Sitting on my father's lap
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Sitting on my father's lap is the memory John Kiriakou reaches for when asked how divided the United States has become, the only comparison he considers adequate.

The memory

Asked in February 2026 to place the moment in history, Kiriakou gave his age first. "I'm 61 years old. I vaguely remember 1968 and 1969. I remember sitting on my dad's lap and asking him why so many buildings were burning on TV. And he told me that some bad men had killed Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy and people were very upset."

The comparison

The memory functions as a measuring stick rather than nostalgia. "I don't think we've been so divided since 1968 or 1969. I mean, think the Kent State uprising and shootings, for example."

What he concludes from it

Kiriakou refused to treat the division as inevitable. "We don't have to be there. I think that the political parties have put us there. And I believe that we shouldn't be loyal to political parties. We should be loyal to the Constitution. We should be loyal to the country, loyal to the idea that this really is the greatest nation on earth. And I think people get distracted by this political silliness."

The remark sits at the end of the answer in which he laid out the ideological circle, the claim that the two ends of the spectrum meet on war and peace, and that the parties have an interest in keeping them apart.

See also

- The ideological circle
- MLK assassination
- John Kiriakou
