Useful Idiots
Politics • Comedy
“1,000 Hiroshimas”: Chemical Engineer Explains Trump’s Nuclear Testing
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October 31, 2025
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This week, Trump made a dangerous announcement on Truth Social: “Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis.”

Chemical engineer Ivana Nikolić Hughes joins Useful Idiots to debunk Trump’s claim that other countries have conducted tests, and more importantly why doing our own tests could lead to catastrophic disaster. Or, in her words: “Nuclear winter.”

Useful Idiots: What if someone were to say, ‘What’s wrong with a nuclear test? It’s just a test. And shouldn’t we know whether these systems are working? What’s the problem?’

Ivana Nikolić Hughes: The word test, actually, is just the wrong word for what took place in these more-than-2,000 full-blown nuclear explosions. The largest test that the United States ever conducted was called the Bravo Test. And it had the energy yield equivalent to a thousand Hiroshima bombs. So Hiroshima flattened the city, this thing was a thousand times more powerful and had a mushroom cloud twenty five miles high and sixty miles wide. There was nothing “testy” about this. This was a full blown monster .

And the fallout was tremendous. There was destruction of cities, but the radiation has been absolutely devastating. Generations have been impacted by it in the US. We think of the Cold War as having had no victims. But in fact, the victims were created by their own governments. It wasn’t Soviet people being killed by US nuclear weapons. It was American citizens being killed.

Useful Idiots: According to people like House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senator Tom Cotton, having a massive arsenal of nuclear weapons ‘keeps the peace’ and preserves global stability.

Ivana Nikolić Hughes: My response is that nuclear deterrence might work until the day it doesn’t. I always want to tell people we’re not exaggerating this thing. It’s going to be the end of the world as we know it. People write comments when I speak about this, they go ‘Oh but Hiroshima and Nagasaki are just fine today.’

Which they are. In 1945, one country had three nuclear weapons. Today, nine countries have twelve and a half thousand of them.

Useful Idiots: So going back to Trump’s statement, he seems to confuse testing a nuclear-capable missile versus testing a nuclear weapon itself. But he also seems confused on what the powers of the Pentagon are. Because he says, I’ve directed Secretary Hegseth to carry out testing, but is it as simple as that? Can he just direct the Pentagon to test a nuclear weapon?

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Sanctions Are a Form of Warfare

“Sanctions are a form of war. They’re economic warfare. And they destroy people’s lives.”

Joshua Landis (https://twitter.com/joshua_landis), Sandra Mackey Chair in Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, is one of the foremost experts on Syria. This week, as Syria, along with neighbor Turkiye, grapples with the aftermath of the devastating earthquake, Professor Landis joins the Useful Idiots to explain the deadly consequences that sanctions pile on to the damage.

“America likes to talk about all its precision bombing and hitting someone with a drone to avoid collateral damage,” Landis explains. “But sanctions? It’s all about collateral damage. Very little of it is targeted.”

But if you read corporate media outlets like the New York Times or Washington Post, you’d find a much different story. Both papers this week published headlines that were hastily changed when they realized they were being a little too truthful. See if you can tell the difference:

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"Shameful" New York Times Changes Headline to Protect Sanctions

“Sanctions are a form of war. They’re economic warfare. And they destroy people’s lives.”

Joshua Landis (https://twitter.com/joshua_landis), Sandra Mackey Chair in Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, is one of the foremost experts on Syria. This week, as Syria, along with neighbor Turkiye, grapples with the aftermath of the devastating earthquake, Professor Landis joins the Useful Idiots to explain the deadly consequences that sanctions pile on to the damage.

“America likes to talk about all its precision bombing and hitting someone with a drone to avoid collateral damage,” Landis explains. “But sanctions? It’s all about collateral damage. Very little of it is targeted.”

But if you read corporate media outlets like the New York Times or Washington Post, you’d find a much different story. Both papers this week published headlines that were hastily changed when they realized they were being a little too truthful. See if you can tell the difference:

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Free preview: Matt Taibbi Exposes Russiagate Bots

With Matt Taibbi’s Twitter Files and Jeff Gerth’s new in-depth reporting for CJR exposing the years of lies spread by Russiagaters, bitter attacks from outed journalists are rolling in.

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Jeff Gerth has been working as a reporter for decades and published, in the very mainstream Columbia Journalism Review, a 20,000-word report on his findings, only to be called a liar and misdirecting magician in the most self-important article by Mother Jones’ David Corn (“The true media failure is that Trump got away with it and that articles like this one that you are now reading are still necessary.”) And possibly worse ...

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the universe unfolds like a secret map,

revealing uncharted realms in every fracture,

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Good to be part of the community. I think that Aaron and Katie do a brilliant job in these hellish times when such great in - depth research and reporting are essential.

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Laura Ingraham Wants to Rip Abdul El-Sayed's Tight, Communist Shirt Off and Yell At Him All Over
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Fox News is getting hot and bothered over Abdul El-Sayed’s $32 million upset in the Michigan Senate race. Laura Ingraham tries to keep her cool while playing video of “the socialist dreamboat” working out, describing his “gym-rat flex and his tight-fitting black tee.”

Will voters really fall for it? she asks, attempting to maintain her trademark smug sarcasm, but bursting from underneath the facade is something else…

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Rahm Emanual Stands Up to Zohran Mamdani in a Fake Story He Made Up About His Terrorist Dad
Plus, Energy Secretary Chris Wright says don't blame data centers for record-high electricity prices. Blame Obama.

Rahm Emanuel (whose father was an Israeli terrorist), completely SCHOOLED Zohran Mamdani! He says he walked right up to Zohran and said “I’m my father’s son,” (his father being an Israeli terrorist) “and when you chant ‘From the river to the sea,’ I say ‘Over my dead body!’”

Wow, wow, powerful! Zohran must’ve been very afraid!

One problem: Zohran has never said ‘From the river to the sea.’ He’s been pushed to many times, but has never said it.

And another, slightly bigger problem: Mamdani and his office claim this meeting between him and Emanuel never actually happened. Rahm made it up.

But luckily, not everything there was a lie: Rahm’s father really was an Israeli terrorist.

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Arrest Zohran? Israeli Ambassador Embarrasses Himself when Confronted on Latest Threat
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After NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani released a video this week calling for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon took to corporate media with what he thought would be the slyest comeback: “Why don’t you arrest Mamdani instead!”

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