# Censorship on the left

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "Censorship on the left," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/censorship-on-the-left/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*John Kiriakou's observation that he was censored far less by Forbes and Fortune than by The Nation and Mother Jones, which he offers as an instance of a general rule that a writer's own side censors them hardest, the counterpart to Ted Rall's account of being made to fit a particular kind of leftism rather than any kind.*

- **Censored him less:** Forbes, Fortune
- **Censored him more:** The Nation, Mother Jones
- **Kiriakou's word for it:** Brutal
- **The general rule:** Your own side censors you more
- **Context:** Defending the decision to publish on Rumble

**Censorship on the left** is a proposition John Kiriakou advanced in January 2026, while defending the decision to broadcast on Rumble against viewers who objected that the platform is owned by conservatives.

## The occasion

The question put to the show was whether alternatives such as Rumble might displace the established platforms. Kiriakou thought there was a chance: a lot of people are tired of YouTube controlling what they get to see and what they get to say, and are looking for alternatives, *"That's why we're doing so well on Rumble."*[1]

Rall reported being trolled for appearing there on the grounds of its ownership, and dismissed the objection.[2]

## Kiriakou's evidence

Kiriakou answered it from his own byline history rather than in principle. Having worked for conservative outlets, he said, *"I got I got censored a lot less on Forbes and for and at Fortune magazine than I ever did by The Nation and Mother Jones, who were brutal to me."*[2]

Rall's generalisation followed, *"your own side tends to censor you more"*, and Kiriakou's assent was one word: *"Crazy."*[2][3]

## The mechanism

The explanation Rall gave, and which Kiriakou completed, is about categorisation rather than ideology. If the *Wall Street Journal* invites a leftist on, it knows what he is and does not try to squash him or turn him into a conservative. At *The Nation*, the reaction is that he is a leftist but not the right kind of leftist, and must be massaged, at which point Kiriakou supplied the missing phrase, *"You've got to be a DNC lefty,"* and Rall confirmed it twice.[3]

The exchange belongs with the show's running argument about why two self-described leftists were being paid by a right-wing video platform after being demonetised elsewhere.

## See also

- [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)
- [Ted Rall](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/ted-rall)
- [The Washington Post under Bezos](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-washington-post-under-bezos)

## Sources

1. Is Trump Bidening Out? | DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou (2026-01-30), at 55:16. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDPkwpAs6Io&t=3316s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-01-30-deprogram-show-with-is-trump-bidening-out-deprogram-with-ted/
2. Is Trump Bidening Out? | DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou (2026-01-30), at 55:46. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDPkwpAs6Io&t=3346s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-01-30-deprogram-show-with-is-trump-bidening-out-deprogram-with-ted/
3. Is Trump Bidening Out? | DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou (2026-01-30), at 56:18. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDPkwpAs6Io&t=3378s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-01-30-deprogram-show-with-is-trump-bidening-out-deprogram-with-ted/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/censorship-on-the-left/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt