Mehdi Unfiltered

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comIn this segment of Mehdi Unfiltered, Mehdi sits down with top UN official Tom Fletcher, who has traveled to conflict zones across the world but says ‘nothing was as bad as going to Gaza.'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 "Mehdi Unfiltered" interview, Mehdi challenges Democratic Congresswoman and ‘Squad' Member Summer Lee on her party's dismal polling, with Lee telling Mehdi that her party is, “still waking up late.”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 UNICEF spokesperson James Elder to discuss his observations from his latest visit to Gaza, the risk of famine in the region, and why aid distribution has become a ‘death trap.'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 'Game of Thrones' star Liam Cunningham to discuss Gaza and his advocacy for the people of Palestine. 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 law professor and podcaster Leah Litman to discuss her new book 'Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes,' and break down the influence of Republican justices on US politics, why “they view themselves as victims and use that to victimize everyone else,” and the decades-long strategy the GOP used to roll back key rulings like Roe.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, Amanda Litman, co-founder of Run for Something and author of When We're in Charge: The Next Generation's Guide to Leadership, speaks to Mehdi about the US's gerontocracy problem and how younger leadership could revitalize the Democratic Party.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, Greg Grandin, historian and author of America, América: A History of the New World speaks to Mehdi about what the US can learn from Latin America when it comes to fighting fascism. 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.comJust weeks before last year's US presidential election, California Congressman Ro Khanna, the so-called ‘rep for Silicon Valley', told Mehdi that he'd be “surprised” if billionaire Elon Musk joined the Trump administration in an official role.Now, over six months later, Musk has become perhaps one of the most powerful people in the United States government, with Khanna now saying that Musk – who has said he will be stepping back from DOGE – “needs to be held accountable.”“I was surprised, but I turned out to be both right and wrong. Wrong obviously that he joined, right that he'd get quickly frustrated and exhausted and leave,” Khanna tells Mehdi. “He's the only person I know who's gone from 65% approval to 35% approval… He went on a cultural crusade. And what he didn't realize is that Americans will cheer you to put rockets up in space, but they don't want those folks making decisions for them.”In this wide-ranging interview, Mehdi and Ro Khanna discuss the congressman's online feuds not only with Musk, but also Vice President JD Vance. When Mehdi asked Ro Khanna why he spars with JD Vance so often, whether it's because he sees Vance as the heir to Trump or just because he finds Vance annoying, Khanna replied, “probably the latter.”“JD is the only one who's making some pretense of trying to give an intellectual justification to what Trump's doing. Even Trump doesn't say, ‘I want to deprive people of due process.' He says, ‘I don't know about it.' JD Vance is saying, ‘No, no… an immigrant shouldn't have due process in this country,'” Khanna says to Mehdi.Mehdi also presses the congressman on his own party, with Khanna admitting that Democrats were too cautious in this past election, despite President Donald Trump constantly endorsing extreme policies, such as pardoning Jan. 6 rioters and buying Greenland.“If you get one person promising sweeping change and the other party saying, ‘well, we're basically going to give you what you've had for 40 years,' people keep rolling the dice and saying, ‘let's roll the dice because what we've had for 40 years hasn't worked,'” Khanna tells Mehdi.Khanna also calls for the “loudest condemnation” of the Netanyahu government's actions in Gaza and reveals what he thinks the next Democratic presidential nominee should say about Israel and Gaza. (Will that be Khanna himself? Mehdi, of course, asked the question!)Paid subscribers can watch the half-hour interview to hear Mehdi and Ro Khanna discuss the congressman's plan to help Democrats try and win back MAGA voters, the recent fighting between India and Pakistan, and, yes, whether or not he is laying the groundwork for a presidential bid in 2028.Free subscribers can watch the first 5-minutes of the interview. Do consider becoming a paid subscriber to Zeteo and skip the paywall every time!Here are some other Zeteo stories you may have missed:

In this segment of Mehdi Unfiltered, surgeon Tom Potokar in Khan Younis says he's ‘sick and tired' of describing the horror on the ground to international media, and yet seeing no action from Western leaders.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.comWhen Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel's extremist far-right Minister of National Security, made a recent visit to Capitol Hill, he ended up crossing paths with a group of pro-Palestine activists. That group included award-winning Palestinian author and journalist Laila el-Haddad, whose books include ‘Gaza Mom: Palestine, Politics, Parenting, and Everything in Between.'El-Haddad joined Mehdi on set in Washington DC to discuss the confrontation, which she caught on video and shared widely on Instagram.“I personally looked at him and said, ‘You were responsible for killing my family members in Gaza,' el-Haddad tells Mehdi, adding that Ben-Gvir “was shouting back at us, and he had to be restrained because he was trying to lunge at us.”Discussing the role the last Democrat administration had with regards to Israel-Palestine and the 2024 presidential election result, Laila el-Haddad also notes that the genocide in Gaza will be Joe Biden's “lasting legacy,” saying his failure to take a stand against Israel “is one of the reasons that we have Trump sitting here today.”If you're a paid subscriber, you can watch the full interview above to hear el-Haddad reflect on the Uncommitted movement in 2024, the Trump crackdown on college campuses, the newly introduced West Bank Violence Prevention Act, and what happened to a lawsuit she was a plaintiff that aimed to hold the Biden administration accountable for their complicity in genocide.Free subscribers can watch a 6-minute preview. Consider becoming a paid subscriber today to watch the full interview.Here are some other Zeteo stories you may have missed:

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comAs Donald Trump and the Republican Party fight to pass his “big, beautiful bill” to cut taxes for the wealthy and gut federal spending for key federal agencies and social support programs, a new podcast miniseries from The Lever is pulling back the curtain on how Republicans became the face of the anti-tax movement.David Sirota, the founder and editor-in-chief of The Lever and a former speechwriter and senior adviser to Bernie Sanders, joins Mehdi to discuss the podcast, “Tax Revolt”, and the surprising state where the movement took off in the 1970s: California.Sirota tells Mehdi that while “Democrats were the Santa Claus of spending programs,” Republicans realized they could be “the Santa Claus of tax cuts.”But as Sirota explains, Republican voters are beginning to sour on the idea of tax cuts as more people have learned that while this “Santa Claus” provides gifts “to the very richest,” those benefits aren't trickling down to those who need them most.“We're living through a time where you can see every day the actual real-world effects of prioritizing tax cuts over a government that can accomplish the most basic necessities that we need it to accomplish,” Sirota tells Mehdi.You can click here to listen to The Lever's new podcast miniseries, “Tax Revolt”, which is available wherever you get your podcasts.Paid subscribers can watch the full interview above to hear Mehdi and Sirota discuss the parts of Donald Trump's playbook that trace back to the early days of the tax revolt, the lasting impacts of a California ballot measure that has made it nearly impossible to raise taxes in the state, and whether AOC is the heir to Bernie Sanders' movement.Free subscribers can watch a 6-minute preview only. Consider becoming a paid subscriber today to watch the full interview.Don't miss Zeteo's new documentary:

It doesn't take much under Trump's authoritarian system of governance for anyone to find themselves in the crosshairs of one agency or the other. For attorney Clay Jackson, it was the simple act of telling an immigrant family their rights and offering to find them pro bono counsel.“I'm licensed in three states. Every one of those states has a rule that says lawyers have an obligation to provide pro bono assistance to people in their community, I thought it was that simple.” Sadly for Jackson, it was not.Following his meeting with a family, Jackson received a visit from state agents who refused to identify themselves, and then accused him of obstructing an immigration investigation. When Jackson went public with the story, he was immediately fired.“I didn't think that doing something like this would cost me my job,” he says, “When I see big white shoe law firms, quote, ‘make a deal' with a presidential administration that's pretty clear in its intent to test every single constitutional boundary that exists, it would be impossible for me as an attorney to tell a client that their interests are represented to the fullest extent.”Watch the full interview above to hear Jackson's account of how he thinks he was targeted, the status of the family he was helping, and whether this was a high-level attempt at intimidating lawyers who help immigrants under threat of deportation. 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.comIt's been over a month since shocking footage emerged of masked ICE agents arresting Tufts Doctoral Student Rümeysa Öztürk, after her visa was terminated simply for co-authoring an op-ed in the student newspaper calling for the university to divest in Israel.Since then, Rümeysa has been confined to an ICE detention center in Louisiana, where her US Representative, Ayanna Pressley, met with her late last month.In this powerful interview for ‘Mehdi Unfiltered,' Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley tells Mehdi about the “harrowing” conditions Rümeysa has been facing in her detention center – which Pressley says, “has a long documented history of human rights violations and abuses.”“She suffered several very severe asthma attacks while there, received inadequate medical care. There has been no religious accommodation, in fact, not only on a dietary aspect, but when it comes to a space to pray, a Quran. Her hijab was removed without her consent by one of the nurses,” Pressley tells Mehdi.Pressley emphasizes to Mehdi how the Trump administration has completely ignored due process, and explains just how dire the implications of Rümeysa's case are for the country.“This is laying the ground foundationally and will be a threat to everyone. This means that this could be you tomorrow for suffering a miscarriage, because in Trump's America, that's been criminalized. This means this could be you tomorrow for reading a banned book,” Pressley says. “With this dictator in chief, simply because you have a dissenting opinion from his worldview, you could find yourself incarcerated.”During the second half of the interview, Mehdi asks Pressley about President Donald Trump's first 100 days of his second term, as well as the state of the Democratic party.“I do not believe, Mehdi, that this is about weathering the next four years. I believe this will dictate the next 100,” Pressley says to Mehdi.Paid subscribers can watch the full 26 minutes of this engaging interview with Pressley, to hear her discuss Trump and Republicans' plans to potentially cut Medicaid, reporting that Democrats were told to stand down on visiting wrongly deported legal resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and Congresswoman AOC's decision to pass on seeking a leadership position in the House.Free subscribers can watch the first 5 minutes of the interview. This is a conversation you won't want to miss, with Pressley completely unbarred in her answers. Consider upgrading to a paid membership to watch it in full.Congresswoman Pressley recently joined Substack. You can find her at https://substack.com/@reppressley.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comMehdi speaks to BAFTA-winning, Oscar-nominated Palestinian Director Farah Nabulsi about her latest film, 'The Teacher,' which centers around the struggle of Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank through the lens of a school teacher there. 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, 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.