a 10-minute preview. Consider becoming a paid subscriber today to watch the full interview.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.com“As citizens of democracies, we will be primarily concerned with situations where our own governments…our own political classes, our media classes are complicit. And that is what is going to outrage us long before we get outraged about what is happening in East Timor or Myanmar.”That's just one of the many reasons Indian Author Pankaj Mishra has spent so much of the past year advocating against Israel's war on Gaza, and has now even gone as far as to write a whole book on the subject – The World After Gaza: A History.The book is of course inspired by Mishra's London Review essay and lecture, ‘The Shoah After Gaza' – which drew up controversy last year, after the Barbican backed out of hosting Mishra's lecture, all before he even gave it.“I'm not actually quite sure what happened there at the Barbican, but they certainly pulled out at the last moment, fearing that they might also attract the same malicious charge of antisemitism,” Mishra says.Asked whether he was ever concerned about being accused of antisemitism himself, Mishra said, “We've seen horrific things in the last 15 months. There's so much more to fear at this point than the charge of antisemitism.”On the topic of censorship, Mishra criticized the way in which last year's pro-Palestine student protests were suppressed and sabotaged by those in power.“The way in which mainstream newspapers, mainstream politicians collaborated in demonizing those student protesters and then obviously kind of crushing them... that was one of the most horrific events of the last year, obviously in addition to what was going on in Gaza itself,” Mishra tells Mehdi. “I still think that those student protesters, even though they were crushed and silenced, offered us a modest hope.”Mishra also went on to draw parallels between the state of Israel and his home country of India, specifically in relation to what India is doing in Kashmir.“There are sort of these parallels not just between Israel and India, but also various other post-colonial states, including Indonesia for that matter,” Mishra explains. “What we look at is essentially a state – a newly sovereign state – unable to deal with problems of dispossession, the problems that obviously emerged during the creation of these states, and resorting to really naked violence to solve these problems.”Watch the full interview with Mishra to hear him discuss the implications of Israel's impunity, US President Donald Trump's re-election, and his spats with far-right writers Jordan Peterson and Niall Ferguson. Free subscribers can watch the first 6 minutes of the interview. Become a paid subscriber to watch the full 24-minute interview and join the conversation in the comments below!

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comDonald Trump hasn't even been in office for a month, and already, his administration is dismantling key agencies of the federal government, including USAID. Much of this work is being done by shadow president Elon Musk, whose so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been wreaking havoc on key systems at the Treasury, the Department of Education, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.If DOGE really plans on cutting $2 trillion from the federal budget, there's one place progressives say he can start: the Pentagon's whopping $850 billion budget.“If you're going to say that you're going to deal with government waste and you're not going to be dealing with the Pentagon, you're just one big hypocrite,” Ben Cohen, progressive activist and co-founder of the ice cream brand Ben & Jerry's, tells Mehdi.“If the Pentagon were a publicly held company, the executives would be in jail today,” Cohen says.For Matthew Bartlett, a Republican strategist who served in Trump's first-term State Department, DOGE's efforts to destroy USAID are a big concern.“I'm all for reforms, but you would be naive not to recognize the miracle work they do each and every day around the world,” Bartlett says.Cohen points out that defunding USAID not only takes food out of the mouths of people who are starving; it results in “essentially killing newborn babies by getting rid of HIV/AIDS treatment for their moms.”In recent days, Trump has touted his plan to “take over” Gaza and said in a Fox interview that Palestinians won't have the right to return to the territory. It's a move Bartlett says “is more than problematic.”“For a lasting peace to ever be a notion in this world, the Palestinians need to have sovereignty,” Bartlett tells Mehdi. “They need to have their homeland returned to them.”If you are a paid subscriber, you can watch the full panel discussion with Ben Cohen and Matthew Bartlett above to hear Mehdi question the latter about why and how he served in Trump's first administration, and to hear Cohen's response to whether Trump's plan for Gaza amounts to ethnic cleansing and why parent company Unilever is trying to suppress Ben & Jerry's stance on Palestine.Free subscribers can watch a 4-minute preview. Do consider becoming a paid subscriber today to watch the full interview and let us know in the comments below who you would like to see on ‘Mehdi Unfiltered' next!

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comLast week, Democratic Congresswoman and ‘Squad' member Ilhan Omar became Elon Musk's latest target on Twitter, after he falsely accused her of breaking the law for sharing legal advice to undocumented immigrants.In this interview on ‘Mehdi Unfiltered,' Rep. Omar sits down with Mehdi to discuss Musk's attack on her, as well as the ongoing effort to dismantle federal agencies funded by Congress.“He wakes up lying. He goes to sleep lying,” Omar said. “And frankly, I don't think he understands the laws of this country. I don't think he understands the Constitution. I don't think he understands the power that we have as members of Congress. And I don't think he understands or thinks that people are entitled to rights under the Constitution if he doesn't like them.”Omar slams freshman GOP House Member Brandon Gill who launched his own attack on her by saying that the US would “be a better place” if Omar – a lawmaker and a US citizen! – were deported.“I'm at the point where it's become really hard to have an intellectual debate with any of these people because the level of stupidity that they are displaying every single day is frankly embarrassing,” Omar tells Mehdi.Since the interview took place, Rep. Gill has doubled down on his attacks on the congresswoman, urging his supporters to sign a petition for her deportation in a fundraising email.Omar also criticizes Trump and Musk's claims of massive fraud in the government agencies they are attempting to shut down.“No one has shown us a single example of the fraud that he's [Musk] finding. What ‘fraud' is, is what we as members of Congress debated and decided to fund legally. That to him is fraud,” Omar says.Watch the full interview to hear Rep. Omar discuss the need for the Democratic Party to get more aggressive and use the leverage it has; Trump's plan for the US to illegally take control of Gaza; and JD Vance's suggestion that the White House can simply ignore court rulings against Trump's executive orders.It's a fascinating and wide-ranging interview. Free subscribers can watch a 5-minute preview; paid subscribers can watch the whole thing. To access the full interview, do please consider upgrading to a paid subscription.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comLast week, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order freezing US aid to South Africa, saying that their new land ownership law – meant to address the legacy of apartheid – “blatantly discriminates against ethnic minority Afrikaners.” This came just days after Elon Musk railed against the law on Twitter, calling it “openly racist.”In this interview, South Africa's Ambassador to the US Ebrahim Rasool sits down with Mehdi to discuss the new law, as well as Trump and Musk's decision to “interfere” with South Africa's internal politics.“Even his [Musk's] own supporters back home are reeling under the impact of what has been occasioned,” Rasool tells Mehdi. “They know that there is no land confiscation. They know that 30 years later, this is the most benign land reform that has come in. They know that Afrikaners and whites own 70% of the land to this day and all the farms – mostly – in South Africa.”The ambassador also discussed the country's ICJ case against Israel, which the Trump administration cited as one of the reasons for freezing aid to South Africa.“The growing consensus in South Africa is that whatever we've experienced in South Africa is on steroids in Palestine,” Rasool tells Mehdi. “The template of apartheid has been completely magnified… That is the kind of DNA that we recognized as South Africans.”Rasool criticized Trump and Musk for meddling in other countries' politics, telling Mehdi that, “South Africa will not be falling into the temptation that President Trump and Mr. Musk have fallen into themselves, and that is to interfere in the internal politics of other countries, as was done with Britain and Germany and others.”Watch the full interview above to hear the two discuss South Africa's new coalition government, reports that South Africa may give Musk's companies a pass on the country's Black empowerment rules, and Rasool's response to Trump's plan to take over Gaza.Free subscribers can watch a 6-minute preview of the interview. To access the full interview, consider upgrading to a paid subscription.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comDo you ever wonder where the world will be in 50 years?This is the key question that award-winning filmmaker Asif Kapadia – best known for his films ‘Diego Maradona', ‘Amy' and ‘Senna' – seeks to answer in his newest work, ‘2073.' And the answer is a lot scarier than perhaps the flying cars we imagined for the future.‘2073' gives us a look at just one of the possibilities if the world continues to devolve at its current pace. A world almost unrecognizable as citizens of ‘New San Francisco' face the fall of democracy and the harrowing effects of climate change. (Be sure to watch the exclusive clip from the film at the end of the interview above.)“I thought the whole world feels really dystopian – everything that happens every day that I read, everything I see happening around me – and I thought, how do I express this feeling, this fear about where we're heading?” Kapadia tells Mehdi.He continues, “My main aim with this film was to kind of almost have a God's eye view of the whole world. Because my background is from India, I've worked in Brazil, I've worked in Europe, I live in the UK, I've worked in the US. I just saw the same kind of elements, the same playbook happening everywhere.”Thus, ‘2073' depicts the confluence of climate change and the rise of authoritarianism in the dystopian city of New San Francisco, where there's no privacy, no freedom, no democracy. The film is a warning of what is to come if we let oligarchs go unchecked.But it's not all doom and gloom, because as much as ‘2073' serves as a warning, it also is a call to action.“The film is there to create a dialogue for us to be talking now, for you, for me, for everyone to be saying, what can we individually do? I don't think it's as simple as putting a neat little moment at the end of the film and saying, if you do this, everything will be great. I mean, the struggle is much more complex and the fight for freedom and democracy is much more layered than me just saying go out and vote. There's something else going on here and we're going to have to talk about it,” Kapadia explains.He concludes, “I think partly it starts at home. It starts with you, starts with your kids, it starts with your family, your parents, your aunties and uncles, but then also a kind of wider community about what are we going to do to protect ourselves from what is happening. We're not crazy. This stuff is happening. And I think the film, part of the process of showing it, has been almost therapy for people.”Watch the full interview above to hear what Kapadia's take is on the mainstream media's coverage of the issues he highlights in ‘2073', and the exclusive clip, only for Zeteo paid subscribers

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.com“The left has ceded the space on antisemitism…and the right has smartly and strategically filled that void.”That's one of the big takeaways from award-winning British journalist and broadcaster Rachel Shabi's new book, Off-White: The Truth About Antisemitism.Shabi recently sat down with Mehdi for a wide-ranging interview about her book, the conditionality of whiteness for Jewish people, and why progressives need to establish their own trustworthiness when speaking out against antisemitism. “We're going to have to do this work despite the bad-faith actors,” Shabi said.“We need to be building our own credibility as people who care about and fight against antisemitism when we see it, including from the right, which is getting worse,” Shabi added.Shabi's book also explores the “new” antisemitism, which is pushed by supporters of Israel to demonize pro-Palestinian voices.“The effect has been not only to silence and chill speech on Palestine at this urgent moment, which is bad enough, but it's also completely degraded the tone,” Shabi said about false claims of antisemitism.Watch Mehdi's full interview with Shabi to hear more about pushing back against the right-wing weaponization of antisemitism, how Christian Europeans are responsible for the divide between Israel and Palestine, and the dangers of conflating anti-Zionism with antisemitism. Free subscribers have access to a 9-minute free preview of this interview. Become a paid subscriber to watch the full 31-minute interview and join the conversation in the comments below!

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comIt's been a historic week in the United States as a man who was twice impeached, convicted on 34 felony counts, and incited an insurrection has now returned to the White House as Commander-in-Chief for the second time. Since Monday, Trump has issued a dizzying number of executive orders, compared himself to President William McKinley, and freed the same Jan. 6 rioters who tried to violently overthrow the government on his behalf just four years ago.Who better to help us make sense of this unprecedented time and give it context than Heather Cox Richardson?Richardson is a prolific Substack writer. Her newsletter Letters From An American has accumulated almost two million followers. Named one of USA Today's Women of the Year, Richardson is also a professor of 19th-century American history at Boston College, and even interviewed Joe Biden in the White House.In a wide-ranging interview for Mehdi Unfiltered, Richardson sits down with Mehdi to discuss Trump's second presidency, the parallels with McKinley, and whether there has ever been someone like Elon Musk in US history. “These tech bros have control over very large digital platforms that determine many of the ways in which we live,” Richardson tells Mehdi. “They also determine our public speech, and that is truly frightening.”Richardson also looks at how historians will evaluate Biden's presidency, what Democrats could do in order to rebound from their recent loss, and how to keep hope alive.“One of the things that I expect to see going forward is a much clearer articulation on the part of the Democratic Party of what they stand for and how they are going to implement that,” Richardson says. “And by the same token, the MAGA Republicans have articulated what they stand against.”To hear more from Heather Cox Richardson and how the state of the US compares to key moments in history, watch the discussion above.“I think the combination of the fact he is himself seemingly not at the top of his game and he's delivering things that many people expected would not happen is going to mean he's going to face a lot of unrest a lot more quickly than a new administration usually does.” – Heather Cox RichardsonIf you are a paid subscriber, you can watch the full interview above to hear the two discuss whether Biden should have dropped out of the presidential race, the MAGA agenda, and whether Trump is an aberration of history.Free subscribers can watch an 8-minute preview. Do consider becoming a paid subscriber today to watch the full interview and let us know in the comments below who you would like to see on ‘Mehdi Unfiltered' next!

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comBetween controversial salutes, inflammatory statements, and billionaires pretending to be normal people, there's a lot to take in from Donald Trump's inauguration. The newly re-elected president tore up Joe Biden's legacy with one executive order after another as a crowd of mostly rich and very rich people looked on.“I think it's clear that a handful of billionaires are in charge, and Musk certainly has the most influence,” says Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, who joins Mehdi to share his perspective.“What you're seeing being constructed is essentially a kleptocracy in which the billionaires of this country are going to steal from the poor and the middle class.”One of those billionaires, Elon Musk, spent day one of the second Trump era performing two Nazi-looking salutes on stage in DC. Despite his supporters denying it was a “Heil Hitler,” Murphy is not convinced.“Maybe you could excuse that gesture if it wasn't coming from somebody who has a consistent history of identifying themselves with neo-Nazis and with anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. He literally amplifies some of the most vicious anti-Semitic conspiracy theories on Twitter.”Mehdi pushed Murphy on his support for Israel since October 7, on the TikTok ban that Democrats voted for, and the increase in billionaire wealth on Joe Biden's watch.And, looking forward, Mehdi asked the senator about the future of a deeply unpopular Democratic Party.“If we want to win,” says Murphy, who is considered to be a possible 2028 Democratic presidential contender, “you have got to make economic populism and economic fairness the tent pole of your party, and you've got to build a bigger tent in which you have the courage…to bring in some people to that tent that might not line up with you on all the issues that I think are important.”If you are a paid subscriber, you can watch the full interview above to hear Mehdi question Murphy on sending weapons to Israel, Kamala Harris' campaign, bipartisanship, and the normalization of corruption.Free subscribers can watch a 15-minute preview. Do consider becoming a paid subscriber today to watch the full interview and let us know in the comments below who you would like to see on ‘Mehdi Unfiltered' next!

Who is Marwan Barghouti? Why is he nicknamed “Palestine's Mandela”? And why does Israel see him as such a big threat, even behind bars, that it is adamantly refusing to release him as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal?This week on Mehdi Unfiltered, Mehdi goes on a deep dive into Barghouti's life, his activism, and most importantly, all the red flags around his trial and imprisonment by Israel.Barghouti's story, like that of most Palestinians, is a mix of struggle and hope. The former Fatah official, the political party currently led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, is the most popular leader among Palestinians today. And while 89-year-old Abbas sets a low bar for competition, Mehdi explains what makes Barghouti still so popular after decades of imprisonment - and such a threat to both Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas.It is rare for any Palestinian to see an inkling of justice in Israel's military courts. Red flag after red flag, Mehdi details everything that went wrong in Barghouti's trial, from torture to international law violations to a judge with a grudge, because there is no statute of limitations on injustice, especially when its victims continue to pay the price for it.“My father used to always tell me that hope is sometimes a privilege, and being hopeless is a privilege that we can't have as Palestinians.”Also, Marwan Barghouti's son, Arab Barghouthi, joins Mehdi to discuss the latest on his father's condition, his health after decades behind bars, and whether prison changed him from the leader he was.“I don't think so,” Arab refutes, “I have my trust in God first and in my father, because he is someone who has been through a lot in his life.” Despite his hope, Arab is also well aware of his father's difficult conditions in prison, especially since the October 7 attack.“The head of Ofer prison came to him and in front of other prisoners, he asked him to put his hands behind his back and to kneel, to try to tell the other prisoners that if I can humiliate your leader, I can humiliate you all, which he refused. So they forced him to do it, which got his shoulder dislocated,” Arab recounts, adding that many more torture techniques were used against his father including solitary confinement and sleep deprivation.Watch the full interview above to find out why Marwan Barghouti's case should have never reached Israeli courts, and if Arab believes Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas would actually support his father's release in 2025.If you liked this episode of Mehdi Unfiltered, do consider becoming a paid subscriber today and let us know who you'd like to see on our show next! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zeteo.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comHave you ever been stuck with a subscription you just can't seem to cancel? Or how about buying tickets online that nearly double in price at checkout? (Yes, we're looking at you, Ticketmaster.)We've all been there. But thanks to the work of the current Federal Trade Commission (FTC), those days will soon be coming to an end with initiatives like “click to cancel” and policies cracking down on pesky “junk fees.”As the final days of the Biden Administration come to an end, outgoing FTC Chair Lina Khan reflects on some of the agency's biggest accomplishments and the legacy she will be leaving behind. “I think our record speaks for itself. I think all of the ways that we are delivering enormous benefits for the American people speaks for itself, and I'm just enormously proud of the just win after win that we've been able to deliver for the American people,” she tells Mehdi.Khan, who was just 32 when she was appointed to her post in 2021, has been able to unite Americans across political lines for the FTC's anti-monopoly work and has produced populist policies that the Biden administration can be proud of.As she explains to Mehdi, “One of the original insights underlying the antitrust laws and the anti-monopoly tradition in America was a recognition that deep concentrations of economic power would be dangerous for the American people. It would undermine their economic freedoms, but it could also pose political dangers.”And as Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg cozy up to Trump, Khan warns, “extreme concentration of economic power can buy you political power…”Khan also talked about how the FTC's wins during her tenure are “durable” and could outlast the Trump administration's policies. To find out why, and more about her own plans after January 20, then please do watch the discussion above.Paid subscribers can watch in full while free subscribers can catch the first two minutes of the conversation.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comIt is less than two weeks until US president-elect Donald J. Trump's second inauguration, and between Elon Musk's agenda-setting and all Trump's controversial cabinet picks, the soon-to-be 47th president is already setting the stage for an even more chaotic and corrupt term in office.In this first ‘Mehdi Unfiltered' interview of 2025, Republican strategist and Trump 2024 Campaign Spokesman Adolfo Franco joins Mehdi for a wide-ranging and, at times, heated interview on Trump's post-election moves. Watch the full segment above.Mehdi also challenges Franco on Trump's 2020 election conspiracy theories, with Mehdi specifically asking Franco whether Trump's fringe and unconstitutional legal arguments about election certification from 2020 applied to the 2024 election results.“‘Only the vice president has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors' – that's what Donald Trump said on January the 5th, [2021],” Mehdi says to Franco. “So, I'm asking, if Kamala Harris had said on Monday ‘Adolfo Franco and Donald Trump said there was massive cheating in Pennsylvania, I reject the electors from Pennsylvania,' you support her power to do that?”“I think she would have had a basis to do that had the election been close to her,” Adolfo says.Mehdi asked Franco about Trump falsely claiming that he has “always been in favor” of the H1-B visa program, after Elon Musk announced he would go to “war” to protect the legal immigration program.“That's a lie, Adolfo. He said in 2016 in a presidential debate and across the campaign that the H-1B visa program was, quote, ‘very bad,' ‘unfair' for US workers and, quote, ‘we should end it,' ” Mehdi says to Adolfo.“I don't think it's a lie. I think he's for the program, but it needs to be reformed… It's been a system that's been used many times to sue employers because of its use,” Adolfo responds.On the topic of the H1-B debate, Mehdi and Adolfo also discussed a tweet Elon Musk agreed with on Twitter that referred to American workers as “r*tarded,” with Franco saying that Musk, “needs to apologize.”If you are a paid subscriber, watch the full interview to hear Mehdi challenge Franco on Trump's cabinet picks and their controversial records, the president-elect's flip-flop on the TikTok ban, and the dangerous misinformation Trump has been spreading about the New Orleans attack that took place early on New Year's Day.Free subscribers can watch the first 12 minutes of the segment for free. To access the full interview, consider upgrading to a paid subscription.

In 2023, Humza Yousaf made history when he was elected as Scotland's first minister, making him the first Muslim leader of a Western democracy. Yet, that term was cut short this past spring after Yousaf was forced to resign from the post, as his coalition government fell apart.Since then, Yousaf has remained a backbench member of the Scottish Parliament.However, in this exclusive interview with Zeteo in London, Humza Yousaf announces that he will not be seeking re-election to the Scottish Parliament in 2026, telling Mehdi that it's time for him to “step away from frontline politics.”“I think the time is right for me to step down, step away from frontline politics and make way for the next generation of elected members,” Yousaf says to Mehdi.In this wide-ranging interview, the former leader of Scotland discusses his fallout with the Green Party earlier this year, which ultimately led to the collapse of his coalition government, saying that terminating the power-sharing agreement with the Greens was, “the right thing to have done.”“My successor is no longer encumbered with that deal, [he] can make decisions in policy that he wants to take forward in our country's interest without having to negotiate and compromise with the Greens. They can do that on an issue by issue basis, which I think is the best way to do it,” Yousaf says.Yousaf also discusses the Middle East with Mehdi, telling him that the UK Labour Party is complicit in Israel's genocide on Gaza.“There's no doubt in my mind at all they are complicit. And I hope and pray that I live to see the day that all of those who are complicit are held accountable for these crimes,” Yousaf tells Mehdi.Mehdi asks Yousaf about his feud with billionaire Elon Musk, with the former first minister reiterating why he thinks Musk is, “one of the most dangerous men on the planet.”Yousaf also sounds the alarm about reports that Musk has been considering donating to the hard-right Reform UK party (Musk has denied these reports).Watch the full exclusive interview above to hear Mehdi and Yousaf also discuss the rise of Islamophobia and the UK race riots from this past summer, his party's catastrophic performance in the UK's general election this year, and the Pakistani government's continued imprisonment of former prime minister Imran Khan. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zeteo.com/subscribe

President-elect Donald J. Trump has once again revealed his blatant disregard for the US Constitution, touting his plan to end birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants.Of course, Trump being Trump thinks he can end it all by himself, via simple executive order – rather than the required constitutional amendment. But, as Mehdi points out in the video above, Trump not only would be defying the plain text of the 14th Amendment, he would also be going against over 100 years of judicial precedent.Watch the short video above to see Mehdi rebut the right-wing critics of birthright citizenship, dismantle Trump's lies on this issue, and brings receipts dating all the way back to the 1860s.Paid subscribers can comment below.Check out some of our other stories from the past week: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zeteo.com/subscribe

The United Nations' Special Envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, joins Mehdi Unfiltered to discuss the country's new leadership, the path forward, and the UN's role in it all. Addressing the latest attacks by Israel on sites within Syria, as well as the Israeli military incursion into the buffer zone next to the occupied Golan Heights, Pedersen tells Mehdi that these are illegal under international law.“The message to Israel is that this needs to stop. What we are seeing in the Golan is the violation of the 1974 agreement. This is a very serious issue.”Given the UN has listed the Nusra Front as a proscribed terrorist organization, and given Abu Muhammed al-Jolani and his Nusra Front spin-off Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) led the offensive against Assad and now controls much of the country, Mehdi asks Pedersen about the UN's approach towards HTS going forward.“This creates obviously challenges and I have been very open when it comes to this… The messaging coming out so far has been good… What we now need to see when they are in Damascus, and of course, they are not alone in Damascus, is that this vision is actually implemented.”A precursor to opening a political pathway for such groups will of course be changing their “terrorist' designations, something that Pedersen says he is willing to take to the UN Security Council.“My message to the Security Council will be, yes, it's time to have a deeper look at this and see if it's possible to delist. But as I said, only if these things happen.”Given Pedersen's six years as Special Envoy for Syria, Mehdi also asks about the UN's role over the last 14 years.“We all failed the Syrian people,” Pedersen responds “and the United Nations, for many, will be the face of that, and we have to take responsibility for that.”Watch the full interview above to hear why Pedersen is cautious in his hope for Syria, and the steps he believes need to be taken to see “Syria developing now, in the next days, weeks, months and years ahead of us.”Please do consider also becoming a paid subscriber to Zeteo to support our independent journalism and make Zeteo the go-to place for exclusive interviews with high-profile guests such as this one!In case you missed it, here is Zeteo's interview with a former child prisoner of Syria's notorious Sednaya prison: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zeteo.com/subscribe

Meet rising Democratic Party star Anderson Clayton. At just 26 years old, she is the youngest-ever state party chair, representing the Democrats in the red state of North Carolina. But despite electing Donald Trump in the 2024 election, North Carolina's red days may be soon behind it.Democrats secured the races for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and secretary of state in this election. They even won enough seats to end the Republican supermajority in the state legislature.So why did voters elect both Donald Trump and Democrats, at the same time, in November's elections?“I don't think that a political party defines how somebody is going to vote on the ballot. I think that they are looking for a person right now, and that's why it matters the types of candidates that we run,” Clayton tells Mehdi in this wide-ranging interview.While Democrats are playing the blame game on how Kamala Harris lost the election, Clayton says, “I don't think anybody's a lost cause. I actually think after this election cycle, we should be looking at every single person as somebody we're talking to.”But it's not just talking to voters that's key for Democrats moving forward. “We need to run young people,” Clayton explains. She continues, “They're 60% more likely to vote for a young person on the ballot regardless of what political party that they're affiliated with. And I think that we have to look at young people as a voting bloc that wants to see themselves represented.”Many young voters aligned themselves with the Uncommitted movement this election given the genocide in Gaza. While some Democrats blame these voters for the election loss, Clayton believes that Democrats can learn something from it: “It was them using political power in the right way because it's something where it's not discouraging people from the political process. It's saying, ‘No, let's use it to have our voices heard.”' She adds, “That's something where Democrats should be taking it and embracing it … because right now people do not want to build up the Democratic Party. It seems like people are more interested in going around it.”Watch the full interview to hear about political messaging in rural communities, the North Carolina GOP's attempt to curb the incoming governor's powers, and whether she'll throw her hat in the ring for DNC chair. Clayton also reacts to Bernie Sanders' criticism of the Democrats.We are making this fascinating interview free for all subscribers to watch, but please do consider becoming a paid subscriber if you're not already! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zeteo.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comLike most years, New York City spent much of 2024 at the epicenter of the most pressing stories in the United States, from college campus protests for Palestine to the trial of Donald J. Trump, to the indictment of their own Democratic mayor, Eric Adams.“One of the few things [on] the ever-growing list of things in common between Eric Adams and Donald Trump is a sense of impunity and a belief that accountability does not apply to them,” New York Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani says to Mehdi.In an exclusive Zeteo interview, the 33-year-old Mamdani – who will be running against Adams in the 2025 New York City Democratic primaries – talks to Mehdi about calls for Adams to resign over his recent corruption charges, and whether or not the indicted mayor is trying to cozy up to Trump for a potential pardon.“What we've seen with Eric Adams is a continued insistence that he is not going to step down. In his own words, he is going to step up. He's not going to resign, he's going to reign,” Mamdani tells Mehdi. “I think he understands that his future is tied up with the sentiments of Donald Trump towards him.”Mamdani – a member of the Democratic Socialists of America – responds to the critics who say that it was progressives like him that not only cost Democrats this year's presidential election, but also shrank their margin of victory in traditionally Democratic strongholds like the Big Apple itself.“I would ask them who was running the Kamala Harris campaign, what were the policies that were being run on? Who are the surrogates?” Mamdani tells Mehdi. “You are not going to see me in any one of these five boroughs, with Liz Cheney or Mark Cuban backing away from taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers.”Watch Mehdi's full interview with Mamdani to hear more on why Mamdani is running for mayor, how he would have responded to the pro-Palestine student protests, and how he would uphold the ICC arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Free subscribers have access to a free preview of this interview. Become a paid subscriber to watch the full interview.

By now, you've probably heard that Donald Trump has appointed Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to co-lead the new Department of Government Efficiency — or DOGE, a reference to the 2013 meme that has since been co-opted by a lot of crypto bros and incels.The duo have their sights set on wiping two trillion dollars' worth of US spending to make the government more efficient. And nothing screams “efficiency” like creating a whole new department and hiring two people to do the same job.But as Elon Musk goes on tweet sprees about how ridiculous government spending can be, Zeteo is riding to the rescue. In the spirit of the US coming together post-election, Mehdi lays out four ways Vivek and Elon can help save taxpayer money and make the US government more efficient.By cutting from America's ginormous and bloated defense budget!Watch the full video above to learn how the US could save over a trillion dollars by cutting from just one government department, but also why Musk may not be keen to do so. And, if you're a paid subscriber, leave your own suggestions in the comments below.In case you missed them, here are some recent Zeteo stories you might be interested in: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zeteo.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comWhat does an end to the war in Ukraine look like? Who will draw the short straw when the dust settles? And has the risk of nuclear war increased since the Biden administration allowed Ukraine to strike inside of Russia with US missiles?These questions and many more are at the core of this debate on ‘Mehdi Unfiltered' between the Quincy Institute's Eurasia Program Director Anatol Lieven, an author on Russian and Ukraine, and the McCain Institute's Executive Director Evelyn Farkas, a former Pentagon official under President Obama. “The only peace deal that's going to hold while Vladimir Putin is in the Kremlin,” says Farkas, who supports Ukraine joining NATO, is one “that includes a security guarantee for Ukraine… that he won't view any peace deal as a ceasefire and attack later.” A fair argument to make, but a dangerous one according to Lieven. “Article Five is regarded as critical to the security of Europe… by extending it to a country that we've already said that we won't defend, we're not strengthening the effect of Article Five, we're disastrously weakening it.”Mehdi asks both guests whether the United States has any credibility insisting on sanctions against Russia over its occupation of Ukraine, given ongoing and unconditional US support for Israel in occupied Gaza.“I think if you are addressing each policy separately, you just say to yourself, ‘what is the right thing to do in each scenario?'” says Farkas. “You need to look at each on its merits and see whether it aligns with U.S. interests and values.” Lieven has a very different view, and sums it up in a few words. “This is technically called hypocrisy, and that is how it is seen in the rest of the world.” If you are a paid subscriber, you can watch the full debate above to hear why Farkas believes we should take Putin “at his word”, and why Lieven believes time is of the essence for Ukrainian sovereignty.Free subscribers can watch the first two minutes for free, so do please consider becoming a paid subscriber today and financially supporting Zeteo's journalism.

Meet Jan Egeland. He's a giant in the world of humanitarian affairs, having held top positions across renowned humanitarian and human rights organizations over the past two decades. The former Norwegian foreign minister served as the UN's humanitarian chief before becoming the secretary general of the respected Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). Egeland was also on the ground providing relief during the Syrian Civil War and, before that, Israel's 2006 war on Lebanon. He even coordinated relief in the aftermath of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami.And, yet, this is how he describes what's happening in Gaza: “There are so many horror scenes on our watch, but Gaza is, in a way, just this indiscriminate warfare on quite a different level.” As humanitarian groups have worked tirelessly to get aid into the area, Egeland also noted how Israel has enacted a “starvation policy” against the people of Gaza. “Of the few trucks that make it into Gaza, which is besieged, the majority is being looted, plundered, because there is no police there,” he tells Mehdi. “The police was bombed to pieces by Israel, and Israel is giving us aid routes that are unsafe.” Engeland asks, “How come these gangs can roam freely, loot everything, and be part of a war economy that is enriching some in Gaza, but really meaning that the vast majority are at starvation?” He was also “not surprised” when the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Secretary of Defense Yoav Gallant last week.“The ICC was not a court created to take African war criminals,” Egeland tells Mehdi. “It was created to take international and potential war criminals. And I'm glad they have now indicted people on both sides because there have been war crimes on both sides in this horrific war.”Watch the full interview above to hear what Egeland, who just returned from Sudan, says about the humanitarian crisis there, and what may be in store for Gaza under a second Trump presidency. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zeteo.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comWe know a lot about Donald Trump, perhaps more than we'd ever like to know about someone known for being hateful and racist. Given how long he's been famous for, you'd imagine we'd seen all the layers beneath his spray tan. But we haven't.  “I know Donald. I've known him so well over the years, decades, during his formative years and business career and his political career,” says Donald Trump's nephew Fred Trump III, who poured a lot of that history into the writing of his new book ‘All in the Family: The Trumps and How We Got This Way.'  Fred's interview with Mehdi this week gives Zeteo subscribers a behind-the-scenes look into the Trump family, with incredible anecdotes about his uncle and former president, Donald Trump. From uses of the N-word to an instance where he quotes his uncle in the Oval Office saying, “These people [the disabled], the cost, they should just die.” Trump's rhetoric towards disabled people cuts deep for Fred, who has a disabled son of his own, and who Trump also apparently said 'should just die' in a separate conversation with Fred, three years after that first one.Rather alarmingly, Fred also tells Mehdi that Trump's “purpose right now” is “definitely” to get revenge on his enemies.If you are a paid subscriber, you can watch the full interview above to hear how Fred reacted to Trump's insults in the past, his views of the Republican Party under the leadership of his uncle, and whether he thinks his book marks the end of the relationship with him.Free subscribers can watch the first 5 minutes for free, so do please consider becoming a paid subscriber today and financially supporting Zeteo's journalism. *Fred Trump III's new book ‘All in the Family: The Trumps and How We Got This Way' is published by Gallery Books. In case you missed them, here are some recent Zeteo stories you might be interested in:

President-elect Donald J. Trump sent shockwaves through the Pentagon this week, after announcing his pick for secretary of defense: Fox weekend host Pete Hegseth, who has zero experience in government. But frankly, it's not the lack of experience or his association with right-wing media that should worry people the most – it's his clear love for war, war crimes, and war criminals. With apologies to Donald Rumsfeld, he may be about to become the most extreme defense secretary in American history. Watch the short video above to see Mehdi unpack six of Hegseth's insanely war-mongering views and ideas, all of which are bound to break Trump's ridiculous promise to bringing lasting peace – to the Middle East, or anywhere else!Also, make sure to check out Zeteo's other highlights from this past week: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zeteo.com/subscribe

“President Biden's inaction, given the suffering in Gaza, is shameful,” Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland tells Mehdi on this week's ‘Mehdi Unfiltered'. “I mean, there's no other word for it.”It's not often that a top Democratic senator and long-term party loyalist unleashes on a sitting Democratic president, but Van Hollen – who has been critical of the US's unconditional support for Israel since October 7th – doesn't hold back in this wide-ranging and exclusive conversation with Mehdi and Zeteo.“If the president doesn't mean what he says,” about holding Israel to account for the lack of aid going into Gaza, adds Van Hollen, “then he should stop saying it because he looks so weak.”For the Maryland senator, Biden has “essentially been played by Netanyahu from day one. And every time the President of the United States says ‘this is what we the United States think is in our interests, please do it,' he gets the back of the hand from Netanyahu and refuses to take any action.”Van Hollen also criticizes the Biden-Harris administration for failing to uphold the humanitarian aid deadline they set for Israel last month, which has now passed, and questions their motivations.“My concern is this was a political attempt to try to send a message to voters a month ago that, ‘oh, the president really does care about the situation,'” Van Hollen tells Mehdi. Watch the full and eye-opening interview above to hear more about Senator Van Hollen's top concerns over a second Trump presidency, whether Democrats have alienated working class voters, and what he made of the Harris campaign touting their endorsement from Dick Cheney.  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zeteo.com/subscribe

When chaos erupted in Amsterdam between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax fans, photographer Annet de Graaf watched the violence unfold across the city first-hand. Her footage of Maccabi fans attacking a Dutch resident went viral, and was picked up by several media outlets, who then spun a different narrative that it was the Israelis being attacked.Headlines poured in about antisemitic attacks in Amsterdam. But these stories largely overlooked on-camera, blatant, anti-Arab racism from Maccabi supporters.In an exclusive interview, de Graaf tells Mehdi that outlets like CNN, BBC World News, and the New York Times “told the opposite of what happened in that footage.” She adds that they erased the responsibility of the Maccabi fans behind the attacks because “the truth is inconvenient.”Watch the video above to hear how de Graaf witnessed the violence unfold and how she's handling the fallout from the misuse of her footage — and the threats against her from the Islamophobic far right in the Netherlands.For more on the Amsterdam rioting, and how it was misrepresented by the mainstream media, be sure to check out academic Marc Owen Jones's latest piece for Zeteo: Innocent Israelis, Bad Arabs? How the Media Scripted Amsterdam's Soccer Violence This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zeteo.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comYou've seen Piers Morgan interview Mehdi plenty of times over the past year. This week, Mehdi and Morgan flipped roles for the first time, with our editor-in-chief sitting down for an exclusive interview with the controversial British broadcaster in New York. Their discussion starts with Mehdi offering a twist on a classic Morgan question: “Do you condemn Benjamin Netanyahu's terrorism against the children of Gaza?” As difficult as it is for a defiant Morgan to use the T-word to describe Netanyahu's brutal actions in Gaza, he goes even further to avoid using the G-word to describe Israel's relentless assault on the embattled strip.“I think to use the word genocide about what Russia is doing there is the wrong term, and I shouldn't have used it,” says Morgan.“I look at Piers Morgan, I say here's this uncensored person, very bold, outspoken, opinionated man. He says, ‘Syria is a genocide. Burma is a genocide. Ukraine's a genocide'… Israel? ‘No, it's not a genocide,'” Mehdi says to Morgan, perhaps stunned by the latter's new stance.Oh, and wait until you hear Morgan's response to Mehdi's questioning about his amplification of the ‘beheaded babies' lie!Our editor-in-chief's exclusive interview with the outspoken British broadcaster was taped a day after former president Donald Trump held a hate-filled rally at New York City's Madison Square Garden, which Morgan proudly attended. “My view of Trump has evolved a lot because I know him personally, I like him personally, some of the things he does I think are very effective, some of the things he does I think are completely wrong,” Morgan tells Mehdi. Mehdi presses Morgan to defend his friend Trump's insane rhetoric, unhinged behavior, and long-standing racism. Morgan, you'll be shocked to hear, pushes back hard. Watch the full and explosive interview above to hear why Morgan doesn't think Netanyahu is a terrorist and doesn't think Trump is a fascist, and what he makes of the US and UK media bias in favor of Israel. If you are a paid subscriber to Zeteo (thank you!), this exclusive interview is available to you in full, and you can also leave your comments below. Free subscribers get a 15-minute preview of this special interview with Piers Morgan. So do consider becoming a paid subscriber today! 

We all know Donald Trump said and did a lot of racist, offensive, and Islamophobic things when he was president the first time round - and is promising to do so again if he wins a second term next week. It seems, however, that he has not said or done enough to deter the endorsement of a growing minority of Muslim Americans, such as Imam Belal Alzuhairi of The Great Mosque in Hamtramck, Michigan.  “I never claimed that he is infallible,” Alzuhairi tells Mehdi. “I never claimed that he is a saint. I never gave him a blank check. I see him as a leader who, in our discussions, committed to supporting values that matter deeply in our community… We said these are the five points, he said I agree 100% with you.” The imam not only stood on stage at a Trump rally in Michigan to announce his endorsement, in what became a viral online moment, but he also separately met with the Republican nominee – something the Harris campaign, reportedly, refused to do (though they have met with other Muslim and Arab groups in that key swing state). “The other party [Democrats] does not have any time for us and does not have any regards for us as Muslims,” says Alzuhairi. “Now, they understand that… we're not in your pockets. I mean, we have alternatives.”Mehdi, of course, pushed back on the idea that Trump can be trusted or considered “the peace candidate” or the candidate of “family values,” in the provocative words of Imam Alzuhairi.You'll have to watch the full interview above to hear how heated their discussion got!  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zeteo.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comNote to Subscribers: Interested in chatting with Mehdi on Zoom TODAY? He'll be hosting a Town Hall ‘Ask Me Anything' where he'll be talking about this year's elections, voting, and taking your questions! This live online event will be at 3pm PT / 6pm ET / 10pm GMT and is exclusively for paid subscribers. Please register via the link at the bottom of this email. “In this country, four generations on, we don't matter, we don't belong, that we're still othered, and that it doesn't matter how much blood, sweat, life you give, you're still seen as the enemy within.” — Sayeeda WarsiMuslims don't matter. That's not just the reality for a lot of Muslims living in Western countries like the United States and the United Kingdom, where Islamophobia has gone mainstream in both politics and the media.It's also the name of a new book from Sayeeda Warsi, the British baroness and former Conservative cabinet minister, which examines her fear and heartbreak when it comes to the way in which even the perception of being a 'Muslim' results in dehumanization and bigotry.Mehdi recently traveled to London and sat down for a wide-ranging conversation with Baroness Warsi on the growth of Islamophobia in the US and the UK and how Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza, in the wake of the Oct 7th attacks, has resulted in further hatred directed at Muslims across the globe.The two also discuss the state of the UK's Conservative Party with Warsi, who served as the country's first Muslim cabinet member, recently resigning the Conservative whip, saying her party has moved too far to the Islamophobic right.“I think that the Conservative Party's relationship with the Muslim community is deeply toxic and flawed,” Warsi tells Mehdi. Gaza also comes up, with Warsi condemning the UK's support for “war crimes” against the Palestinians under both Conservative and Labour governments. In 2014, Warsi quit David Cameron's Conservative-led coalition government in protest over the then Israeli assault on Gaza. Watch the full interview above, it's a great conversation. Paid subscribers can watch the full 37-minute interview, while free subscribers can watch the first 5 minutes. Paid subscribers: Register via the link below for today's Town Hall with Mehdi…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comWith less than two weeks to go until election night, Academy Award-winning filmmaker and Michigan native, Michael Moore, talks to Mehdi about why Kamala Harris is losing voters in that key swing state.“We're not going to ask the Muslim community to vote for the people that are funding and doing the slaughter. So that means Vice President Harris is going to lose about 40,000 Arab and Muslim votes.” Moore tells Mehdi. To his point, Harris is already feeling the brunt of this as new polls show her lead over Donald Trump has disappeared and, although time is running out, Moore argues that the answer to the vice-president's problem is clear. “You don't have to do a lot,” he says. “You just have to say that when you are president on January 20th, this ends, the slaughter of civilians ends. I'm not going to continue that… I am not Joe Biden.” Many have pleaded with the Harris campaign to break away from Biden's policies on Gaza since she began her presidential campaign, but to no avail. Moore is disappointed with the lack of change so far, as you'll hear him discuss in the interview. Watch the full conversation above to hear how history could be repeating itself and what a lot of Arab-American voters are telling Michael Moore is their preferred alternative to the two-state solution in the Middle East. If you are a paid subscriber, the interview is available in full, and you can also leave your comments below. Free subscribers get a six-minute preview of this special interview with Michael Moore. Do consider becoming a paid subscriber today!

On this week's episode of ‘Mehdi Unfiltered,' Mehdi Hasan exposes the details of “The General's Plan”:"Israel enjoys such impunity on the international stage - thanks to the blind support it gets from the United States - that its political and military leaders don't just bomb, besiege, starve, and ethnically cleanse civilian areas, they brag about it. They advertise it. They give their genocide a name. The General's Plan."Watch Mehdi's monologue above to learn who Giora Eiland is, how this plan came to be and how, despite Israelis openly bragging or discussing it, there's been very little coverage of it in Western media.  Joining Mehdi on the show is Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna of California's 17th congressional district. Khanna was recently part of a Congressional delegation that traveled to the Middle East and also met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “I think it's important for progressive voices to be in the room, and I was very, very, candid with him,” says Khanna.Mehdi pressed Khanna on several topics, including the options the US has when it comes to holding Israel accountable and why it doesn't use them. Khanna said: “Should the United States have done more, and should we do more, to hold Netanyahu accountable? The answer is absolutely yes… if I were to say, look, you know, we're going to continue to not give you offensive weapons, etc., he will say you were on the losing end of that [Congressional] vote.”Watch the full interview above to hear more from Khanna about what Democrats are and not doing in the campaign, and why he thinks Elon Musk could have been on the side of the Democrats this election.In the show, Mehdi reminds us of the Biden administration's terrible record so far, but also of the awful policies that Donald Trump (and the people around him) implemented in Israel and Palestine when he was president. He is joined by Palestinian-American political analyst Omar Baddar to discuss this and what a potential Trump presidency might mean for Palestinians.  “Donald Trump by the time he left office, was indisputably the most pro-Israeli, anti-Palestinian president in US history. We don't need to rehabilitate or whitewash Donald Trump in order to critique Biden or Harris,” says Mehdi. Baddar adds that “The Biden Harris policy so far on Palestine and Israel has been just a despicable horror from beginning to end. It's been a year now of watching this genocide unfold day after day on our phones.” And, on Trump's recent assertion that Biden is holding Netanyahu back, but that he would allow Bibi to ‘finish the job', Baddar says: “That could be the significant escalation and flat out endorsement from the White House of Israel taking over all of North Gaza and pushing Palestinians completely out of it and beginning that process in the West Bank as well, and saying that we recognize, you know, Trump already recognized the legitimacy of Israeli settlements and what that expansion looks like.”Listen to the full conversation above where they also cover the current situation in Northern Gaza, Trump's anti-Palestinian track record, and why there's even an illegal Israeli settlement named after him.  DON'T MISS THIS LIVE EVENT TOMORROW:The F Word: Fascism, Trump, and the Threat to American DemocracyIn a special event organized by Substack, Mehdi and Steve Schmidt of The Warning with Steve Schmidt will discuss the political dynamics surrounding Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, consider the broader implications for US democracy, and won't shy away from tough questions about the movement's ideological direction.When: Wednesday, October 23, 8 p.m. ETWhere: Only on this link, for the Substack App This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zeteo.com/subscribe

“I don't think we should be writing blank checks to any country that we're allied with. I think that's a very sensible way to conduct foreign policy.”- John Legend on conditioning aid to IsraelLast week, we shared a wide-ranging exclusive interview with John Legend that covered a lot of ground: from homelessness and criminal justice, including current propositions on the ballot in California, to the 2024 presidential election and the war in Gaza. We thought it's worth re-sharing the section on Gaza, Israel, and Kamala Harris in particular. That's the part you can watch above, now available, free, to all of our subscribers. (Paid subscribers to Zeteo can still also watch the full discussion here.)Legend answers Mehdi's questions, from what Harris needs to do to win votes in swing states like Michigan, to the dehumanization of Palestinian children, to why more people in Hollywood aren't speaking out the way he is now. “They've seen people lose their agent or lose jobs from it,” Legend tells Mehdi, in a rather blunt exchange. “They're afraid they'll suffer professional consequences.” He also shares why he's choosing to be vocal and isn't scared of being “punished”.It's a great discussion, and the first time the award-winning artist has opened up in this way on Israel and Gaza. Give it a watch and let us know your thoughts in the comments! As always, if you believe in the work we're doing at Zeteo, do consider becoming a paid subscriber. We are not supported by ads or corporate sponsors, and so all the work we do has been possible because of individual paid subscribers, who we cannot thank enough. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zeteo.com/subscribe

In this new episode of Mehdi Unfiltered, Mehdi calls out Democratic Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris for her failure to win over Arab American and Muslim voters and distinguish herself from Biden when it comes to Gaza and conditions on aid to Israel.“Just saying ‘Trump Trump Trump' is not enough for most people; the reality is that most people, Muslims included, don't just want to vote against something, they want to vote for something,” Mehdi says. Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar joins Mehdi to discuss Harris's performance among Arab Americans, telling Mehdi that Harris's efforts to win over the Arab American and Muslim community are, “not enough.”“You cannot do outreach to a community when you cannot deliver the thing that they are asking for. And so, unless and when that happens, I am afraid that these voters are not going to come over and vote for her,” Omar says. Watch Mehdi's full interview with Rep. Omar to hear the two discuss more on Harris's strategy, AIPAC, and Omar's own re-election campaign. Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha, who managed to escape occupied Gaza at the beginning of the war, talks to Mehdi about Israel's continued assault on the strip, as well as the US media's failure to uplift Palestinian voices during the war.“The only people we are seeing on TV are some officials who are giving us some statistics, some statements, condemning. But we don't get to hear the real people about whom they are talking,” Abu Toha says.  “I have been trying to go on CNN and BBC, and there is no room for us to speak about our personal stories.”Listen to the full conversation to hear more about Israel's plans for Northern Gaza, what it's like for Abu Toha to try to communicate with family in Gaza, and his reaction to Israel's killing Yahya Sinwar.SudanWith more than 8 million people displaced, there are no signs of a ceasefire in Sudan. The genocide continues as the nation's army fights against the Rapid Support Forces; a paramilitary group supported by a few other countries. On the show, Mehdi interviews Sudanese artist and producer Khalid Albaih, who discusses the latest on the war and how the targeting of journalists is affecting it.“It's incredibly hard to find any source of credible news. And that makes even the situation worse because the war became kind of a media war between the videos that the RSF soldiers shoot about themselves and the videos that the army soldiers shoot about themselves,” Albaih says. Be sure to watch the rest of this week's episode above. Let us know what you think and who you would like to see on the show next. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zeteo.com/subscribe