DeProgram with Ted Rall and Jamarl Thomas

In the Same Boat | DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou

Feb 27, 2026

They unpack a deadly speedboat shooting near Cuba and the murky reactions from US and Florida officials. They survey fallout from the Epstein files and who’s been implicated. They analyze the volatile Texas Senate primary and its risk to GOP control. Personal health and mental‑health struggles, foreign influence concerns, and bizarre political scandals appear in rapid succession.

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INSIGHT

Senate Map Risk From Texas Primary

Ted Rall warns a chaotic Senate map could force Republicans to spend heavily defending unexpected seats and hamper national strategy.
He cites Texas primary dynamics (Cornyn vs. Paxton) and potential runoff costs draining resources for battleground states.

ADVICE

Let Local Primaries Play Out Without National Pressure

Ted Rall argues national parties should avoid heavy-handed interference in state primaries and let local voters decide.
He points to RNC actions against Ken Paxton as mirroring DNC-style interference that can backfire.

INSIGHT

Risk Of Using Crises To Delay Elections

Ted Rall explores the risk that a destabilizing event could be used to postpone U.S. elections and shield officials from accountability.
He lists precedents for emergency declarations and warns House action plus crises could be used to delay votes.

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Political cartoonist Ted Rall and CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou deprogram you from mainstream media every weekday at 9 AM EST.

Today we discuss:

• Filet of Pigs: Four US-based Cuban nationals who entered Cuban waters on a US-registered speedboat have been shot dead by border patrol after the speedboat's armed passengers opened fire on a coast guard vessel. Six additional passengers were wounded. Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied the infiltration was a US covert operation. James Uthmeier, Florida's attorney general, said he would direct local law enforcement to investigate the incident. "The Cuban government cannot be trusted, and we will do everything in our power to hold these communists accountable," he said.

• #EpsteinToo: Forced out of Harvard, Lawrence Summers became the latest public figure to be impacted but their implication in the Epstein Files. Others include Paul Weiss chair Brad Karp, longevity expert Peter Attia of CBS News, former Obama counsel Kathy Ruemmler, mind behavior scientist Richard Axel of Columbia, ex-Prince Andrew, UK ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson, as well as Slovak and Norwegian officials. Who’s next? Hillary testifies today at the House, Bill tomorrow.

• Senate in Play: With just days until Texas’ primary, Republicans are alarmed that their increasingly vicious intraparty contest could cost them a must-win Senate seat. Sen. John Cornyn appears to be headed to an expensive and nasty 10-week runoff against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, with a strong chance that Paxton wins the nomination even after national Republicans spent months airing his filthy laundry all over the Texas airwaves in an effort to boost Cornyn. If Cornyn loses the primary, Senate Republicans could be forced to spend hundreds of millions of dollars that could otherwise go toward key battleground races in expensive states like North Carolina, Georgia or Michigan, complicating their path toward holding Senate control.

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