DeProgram with John Kiriakou and Ted Rall - Q&A | DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou

Episode Date: April 1, 2026

Have a question for Ted and/or John? Join the hosts of "DeProgram" for a full hour of nothing but LIVE Q&A! Any topic, any question, goes—it's up to you. Beginning today, Q&A will be every Monday and Wednesday at 12 noon Eastern time.

One, you're watching D-Program with Ted Rawl and John Kirooku. It's our first ever exclusive Q&A show. We're starting this today as the first one. Mondays and Wednesdays, 12 noon Eastern time. No agenda. Now, I'm not saying that if World War III were to break out, we would decide to ignore it. But basically, we're here to answer your questions and do them as well as possible. So this isn't ask us anything, hour long thing.

Please ask if you had a question for John, got a question for me, got a question for either of us, got a question for producer Robbie West. chime in and let's have them. As always, priorities go to the super chats, but we do try to get to all the questions whenever possible. John, how are you doing? John, do you hear me? Uh-oh. I don't know. Sorry, Ted.

I've got no audio. I'm going to drop out and come back in. Okay. All right. So, all right. I'm going to go ahead and take John out of the room. John says he has no audio. So I assume you guys heard all that.

He'll refresh. He's dialing in from a new location. So hopefully that'll all work. Anyway, please like, follow and share the show. Robbie, anything that people need to know about Q&A? Now I'm just to keep your questions pithy. We're going to be going through this rapid fire. It's going to be an hour-long show.

John has a heart out of the top of the hours. So we're going to get through everything that we can. And we're just kind of go from there. Okay. Sounds good. We've already got some questions in the queue. And we've got some questions from before. So let's see.

The question, Robbie, like if you can dig up the question we have. had before that'd be great. But we have one question that from this morning that's left over. So let's go ahead and hit that one, John, if that's okay with you. Manchild, 5,000. Thanks for the two bucks. While the no king's rallies have the numbers, they lack the teeth of past successful movements. Are we prioritizing optics over actual effectiveness by avoiding chaos and disruption? I think yes. I think yes. It's nice to have people standing along the side of the road with their nice signs, but what's the follow-up action? There is no action. You know, we can all complain about the things we don't like in government,

but you've got to do something about it. You know, compare it, Ted. Compare the demonstrations that we're seeing now, these no-kings demonstrations, with, let's say, demonstrations in 2003 against the start of the Iraq War, or going back farther, demonstrations against the Vietnam War. I mean, this tax the authorities to the limit. And we're just not really seeing anything like that. Now, everything is very friendly and it's very nice and very orderly. It doesn't accomplish anything. No, I totally have, as you know, I've been very hard on the No King's protests.

I mean, there's so many things wrong with them. Number one, it's not a sustained protest movement. It's a seasonal, periodic protest. It's not a protest because there's no demands. There's no like, we want this, we want to end that, nothing. It's literally just a party for the left, show up and have fun, walk. And it's not dangerous, right? Like I've always said that a protest can be nonviolent, but it should have the credible threat of violence.

In other words, this could be dangerous. This could be a problem. This could become a riot. And it should be every single day, 365 days a year. You might say, well, that's unrealistic, but that's how it was during the Vietnam War. Yes, it was. every single day. And Black Lives Matter. You know, it was dangerous. Some things burned. Some places got looted. And some municipalities changed their policies. Not a lot, but a lot more change than you're

going to see from No Kings. All right. I think at this point, we are ready to, that takes care of those leftover ones. Okay, Tristan, thanks, John. Were you ever involved in the hunt for Imad Mugnea. No, I wish I had been. Someone to whom I was once very close was intimately involved in the hunt for Imad Mugnia. But no, I'll add, too, that a lot of people got medals,

they got awards, they got bonuses. A lot of careers were made with Imad Mugnia. Let's see. And who was that for people who don't know? He was a Hezbollah terrorist. Tarek is asking, thanks for the $2, does the NSA and SOS have conflicting objectives? Given he's Trump's confidon from Liberation Day

to alienating every ally, has Marco Rubio overseen the worst year of foreign policy ever? I mean, there's a lot of bad foreign policy to meet against, I would say. Yeah, this is a very bad, bad foreign policy. If I were Marco Rubio, I would be, well, I would have resigned a long time ago, but yeah, it's very bad. In terms of NSA, and I don't know what SOS is. I don't either. Capital S of S or I don't know. If whoever that is, I was going to think Secret Service, but I don't think that's it. Screen Rebels, thanks for the 10 bucks. The media is shifting

from the Islamic Republic of Iran to Iran. Is this simplification or influenced by Gulf states trying to separate Islam from the Iranian regime's terrorism? I think it's just, it's just shorthand. Agreed, totally. Beets and meets. I mean, of course, I'm always more interested in the fact that if you're an ally, you're a government. If you're a government, if you're a, if you're a, if you're an enemy, you're a regime. Although there's nothing really, you know, loaded about the word regime, really, but, you know, it just means government.

But anyway, beats and meets 999. Thank you very much. Did you see that the bullet that killed Charlie Kirk does not match the gun supposedly used by Tom Robinson? Let's be careful with that. May not. May not, because the bullet was destroyed when it finally hit. So it, ballistically, it may not be a match.

They can't definitively say one way or the other. Yeah, what's going on is that the defense has demanded additional testing. And the FBI is conducting those ballistics tests. But it's certainly not true that we know for a fact. And it may well match. We don't know. I'm going to assume that probably it really was the gun used in the shooting. May I add something to that, Ted?

This came up yesterday. in a podcast that I was in. I happen to be in Tampa right now. But this came up yesterday. Joe Kent said that he was he was forbidden from investigating leads, or not even leads, but sort of threads related to the Charlie Kirk assassination that may have pointed to overseas involvement. Okay. He's saying he has said repeatedly in interviews, I'm not saying that a foreign government was responsible. I'm not saying that a foreign government was involved. What I'm saying was that there were little bits of intelligence that deserved to be followed up on and the administration forbade him from following up. What do you make of that? It's disturbing. I mean, normally, I mean,

you have experience in government. I don't. But, John, that suggested to me that someone has something to hide. I mean, when I've worked in media organizations, when I've been told to leave something alone. It was because someone of great interest to the publisher or the owner of the station where I worked or whatever, they had something they wanted to cover up. Yeah, that's my take as well. John, this is a question from Damien, and thanks for the 99. I wanted to ask you if you had any interactions with Alfreda Bikowski, praying for you and your family, praying for your pardon, though I doubt you'll get it with this president.

Yeah. I worked directly for Alfredo Bukowski. When I was chief of the counterintelligence branch in Alex Station, Alfreda was the chief of operations. Alfreda, Alfreda's nickname was the red-headed devil. I think I'm going to leave it at that. Okay.

Traub, 42, thanks for the nine-dine. Hey, John, I think you should give a presidential campaign a fair chance. With your CIA intelligence and Tucker's A-PAC, you could really turn it around. It would be an upset, but the Americans are on your side. Thank you. Thank you for that. You know, today, the truth, I'm going to go up to do Tucker Carlson's show again in a couple of weeks, and I'm going to urge him to run for president.

But thank you for that. He's got the money. Hey, I want to say real quickly, too, I don't know if you just saw this breaking news from Reuters, but the president is going to give a speech in which he will reiterate that the war will be over in the next two to three weeks. Didn't we say, Ted, he's going to declare victory and come home? We did. And this morning, while you were out traveling, Robbie and I were saying, you know, this president

doesn't announce new policy at speeches. He just reiterates the same thing. It's kind of like a waste of time to tune in. Mustafa 499, based off economic hitman, how many countries have successfully navigated E HM, jackals, and military to be successful in lieu of Western pressures? I don't know what E.H.M. is. I don't need that. Economic hitman.

Oh, right. I can't think of any to tell you the truth. You know, China, I guess. Otherwise, I don't know. If you look at countries like Argentina and Greece and Yemen, no, they've been disaster areas. Russia's hanging on. Yeah. Yild is, hey, John, hope you were well.

Hope you are well. Was there ever a point when you almost didn't speak out about the enhanced interrogation program? What pushed you over the edge praying for a pardon? Good question. I hope you don't think less of me, but what pushed me over the edge was that they were going to blame me for the program. And I went out there to protect myself. So if they weren't going to do that, do you think you would have remained silent? I think I would have because I genuinely believed at the time that so many people were objecting to this program internally, that somebody was going to come out.

And what really heartened me was this wonderful, this wonderful woman I used to work for who one day was escorted out of the White House by the police, by the Secret Service. Her badge was taken and she was told never to come back because she had allegedly leaked to the New York Times the existence of the secret prison program. So I thought, well, certainly somebody is going to say something about torture. And then nobody did. Robbie's pointing out that SOS is Secretary of State. Thanks, Robbie. Oh, of course. Thank you.

Jack Samuels, thanks for the 499. I'm curious what John thinks of the ABLE Danger program and 9-11. Did the DIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency, have no prior information like some claimed or had no credible info? No credible info and no ability to collect credible info. because remember d d ia is is a it's not a full service intelligence service it's very very tactical so their job is to collect and then to analyze order of battle uh data you know where elements of the mountain brigade are pre positioned and then 20 kilometers to the northwest is this you know whatever long-term analysis. And they have a handful of analysts that contribute, but they don't really do

long-term analysis as an organization like the CIA does or the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research. If you're just joining us, John and I are doing Q&A for the entire hour. We're doing that Monday and Wednesday at 12 noon. That's supplementing the regular show 9 a.m. Eastern time Monday through Friday. Bryson Mount Malls, thanks for the 499. What's the future of Venezuela and with all the conflicts around the world, what is the best way to stay up to date, especially news in Africa and Asia. I'm afraid the future of Venezuela currently for the foreseeable future looks extremely bleak. I mean, it's been, you know, it's been battered by U.S. sanctions now for years. Ever since the passing of Hugo Chavez, things have gotten worse.

They've lost their charismatic leader who had a vision and been replaced with, you know, hacks and then Maduro has been kidnapped, and now it's been reduced to vassaldom, where it's forced to sell its oil for a song and maybe not getting any money or much money for it at all under terms that are really nebulous and they're being jerked around by the Trump administration. It's bleak. I mean, I think you're going to see a revolution. I agree with every word you've said. I think it's bleak. best way to stay up to date especially news in Africa and Asia John you still there do you hear me

not again let's see oh you know what while you're dealing with that the next question would be a good Robbie question so I'll bring Robbie in dissident static thanks for the 10 bucks thoughts on how the US would be today if the Articles of Confederation was still the constitution

and the law of the land, not what we have now that was created under questionable circumstances. It's hard to say because the federal government would be significantly weaker. I mean, it didn't even have the power to tax, you know, back under the articles of confederation. So it's really hard to say. I don't even know if the United States would even exist as it does today as a unified nation. I don't know. It would definitely be radically different if it did still exist. Okay, let's see. Okay, here's John. I think John's back.

John, talk to us. There he is. Do you hear us? We're having some technical glitches here, obviously. Okay. A lot of questions for John, so I've got to skip while he's trying to figure things out. Okay, JPH-939- thanks for the dollar. missed yesterday in this morning's D program.

Did you guys talk about Christy Noam's husband having huge knackers? We did. Did you see the pictures? I have. Is there no end to the humiliation that people undergo in Washington? What is wrong with people? And you take pictures of yourself like that? That's the part that's really, yeah, crazy.

Yeah. Well, I mean, I guess it might explain why Christy Nob kind of like lost her lady boner. Yeah. Okay. John, do you have any comments about whether the U.S. would be better off under the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution? Oh, my God. We should interview Bruce Fine about that because he has very strongly held positions. For me, I think we're too far gone to change the system in any meaningful way.

It's morphed into what it's morphed into, and I think we're largely screwed until Congress decides that it is indeed a co-equal branch of government and reasserts its authority. I agree with that. Robert Bowman. I don't know why I keep losing audio, Ted, and I'm sorry. I don't know what's going on. All right. Yeah, okay, so we'll see what happens there with John. It's a little hard to do Q&A when there's no audio. Okay, here we go.

Okay, John, are you back? Yeah. All right, let's do some of these. Okay, some of these are really great, so I definitely want to get to all of them. We have to. We have to. Okay. Okay, Robert Bowman, thanks for the 99.

John, would you consider writing letters to Laredo, read your book and loved those letters? Oh, thank you. You know, I initially intended letters, letters from Loretto to be a standalone book. So I did two. I did letters from Loretto and doing time like a spy. And I sent them to the publisher and they said, these are not two separate books. You got to put them together. So I put them together, made for a much longer book.

I felt like it diluted letters from Loretto. But they've gone to a second edition and now a third edition. I think it's written in stone. It's not going to change now. Thanks for asking, though. Young Locke, thanks for the 499 pounds. Much love to John. Have you got any stories about the intelligence services in Ireland or Northern Ireland?

Much love to the both of you. John? John, can you hear me? Yeah, now I can hear you. Okay. Did you? Oh, boy. Or not?

I don't know, man. We don't see you now. I have no idea what is going on. with this uh there it is okay all right do you any thoughts about um any stories about the intel services in ireland or northern ireland oh well northern island of course is you know m5 and we know the history of m5 in northern island it's brutal but um but the irish intelligence service is quite good and they're especially good on uh international money laundering and on counterterrorism.

Counterterrorism because so many northern Irish who were resident in Ireland went to Libya to go through training camps, went to the Bekha Valley, fighting alongside the PFLP, the PFLP, the PFLPGC, the DFLP, Abu Dahl, the Libyans. They're terrific and very, very well connected in the Arab world. Dynasty, thanks for the 10 bucks. Hi, John.

I was wondering if you knew anything about Plum Island Animal Disease Center, specifically about their work on Lyme disease. Did this research have to do with Operation Big Bug or Big Itch? Plum Island is a biological research facility off the North Fork of Long Island, New York. I don't know if it's, so anyway, yeah.

Yeah, I don't have any information. My best friend from college was born and raised in Matatuck on the North Fork of Long Island. And he and I, over the years, since we've been 18 years old, we've probably discussed every possible scenario coming out of Plum Island, just because it's so secret. Right. And nobody really knows what the heck is going on there. I've been told over the years that there have been periods where the CIA was represented on Plum Island. I don't know if that's true. I think it probably is true, but I don't have any hard evidence one way or the other.

I mean, in terms of Lyme, I don't know if there's an implication that Lyme disease was lab created, but it's named that because it was, or it originated in Connecticut. Yeah. Eastern Long Island is ground zero now. for Lyme disease. John, there was a study once, a fascinating story about how 90 plus percent of everybody in family therapy or filing for divorce or separation in Eastern Long Island had one or both partners had undiagnosed Lyme disease.

Oh, my God. Because it changes your personality. It makes you really irritable. And this allergy to red meat that it creates is potentially deadly. Yeah, that's weird too. Yeah. Okay, my thick titans, thanks for the 10 bucks. What do we both think about the coordinated smear campaign against Hassan Piker for so-called anti-Semitism by moderate Dems like Alyssa Slotkin?

Meanwhile, she goes on Islamophobic Bill Maher's show. Yeah, I sympathize with Hassan Piker. I really do. You know, I've been told that I'm in a feud with Hassan Piker. I'm not in any feud with Hassan Piker. I've never met the man. I've never spoken to the man. There were rumors that he had invited me on to his show and I declined. That is absolutely not true. I've not been invited onto his show. But because I had never heard of him and all of a sudden, you know, we're supposed to be in this feud,

I decided to do a little bit of research. And I sympathize with the guy. I think he's being treated unfairly by the Democratic establishment. I think that this is exactly what the Democratic establishment plan is to try to discredit people on the left and to try to discredit people who express sympathy for Palestinian human rights. This is exactly what's wrong with the Democratic Party's foreign policy. Agreed, totally. It's one of the reasons why, and I think you'll agree with this too, it's one of the reasons why I will never, ever be a Democrat. Agreed. And by the way, I also, for the record, have never had any communication or heard of him before all this. Illuminous scatter, thanks for the five Australian dollars.

What's your psychological analysis of Netanyahu, Ben-Gavir, Trump, Vance? They're all different. How likely would a ground invasion of Iran lead to a civil war in the United States from draft and economic collapse? I'll take that last one. I don't think we're going to end up in a civil war in the United States due to the Iran war. But it could, it really, it's going to fuck up the global economy, including the United States.

psychological analysis. All right, can I take four? I'll go. Trump, narcissist, Vance, Camilian, Gavir, psychopath, Netanyahu, sociopath. I've got no objection to any of those. And I agree with you. I don't think that I don't think we're headed to a civil war, especially not over Iran. If we were going to a civil war, it would be over issues that are far deeper than just Iran.

You know, Donald Trump is going to say today that we're out in two or three weeks. It's all over. Nothing to see here, folks. We won. We're coming home. I think that's a fake out. I think that we're going to be there much longer than two or three weeks. And there's no way he could leave the straight or Hormuz unsecured.

There's no fucking way. And at the same time, at the same time, the Iranians have started charging tolls to get through the straight. And remember, 65% of the world's fertilizer comes through the straight. 65%. You know, Ukraine can't feed the whole world. And now the Houthis have bottled up the Gulf of Aden, right? So that's a, yeah, there's, hey, Josh Nippleson, thanks for the $10 Canadian. How do we see Americans surviving economic uncertainty in the future?

Are there any steps that can be taken to ensure someone, of a soft landing. Yeah, slash the defense budget and start prioritizing the American people, but we're not going to do that. So we're going to continue to spin out. Yeah. You know, Donald Trump said less than a year ago that he was going to slash the Pentagon budget by 40%. I'd love that. And then not only did a flip-flop, but came back and said he wants a 50% increase over the next five years.

So bizarre. I mean, obviously people get to him. Adam's Ark, thanks for the 10 Emirati D. What will Trump's address to the nation be? Well, we kind of know that. We talked about that a little bit. But I think this is, I think this is for an audience of the, of the Iranian government. It's a fake out.

It's like trying to make them think that we're going to be done. They have nothing to worry about. Then we come in with the ground troops. Ha, ha, we surprised them as if they didn't see that coming. Right. And they watch this show. And they do. They do.

Yes. Bass Foshaup, thanks for the five bucks. Love the show. Question for John. Do you know if the CIA helped to catch Charles Sobrage? Thanks also, Leo Gang, Ayi. I apologize, but I don't know. I don't know.

You know, when I was there, the targets were the big name targets that you might imagine. Besides the obvious Osama bin Laden, Imanazawahiri, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramsey bin Ashib. It was like Victor Boot. and Gerald Bull and, you know, people who were making mischief around the world. Victor Boot. He's that great, that great movie, Nicholas Cage. Yes, yes, and Jared Leto, that's right. Love that thing.

Love that movie. Unlike Utopia. Thanks for the five bucks. What do you guys think about how Christy Noam is supposed to protect our country? Well, not anymore, but can't even protect your own home from Bimbo's, L-O-L. What kind of family is that? Let me ask you. What in the world?

Wow. That's supposed to be the Christian right in this country? I'm going to quote my dead mom. She's like, divorce is not for dogs. Get divorced. Get divorced. That's why it's why it was like the first law passed under the French Revolution. Genuinely curious.

Thanks for the $449. As an Indian, do you think Democratic Pakistan would be good? for us? Or is, is it that Pakistan is an anti-inherently anti-Indian like to know from an outsider perspective? Well, democracy would obviously be a better for the end. Right. I mean, I think democratic Pakistan, it's semi-democratic, would be better for India. I think so too. But I'll tell you what would be better for everybody is if they could figure out this Kashmir situation. I wish they could undo, they could undo the partition. I think it was a catastrophe.

Put it all back together. I don't even understand. So India is like, what, 30% Muslim? It's like, I thought the idea was you were going to have two separate countries, one for each religion. And you don't. They're actually more Indian Muslims now than there are Pakistani Muslims. Yeah.

So what's the point of the partition? Anyway. Brittany Leach, thanks for the 499. Ted is a Marxist. How did you justify working at a bank? Did your time there push you towards Marxism? If so, why? I desperately needed a job under the existing capitalist system. Did it push me towards Marxism? Yes, it did. Because up until then, I always assumed that capitalism was evil, but really efficient. And when I saw how ego-driven it was and based on illogical decisions that don't even work from a business standpoint, I was like, this is a bull.

bullshit system. JPH39399. Okay, yes, we did talk about that. Sorry. D. Jick, thanks for the $1.99. Do you think India can solve its sanitation issue? Jesus Christ.

Did you see the map in the Washington Post last week? It was a map of the world and it showed where people poop on the streets. And it was in like these isolated cities in Africa and then all of India. Yeah, yeah.

I mean, there's a funny t-shirt I saw in an Indian tourist shop in Mumbai. It's like in India where you can piss and shit on the street in front of everyone. But if you kiss your girlfriend, that's outrageous. Straight to jail. Yeah. And it is very strange. Yeah, I think it's, for anyone who hasn't been there, it's like it's impossible. Imagine New York City subway.

in the 1980s, multiply by 10 billion, and that's the level of, like, garbage bags. John, you know, like the cows, you know, that you're not allowed to fuck with because they're cows, they literally go through the streets, and they're, like, eating, like, plastic garbage. You see them eating plastic cups and bags and stuff. It's so disgusting.

It's true. I don't know. I mean, they just don't care. They could do it. I've been to India three times. And actually dated an Indian woman for a, a little while. And she couldn't understand why I didn't love India, like she did.

And I said, first of all, Indians are so mean to each other. They were great to me, but they're so mean to each other. True. And it's just, it leaves me. The caste system is disgusting. It's disgusting. It's got to go. But secondly, it was so breathtakingly filthy.

Yeah. Like you, Ted, I've been all over the world. and I've never, ever seen a place as physically filthy. The squalor is something fierce. And the thing is, it wouldn't be as bad except for the fact that it's fucking 95 degrees and a million percent humidity to boot, right? So you smell it all.

So true. Gordy, thanks for the 1999. Hey, John and Ted, wondering if you've had past experiences with physicians in both of your lines of work? What did you think? How do you see physicians fitting into the modern day political landscape and make real chair change hashtag pardon john de grace of all time thank you thank you

yeah i worked with a lot of physicians a lot um a lot of them were operational physicians uh i did one i did one operation with a physician who also doubled as a as a hypnotist and we hypnotized a guy just so he could remember a license plate that he saw it was one of the most of the most fascinating things that I ever did at the agency. The guy only spoke Greek. And so we needed to hypnotize him, but in Greek. So we went to this hotel room and shut all the lights off and closed the drapes. So it was really, really dark. And the hypnotist is speaking to him like this. And so I'm translating like this in Greek. And we're counting backwards from 10. And the guy was hypnotized. kept his arm in the air like this for four and a half hours. And then when the hypnotist snapped

his fingers, the guy's arm dropped down. He turns, looks at us and he says, what happened? And then he barfs all over himself. The physician said to me, I've read about this in the literature, but I've never actually seen it happen. But I'll tell you what, while the doctor had the guy hypnotized, I'm asking him, do you see the car that the terrorists were driving in? And I'm going to, And he says yes. And I said, what is the license plate number? And he goes like this. He goes, lose his eyes closed.

And then he reads off the license plate number. My colleague runs into the adjoining room to call the station and give them the license plate number. And an hour later, the Greeks come back and they say, it's a stolen plate. Oh, my God. I couldn't believe it. Oh, my God. I have no stories like that. I mean, you know, my best story, physician story was, it's just bleak.

I was a fellow journalist was attacked. And we were at the hospital trying to save his life in, in Tolicon, northern Afghanistan. And the doctors, this was 2001, the doctors said, we have no equipment here at all. We have, we don't have a fucking band-aid because of Bill Clinton sanctions. You know, and we, the American people had been lied to repeatedly to being told, you know, we don't block medical aid from going to Afghanistan. That just wasn't true. And, you know, it's like, here's this guy. All he wants to do is make sick people feel better. And he can't do it. And I felt so strongly for him. I think it would be nice to see doctors come out in favor of some kind of improvement in for-profit health care.

I don't know how they could organize around it. It doesn't seem likely. But, I mean, I think, look, physicians are respected in this country. Rain Man, thanks for the 499. What's your thoughts on these allocations the new iatola is a homosexual i'm like yeah that's like straight out of straight out of benjamin nettingahu's PR office yeah it's like maybe yeah who cares you're just making shit you're making shit up who cares yeah it's the Israelis that are always telling americans Hamas if you're gay hamas will throw you off the roof of the building okay so then what's your fucking problem if the iitol is gay who cares yeah yeah exactly uh dejic thanks for the nine $1.99. John, do you know who killed JFK and can't say?

I don't know. I have my own theories, and I like to think that my theories are based on my experiences. It's my understanding that the remaining 10 to 15,000 unreleased documents point specifically at one country. And it's not us. Okay. All right. John, the profit, 499, thanks so much. John, when you inevitably win the 2028 election, inevitably, what position will you appoint Ted to? Who are your favorite politicians of all time? Oh, Ted has Secretary of State written all over him. Thank you. I appreciate that. I think I'm pretty diplomatic. Who are my favorite politicians? I had great respect for, well, my favorite politician. of all time has to be Abraham Lincoln, followed very closely by Franklin D. Roosevelt.

But in my own contemporary time, God, I really loved Jennings Randolph, the senator from West Virginia. I loved Howard Metzenbaum, who was a great champion, great champion of civil rights and human rights from Ohio. Yeah. And a Jewish senator from Ohio. A Jewish progressive, like truly hardcore lefty. Bernie before Bernie. Yeah, before Bernie.

He was. He was Bernie before Bernie. Ben, thanks for the king of Ohio. Thanks for the $35. Amazing. Leaning into my sociopathic sales tendencies has my close rate up 50%. So your Oda Cut. Also, deprogram didn't show on YouTube this morning despite my subscription.

Love you guys. You've made my news a joy for me each day. Robbie, maybe you can look into that. that. Okay, here's, speaking of which, Helter Skelter, $1.99 for Robbie, what's your favorite total war game? It has to be a tie between Rome Total War, which I highly recommend. I can't hear me? I can hear him.

Oh, I can't. Ignore me. Okay. Okay. We'll do. I'll ignore the boss. Roman Total War and then Medieval Total War II, and I like to play as the Eastern Roman Empire in that one. Max Strode, 10 bucks.

Thanks so much. my dad is convinced that there's no reason to worry about China because he's sure they'll collapse in five years due to their declining population. I think that's ridiculous. What about you guys? I think that's ridiculous. I have to agree. I understand that they actually do have a declining population problem. I read an article recently saying that they don't have a billion people. They probably have closer to 700 million people. So there are millions and millions of vacant buildings or vacant departments. It's like, okay, so their economy gets a shock

and everybody just pushes through it. John, what do you think the chances are that Trump announces the seizure of Kard Island tonight? I have a hard time believing Israel's done using us. I think that's a possibility. But as we've said a couple times on the show, I think there's an equal possibility that the U.S. Marines will seize greater

and lesser twin violence, those legit belong to the UAE, and the Iranians took them by force in the 1990s, 1996. And so I think that's just as likely. Seizing Kharg would really up the ante in this fight, and the Iranians aren't going to sit idly by and let it happen. And I don't think there, I don't truly trump's the kind of guy who's going,

if that's what he wants to do, is going to announce it. No. He's going to lie. It's always, it's bait and switch. The war's over. Oh, wait, I lied. I wanted them to think that, you know. CR, thanks for the 999. John, what do you think the likelihood of the Israelis provoking the U.S.

into using an atomic weapon is by false flag or a real Iranian response in order to conceal their current atomic program? Well, according to Peter Kuznick, the head of the Nuclear Studies Center at American University and full professor of history there, he believes that that is actually quite likely. I hope that he's wrong. But Peter's really been calling these issues for the last 40-plus years. And he thinks he's right. This is a leftover that got lost the other day from Ezra.

John, curious to know your thoughts about Janus Varukness. Varufakhan. Sorry, you please do it. Janis Varukakis. His political background, his time is final. finance minister and his overall viewpoints. Lately, he's been coming across more clips of him on social media, and he had a really smart and nuanced appearance on Pierce Morgan. I think he would make a great guest on Deep Program or Deep Focus. I would love to. I consider Yanni to be a friend of mine,

not a close friend, but we're friendly. And he's, I've been on his podcast a number of times. I think he is a contemporary hero in Greece. I really do. He really stood up for the Greek people from the left, took it on the chin from his own prime minister, and was charged with treason. We had breakfast the last time I was in Greece, two trips ago that I went to Greece. We had breakfast together. And I said to him, I didn't realize he'd been charged with treason. I said, Yanni, how can that be in the United States? Treason is a death penalty case.

They'll put you in front of a firing squad. And he said, oh, we throw around treason here at our political opponents. but he said the Greek court system is so slow, it'll take 20 years to get to court, and by then all the witnesses against me will be dead. I was like, I hope, but treason for doing exactly as the prime minister told you to do at a meeting of economy ministers? Oh my God. Jack Samuels, thanks for the 10 bucks. Trump keeps claiming he wants the U.S. to leave NATO due to lack of help against Iran. if that happened, which I don't think it will,

what would that look like if it were to happen in terms of world power and security projection? We would look like dingus's. Fools. Look like fools. And as soon as the next president were to be inaugurated, we would jump right back into NATO. Dinky, thanks so much. Amazing for the 1,799 Emirati Diram. Incredibly generous.

Thank you. Diggleman $5. Hey, John, when you infiltrate, when you infiltrated terror groups, how did you bypass their vetting process if they had any? Yeah. Well, that's one of the misconceptions of counterterrorism operations. I could never get through the vetting process, never. And so it's not like the FBI, you know, getting into the mafia or into a motorcycle gang or something like that. we recruited people who were already in the groups, or we recruited people who had access to the groups, and then let them do the dirty work.

Gotcha. Scrony, thanks for the five bucks. Ted, you mentioned revolution. Is there a way for America to defend against the U.S. getting carved up by other powers and land grabs? If that happens, that's a great question because historically, like when the French had a revolution, the Germans invaded right away, right, or the Austro-Hungarians, So, yeah, that can happen, right? Russia got invaded by U.S. Marines immediately after the Bolshevik revolution. So that would have, securing our borders would ironically be an important part of revolution.

And that would be the best way to, that's the best solution. Horse flesh 72. Thanks for the 10 bucks. First, would you wish my son a happy 25th birthday? He's the one who got me listening to you guys. Happy birthday, Harry. That's great. Question.

We're from Ireland. think there's a place in the world for neutral countries. Neutrality is the best. Absolutely. I wish we were a neutral country. Oh, my God. So true. And Ireland is really a leader in this area.

You know, other countries are looking to Ireland to see how this model works so that they can mirror it. No, the Irish have high moral standing with, you know, the genocide in Gaza and all that. No, for sure. The Guantanamo Goblin, 499. questions for all three of us. How do we feel about lost cause ideology? Oh, that's a Robbie question right there. Robbie, you could answer that question, I'm sure.

Well, I can tell you what. I think about it. I mean, the South was right. Succession is a right. No one in the Constitution has said that you're able to join the union, then you can't leave. The 9th and 10th amendments to the Constitution both say that whatever, it's a bit documented negative rights. So it tells the government what it can do. but it doesn't tell the government what it cannot do. And so if the federal government is a creation of the states and there's no clause and they're saying that once you're in, you can never leave, by definition,

you're able to tell D.C. to go to hell and leave and go on your own. John, you have thoughts? I think that's nuts. Yeah, I mean, lost cause ideology, I have to admit that I'm not a supporter. just because at the end of the day, you have to be realistic and practical. Like, what do you accomplish other than death and destruction? What do you accomplish at the end of it all?

Well, I mean, you have this thing called sovereignty that you're able to, that you're able to have. Well, how'd that work out for you? Well, it didn't. 600,000 Americans died and now we have the government that we now have. Whereas if the Confederacy had won, we would not have the government that we have. Well, no, certainly you're right. If the Confederacy had won, you would have a third world country south of the Mason-Dixon line. We don't know that.

Because the Industrial Revolution was a thing. Slavery was on the way out. And also one thing I want to point out, no, there's the only reason that slavery required a war, and that was a cause, not the cause, was because the northern robber barons wanted the, they wanted the money. That's why they imposed a tariff on the southern ports. At the time, there wasn't a federal income tax. So we're not going to spend, we need to do this as a rubble premium. One last thought. One last thought.

The word slavery appears in South Carolina's secession documents 88 times. It was about slavery. That was a cause. But I have a question for you. When Abraham Lincoln, when he did his Emanmarsimation Proclamation, it was only against the 11 states that were in rebellion. he had no authority in. There were four states in the union that he could have freed the slaves to executive fiat and the man was a dictator. Why didn't he do it? No, he wasn't a dictator.

Sure he was. He threatened to arrest the chief justice of the Supreme Court. He didn't do it though. It's rhetoric. That's what politicians do. I'm in between you guys. I think Lincoln should have let the South go because my theory is that then the South, the blacks would have killed all the whites, and we'd have a nice black nation to be aligned with south of the border. And culturally, we wouldn't have to, we'd have a nice liberal Northern United States Union. It'd be beautiful. Anyway, okay, Abdur, hey both. Can I ask John after this war ends?

Could more countries recognize Somaliland, considering its importance in global maritime trade? You know, my position on Somaliland is I think that we should recognize Somaliland. I told you before. I've been there. I went one time. It was awesome. It appears to me to be a viable, you know, territory. There's a, there's a city there. They've got a port. I have no problem with recognizing Somaliland. It's not like we accrue any benefit at all from whatever relationship we may have with Somalia. Why not recognize Somalian land? I think that the fact that the Israelis have recognized it, may wreck it for a lot of other countries, but I would do it. We have about 45 seconds left for each of the remaining questions, so let's fly through them. Keith Ketko, thanks for the 99. Thoughts on Iran lost being a consolidation grab by global bankers to consolidate Western assets, great reset into programmable money, similar to the War of 1812,

and patriotic war in Russia. Oh, no, no John. There you are. Yeah, I'm sorry. That seems more complicated than what's going on. Yeah, it is. It's complicated. And I just saw a clarification that there appears to be military activity on greater and lesser Tumb Islands right now.

Well, that goes to a story, one of our questions from Vimar now. Could there be an invasion before the 9 p.m. address? Certainly. Absolutely, yes. So maybe there's something to announce there. How did the post-2008 financial crisis create a consolidation of financial networks, hedge funds, and media create a donor coalition whose policy priorities helped shape JCPOA withdrawal and the Iran operation? Wow, that's a tough one. I mean, I don't think they're intimately related.

Okay. Okay, Hogs Candy Land $10. John in the Red Room is hot. I needed this show right now, so I'm stopping by. Okay. Let's see. John, you're back. Sorry, there was an alarm going off, and then I had to turn it off.

Couldn't hear you. Okay, couldn't hear it. That's funny. Movie House. John recently mentioned he should have gone to film school. What are both of you guys' favorite films? Ace in the hole for me by Billy Wilder. How about you?

Goodfellas and Casino are both brilliant works of art. John, how did you guys in the government justify the highway of death? Gulf War. Yeah, I spent a good, you should see my pictures from the highway of death. We justified it as, you know, wars a bitch, and the Iraqis had months of notice to give up and go home and they didn't do it. And so once that, once that, that time expired, we were just going to kill everybody. And that's what we did. Polaris, $5. Hey, John, would you be willing to go on to Kurt Metzger's show The DIRP with Kurp? I don't know it.

John, tell your India about, tell your India about the cease and desist story. About the letter. I'm reading it literally, this is when I'm reading it word for word. I think that's in reference to a complaint from Imran Khan's party leader that I have to write a written apology to the people of Pakistan because I said I had the nerve to say that in a conventional war, India would win because they have five times more people. Madeline, John, I wanted to share with you the best Greek Orthodox chant I found for Easter. It's called Holy Saturday C. Stasis at Louds. It's on YouTube. Oh, terrific. Yeah, thank you. Manchild, John, watched the silenced documentary on YouTube.

Were you happy with how your story was told? Any thoughts on a filming new whistleblower documentary or episodic show these days? Well, thank you for that. I was happy with the way silence turned out. We were nominated for an Emmy at the end of it. and Jim Spionne, the director, did a beautiful job, I thought, on a minuscule budget. He made the entire film for $30,000, which was nuts. And his previous film, he was nominated for an Oscar. So he's done very well. I'm actually, now I've signed a representation agreement with the Creative Artist Agency. I've got a meeting in five minutes, and yes, there will be other,

documentaries, films, TV shows, books, lots coming. Rain Man, $1.99. Can I be ambassador to Albania in John's administration? Absolutely. Why not? We need somebody good in Albania. D-Jick. John, is Islamophobia a problem in America? 100% yes. Nick, where are the UFOs, John? I don't know, man. The one I saw flew away and I never saw it again. And my dad was with me and he saw exactly the same thing. I don't know. I asked my very first day, where are the UFOs? And my boss laughed and he said,

we all ask the same question on our first day. He says, apparently they're all at the Pentagon. Sorry. Orange Lemon, thank, hi, guys. Imagine your Iranian intelligence in the first hours of invasion. What are you thinking and experiencing varying by Gulf States straight interior? I mean, you're scared, probably. And want to do a good job? And you're doing it. your best to plan retaliatory attacks, mostly around the Gulf or wherever you find a soft spot. Sub-Zero, thanks for the 20 bucks. Good afternoon. I had a question previously about Romania and CIA in the 80s, but there was no time to expand on it.

I was wondering if today would be a good time to talk about it. Good luck, hope, success with your pardon. Thank you. Romania and CIA and the ESO Chochescu and all that. You know, the CIA had actually a very cooperative agreement with Choshescu. because Charsescu wasn't loyal to anybody, including the Soviets. And so, you know, when the Soviets came up with a new tank, Choshescu would buy one and sell it to us.

They came up with a new mig. He would buy one and sell it to us. And everybody was happy. Son of Mauritania, Ted Rald, did you love Napoleon? No, he betrayed the revolution. Rebwal, Texan here. Robbie was correct. The Civil War had nothing to do with slavery.

If you study it, Jod, thanks for the 990. If Iran, this is both of us. If Iran continues to extort and threaten ships in the strait, how does Iran control the narrative that the U.S. is at fault and prevent the world from turning on Iran? I think the narrative's baked in as long as the Iranians don't do something like nuke someone. Agree. Anis, thanks for the 599. What do you guys think about the Kurdish people helping the Americans to overthrow the government in Iran?

Yeah, yeah. These are specifically Iranian Kurds. Yeah. We've got no business being in a war there in the first place. Is the relationship between Philippines and the U.S. now ruined after this war? The Philippines is now in a state of emergency because of this war. I mean, God knows, we abuse the Philippines six ways till Sunday, and they still stick around, right?

I mean, after waterboarding in the 30s, it's like, I don't know. There you are, John. All right. I know, John, you have a hard out. So we're going to wrap soon here. John, if you had to choose between Israel or the Ottoman Empire. There we go. John, if you had to choose, Southern Mauritania wants to know,

what would you do if you had to choose between Israel and the Ottoman Empire? Oh, my God. What a terrible choice. I think I would choose the Ottoman Empire because they're weak. They were the sick old man of Europe. And I think that's where we're going to leave it. Okay, so this was a successful Q&A. We're going to be doing this every Monday and Wednesday at 12 noon Easter time.

That's in addition to the regular show, DEP program with Jed Roll and John Giriakou, which airs Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. on YouTube and Rumble. Thanks to everyone for tuning in. Thanks, producer Robbie West. We will see you for the regular show tomorrow morning. That's Thursday, April 2nd at 9 a.m. Have a great meeting, John, and thanks for doing this.