useful idiot
noun
plural useful idiots
: a naive or credulous person who can be manipulated or exploited to advance a cause or political agenda
It is one task of the KGB [in 1982] to apply its skills of secrecy and deception to projecting the Soviet party's influence. This it does through contacts with legal Communist Parties abroad, with groups sympathetic to Soviet goals, with do-gooders of the type that Lenin once described as "useful idiots" … .—
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street JournalExamples of useful idiot in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
What a perfect illustration of the useful idiot that villains need to obtain and maintain their power.
—Robert Niles, Oc Register, 3 June 2025
The overwhelming impression Cummings gave was that politicians were the useful idiots who should give him the runway to remake the state.
—Jim Waterson, semafor.com, 6 June 2025
This, too, is abetted by supporters — critics would deride them as useful idiots — who downplay or else rationalize questionable decision-making as five-dimensional chess.
—Gary Baum, HollywoodReporter, 26 Mar. 2025
Anyone celebrating that is their own sort of useful idiot.
—Harry Siegel, New York Daily News, 15 Mar. 2025
The movie undoubtedly lays the wood on several in Bush’s inner circle — Thandie Newton’s impression of Condoleezza Rice is particularly mean — as W. ponders what happens when a useful idiot falls under the sway of warmongers with bad intel.
—Will Leitch, Vulture, 17 Feb. 2025
Where our national security is handed over to TV stars, propagandists, and useful idiots?
—S.e. Cupp, New York Daily News, 4 Feb. 2025
And the delegates voting for her will chant and cheer like the useful idiots did outside Congress and the White House.
—Peter Lucas, Boston Herald, 29 July 2024
The interesting thing about it all is that both Biden and the fellow Democrats who brought him down, prevailed upon the useful idiots of the Democrat Party to support Harris and exclude all other potential candidates from the democrat process of choosing a president.
—Peter Lucas, Boston Herald, 29 July 2024
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Robert Niles, Oc Register, 3 June 2025
The overwhelming impression Cummings gave was that politicians were the useful idiots who should give him the runway to remake the state.
—Jim Waterson, semafor.com, 6 June 2025
This, too, is abetted by supporters — critics would deride them as useful idiots — who downplay or else rationalize questionable decision-making as five-dimensional chess.
—Gary Baum, HollywoodReporter, 26 Mar. 2025
Anyone celebrating that is their own sort of useful idiot.
—Harry Siegel, New York Daily News, 15 Mar. 2025
The movie undoubtedly lays the wood on several in Bush’s inner circle — Thandie Newton’s impression of Condoleezza Rice is particularly mean — as W. ponders what happens when a useful idiot falls under the sway of warmongers with bad intel.
—Will Leitch, Vulture, 17 Feb. 2025
Where our national security is handed over to TV stars, propagandists, and useful idiots?
—S.e. Cupp, New York Daily News, 4 Feb. 2025
And the delegates voting for her will chant and cheer like the useful idiots did outside Congress and the White House.
—Peter Lucas, Boston Herald, 29 July 2024
The interesting thing about it all is that both Biden and the fellow Democrats who brought him down, prevailed upon the useful idiots of the Democrat Party to support Harris and exclude all other potential candidates from the democrat process of choosing a president.
—Peter Lucas, Boston Herald, 29 July 2024
Cite this Entry
“Useful idiot.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/useful%20idiot. Accessed 9 Jul. 2025.
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