# "Only two and a half more years"

> **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: ""Only two and a half more years"," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/only-two-and-a-half-more-years/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*The consolation John Kiriakou says he takes from the second Trump term's remaining span, and his reasons for doubting that a Democratic successor would undo any of it. He points to Joe Biden's failure to reverse the first term, including the never-restored relationship with Cuba.*

- **The consolation:** "There's only 2 and 1/2 more years of this"
- **The qualifier:** Even a Republican successor "likely won't be as bad"
- **Why Democrats won't reverse it:** "They're cowards" — and they want the authority themselves
- **The precedent:** [Joe Biden](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/joe-biden) rolled back little of the first term
- **The example:** Relations with [Cuba](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cuba-protests-2021) were never re-established

**"Only two and a half more years"** is the consolation [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) offered in 2026 when asked about domestic policy, in this instance the rescinding of the greenhouse gas endangerment finding by a viewer who worked at the Environmental Protection Agency.

His first admission was that such questions cost him sleep — *"I lose sleep over these issues. I really do"* — and the only comfort he could name was arithmetic: *"There's only 2 and 1/2 more years of this. Even if a Republican wins, it likely won't be as bad."*[1][2]

The list he assembled to justify the alarm ran across a single news cycle: wholesale, across-the-board deregulation; statues of slave owners announced for Washington; efforts touching on whether married women could vote; a murder charge brought over an abortion pill; the renaming of the Kennedy Center; and the minting of a gold coin bearing the president's face on both sides.[2][3] His comparison for the last of these was a foreign one — *"It's Turkmenbashi all over again."*[3]

## Why it will not be reversed

Put to him that even a Democratic successor would not roll most of it back, Kiriakou agreed and gave two reasons: *"they wouldn't, because they're cowards. And because they want the power and authority for themselves."*[3]

His evidence is the last transition. [Joe Biden](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/joe-biden) *"did not roll back much of the Trump first term stuff at all"* — and the example Kiriakou reaches for is the one closest to his own interests: *"in fact, Joe Biden never reestablished relations with [Cuba](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cuba-protests-2021)."*[4]

He extends the same logic to Congress, expecting the legislature to concede whatever authority it retains the moment a Democrat wins the White House.[5]

## See also

- [Joe Biden](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/joe-biden)
- [The 2021 Cuba protests](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cuba-protests-2021)
- [Donald Trump](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/donald-trump)
- [Ranking Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/ranking-bush-obama-trump-biden)

## Sources

1. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2026-03-20), at 27:40. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=145C1-XphQs&t=1660s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-20-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/
2. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2026-03-20), at 28:10. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=145C1-XphQs&t=1690s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-20-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/
3. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2026-03-20), at 28:41. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=145C1-XphQs&t=1721s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-20-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/
4. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2026-03-20), at 29:11. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=145C1-XphQs&t=1751s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-20-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/
5. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2026-03-20), at 53:12. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=145C1-XphQs&t=3192s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-20-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/

---

From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/only-two-and-a-half-more-years/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt