WEBVTT - The Truth with Lisa Boothe: The Genius. Senator John Kennedy 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:03.680 So I am so excited for this guest. He is 0:00:03.720 --> 0:00:08.240 absolutely hilarious and brilliant as well. You might know him 0:00:08.280 --> 0:00:11.400 for some of his funny quips, like this from a 0:00:11.400 --> 0:00:13.200 twenty twenty two campaign ad. 0:00:13.280 --> 0:00:16.279 If you hate cops just because of the cops, the 0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:19.120 next time you get in trouble, caw crackhead. 0:00:19.320 --> 0:00:21.040 See you heard the man. The next time you get 0:00:21.040 --> 0:00:24.880 in trouble, call crackhead if you hate cops. But he's 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:30.280 also known for eviscerating Joe Biden's judicial nominees and witnesses 0:00:30.320 --> 0:00:31.360 who come before him. 0:00:31.480 --> 0:00:34.880 Tell me what Article five of the Constitution does. 0:00:36.400 --> 0:00:38.920 Article five is not coming to mind at the moment. 0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:40.960 Okay, how about Article two? 0:00:45.159 --> 0:00:47.559 Neither is Article two missile? 0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:49.400 What is collateral estoppele? 0:00:50.240 --> 0:00:56.920 Collateral estoppel? I certainly do know collateral estoppable. I'm finding 0:00:56.920 --> 0:01:00.360 that the bright lights of the moment are for me 0:01:00.400 --> 0:01:01.080 to recall it. 0:01:01.480 --> 0:01:04.640 Okay, So you don't recall it, okay. And the man 0:01:04.800 --> 0:01:07.880 on the bench he's going to decide my case, tells 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:15.440 me to stand up and announce my pronoun that's not voluntary, 0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:21.759 that's oppressive. And that alone. Forget his writings which Senator 0:01:21.760 --> 0:01:25.760 from Cruise went through very eloquently. That alone tells me 0:01:26.640 --> 0:01:32.759 that he cannot exercise power maturely. If I could vote 0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:35.040 no twice, I would, I think. 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:39.600 Because the man is so hilarious, people forget how brilliant 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:43.160 he is. The guy graduated in magna cum laude from 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:46.600 Vanderbilt University. He got his law degree from the University 0:01:46.640 --> 0:01:49.640 of Virginia, where he was an executive editor of the 0:01:49.720 --> 0:01:52.560 Virginia Law Review and also elected to the Order of 0:01:52.600 --> 0:01:55.800 the KOI if which I'm told his very prestigious. He 0:01:55.880 --> 0:01:58.960 got his Bachelor of Civil Law degree with first honors 0:01:59.000 --> 0:02:02.440 from Oxford Universe. He's written and published several books and 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:06.640 articles on constitutional law, the Louisiana Products Liability Act, and 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:10.720 the Federal Power Commission. But because he grew up in 0:02:10.760 --> 0:02:13.760 a small town, he has his finger on the pulse 0:02:13.760 --> 0:02:16.400 of the electorate. He seems to really have an understanding 0:02:16.560 --> 0:02:20.480 of what we all care about, of what Louisiana's care about. 0:02:20.680 --> 0:02:22.840 So I think that's what makes him so interesting. To 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:26.760 have all of these combine, sitting in the Senate, viscerating 0:02:26.840 --> 0:02:31.400 judicial nominees, bringing common sense to the Senate and the country, 0:02:31.800 --> 0:02:34.760 all while having a sense of humor. So I am 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:38.200 so excited to interview him about the state of the country, 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:40.720 his sense of humor, and where this is all going. 0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:50.639 Stay tuned for Senator John Kennedy from Louisiana. Well, Senator Kennedy, 0:02:51.200 --> 0:02:52.519 it's so great to have you on the show. I 0:02:52.560 --> 0:02:54.960 got to meet you recently and I was like, please, 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:57.840 please please come my MOP podcast. So I appreciate you 0:02:57.880 --> 0:02:58.600 making the time. 0:02:59.480 --> 0:02:59.800 Thank you. 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:04.120 So you're you're a funny guy in a town that 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:07.640 really lacks a sense of humor. You know, in fact, 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:09.839 it seems like as a country we've lost or sense 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:12.280 of humor. You know, you're famous for equips like a 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:15.920 twenty twenty two campaign ad, Look if you hate cops 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:18.040 just because they're cops, the next time you're in trouble 0:03:18.040 --> 0:03:21.799 called crackhead. You've joked about Joe Biden that voters don't 0:03:21.840 --> 0:03:24.720 trust him to open a can of prinkles. About the 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:27.200 one point three trillion dollars stimulus bill, you said, this 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:30.000 is a great Dane size whiz down the leg of 0:03:30.040 --> 0:03:33.960 every tagspair. How do you come up with this stuff? Like, 0:03:34.000 --> 0:03:38.240 what's your creative process? 0:03:39.760 --> 0:03:45.400 Well, there's there's not really a process. So what before 0:03:45.440 --> 0:03:51.640 I'm interviewed my my, My good team, my communications team 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:54.680 knows they give me all kinds of facts and figures, 0:03:54.720 --> 0:03:57.120 do a great job with that, but they know to 0:03:57.240 --> 0:04:01.080 leave me alone for about five minutes for the interview 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:03.520 so I can sort of think what I want to say, 0:04:03.720 --> 0:04:08.320 because usually the interviews, as you know, are very short 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:11.720 period of time, and you don't want to waste people's time. 0:04:11.760 --> 0:04:14.360 And the American people don't read their Startled every day 0:04:14.400 --> 0:04:17.080 because they're too busy earning of living. So when they 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:20.320 do see on TV, they want you to make your points. 0:04:22.920 --> 0:04:27.120 I have always admired a clever turn of phrase and 0:04:27.240 --> 0:04:31.279 people who can write. I can write, but it's painful, 0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:35.279 and I don't know. The good Lord just gave me 0:04:35.360 --> 0:04:41.160 a brain that causes me to remember the way people 0:04:41.320 --> 0:04:44.760 cleverly put things sometimes, and some of it just comes 0:04:44.800 --> 0:04:48.039 to me from my upbringing. I was raised in a 0:04:48.200 --> 0:04:52.240 very small, blue collar town in the South, in Louisiana. 0:04:54.080 --> 0:04:56.480 You know what, you know what a small town is. 0:04:56.520 --> 0:05:03.359 A small town is where where everybody knows whose check 0:05:03.480 --> 0:05:07.560 is good and whose spouse isn't. And that was the 0:05:07.600 --> 0:05:10.520 way that that was the way I was raised, and 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:15.359 so I don't know. Also I can't think of a 0:05:15.400 --> 0:05:18.800 better way to put this. I've always believed you ought 0:05:18.800 --> 0:05:22.400 to always be yourself now unless you suck. If you suck, 0:05:22.440 --> 0:05:24.880 you ought to try to be something else, but always 0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:28.160 try to be yourself. And that's what I do. Sometimes 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:29.960 it works, sometimes it doesn't. 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:33.560 I think it works more than not. You know, C 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:36.120 do you think have we lost our sense of humor 0:05:36.160 --> 0:05:37.279 as a country. 0:05:38.400 --> 0:05:43.240 A little bit? There are things that we can't talk 0:05:43.279 --> 0:05:48.960 about anymore with or without humor. I really regret that 0:05:49.040 --> 0:05:55.000 we can't talk more about, for example, race in America. 0:05:56.320 --> 0:05:58.400 I think we've made a lot of progress in our 0:05:58.440 --> 0:06:04.760 country in one hundred and fifty years. Uh. You know, 0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:09.400 we America caught, like every other civilization, caught the disease 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:13.560 of slavery, but we beat it back, and since then 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:17.800 we passed I don't know a dozen civil rights laws. 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:20.600 That doesn't mean that there aren't racists in our country, 0:06:21.120 --> 0:06:24.040 but I think most people in America today think more 0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:28.159 about about character than color. I think most people understand 0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:33.240 that that to to to a bear, we all taste 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:38.800 like chicken. But you can't talk about race anymore, and 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:42.000 you've got to be not that you want to use 0:06:42.120 --> 0:06:46.480 humor necessarily talking about race. But when you do use humor, 0:06:47.400 --> 0:06:50.279 you've got to think about it ahead of time because 0:06:50.320 --> 0:06:51.880 you don't want to you know, you don't want to 0:06:51.920 --> 0:06:56.520 offend anybody and lose the point of your message. But 0:06:56.600 --> 0:07:01.840 there are a lot of I mean, the the moon owing. Well, 0:07:01.920 --> 0:07:05.080 let me back up. I don't hate anybody. I really don't. 0:07:05.440 --> 0:07:07.280 When I say my prayers. One of the things I 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:09.760 asked God for. Don't want me hate because it's hard 0:07:09.760 --> 0:07:15.640 in Washington, DC, because the deck stacked against you if 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:20.440 you're conservative. But I don't hate anybody, and I try 0:07:20.480 --> 0:07:23.440 to get along with everybody. But I do say what's 0:07:23.480 --> 0:07:26.680 on my mind, and some people like that, some don't. 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:30.400 But there are a lot of just professional victims out 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:34.280 there in America today who hyperventilate on their yoga mats 0:07:34.320 --> 0:07:37.320 if you say something they don't like. I try to 0:07:37.400 --> 0:07:43.040 ignore them. In fact, I try not to worry too 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:48.200 much about what anybody thinks about me except dogs. I 0:07:48.280 --> 0:07:50.960 really like dogs. I care what dogs think about me, 0:07:51.040 --> 0:07:53.040 but I just let it rip. 0:07:53.840 --> 0:07:55.400 Well, and that's what I've heard. I've heard you're a 0:07:55.400 --> 0:07:58.360 big dog lover. You know, there is that saying if 0:07:58.400 --> 0:08:00.760 you want a friend in Washington and get a dog. 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:04.440 Is that why as you talk about sort of the 0:08:04.800 --> 0:08:08.640 difficulty in Washington, d C. And sort of the hostility there. 0:08:10.720 --> 0:08:15.880 Well, look, here's the problem in Washington. It is a 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:22.400 democratic town. Ninety percent of the people in Washington, or 0:08:22.680 --> 0:08:31.640 or corporate phonies or entrenched politicians or academics or members 0:08:31.680 --> 0:08:37.760 of the news media, most of them are Democrats. I 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:41.640 would have to say today that most of them are. 0:08:43.120 --> 0:08:51.320 They're they're they're deeply weird, They're nauserously woke. They they 0:08:51.360 --> 0:08:55.680 hate George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln and 0:08:55.800 --> 0:09:02.040 doctor Zeus and mister Patata. They they want to seriously 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:07.720 debate whether a man can breast steed. They think they're 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:13.240 smarter and more virtuous than most Americans. And that's one 0:09:13.280 --> 0:09:17.360 of the reasons people hate Washington and one of the 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:22.920 reasons our country is is divided. My experience in Washington, 0:09:22.960 --> 0:09:26.280 and again, I don't hate anybody, I do not. I 0:09:26.320 --> 0:09:30.880 would for grace wherever I can find it. But common 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:37.640 sense in Washington, DC is illegal. And when I when 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:43.000 I feel inadequate in Washington, which I many times do, 0:09:44.200 --> 0:09:49.440 I console myself by just looking around, going well, you know, 0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:52.920 I may feel inadequate, but I don't understand how some 0:09:52.960 --> 0:09:55.400 of these people made it through the birth cannot and 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:59.360 some of the things they come up with. But again 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:02.040 I try. I don't hate anybody, I really don't. 0:10:02.320 --> 0:10:05.000 You've got to take a quick commercial break. Stay right 0:10:05.040 --> 0:10:11.240 there for more of citer John Kennedy, you talk about 0:10:11.240 --> 0:10:14.840 how common sense is illegal in Washington, d c. But 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:17.800 it really seems that way, you know, throughout the country. 0:10:17.840 --> 0:10:20.760 I guess, how did we get to this point where 0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:24.520 common sense is illegal? Why? While you know, how do 0:10:24.600 --> 0:10:27.800 we get to this point while we have so many 0:10:27.840 --> 0:10:31.800 Americans who seem to lack common sense or or ignore it. 0:10:33.559 --> 0:10:37.720 Well, let me say firsts, that's a great question. Congress 0:10:37.840 --> 0:10:44.679 is divided because America is divided. Some have argued that 0:10:44.760 --> 0:10:51.600 while President Trump divided, mayor I think I think I 0:10:51.640 --> 0:10:55.400 think the country was was divided before President Trump. In fact, 0:10:55.440 --> 0:10:59.280 I think that's why President Trump was in part elected. 0:11:02.080 --> 0:11:05.160 I mean, I noticed two things about President Trump when 0:11:05.160 --> 0:11:08.000 he ran in twenty sixteen. And you may like him, 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:12.360 you may dislike him, but this, to me, what I'm 0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:14.400 about to say, I think, at least for me, is 0:11:14.440 --> 0:11:21.560 an objective fact. Though he is a wealthy man. President Trump, 0:11:22.480 --> 0:11:27.040 he never talks down to people. He really doesn't. He 0:11:27.120 --> 0:11:29.920 also in some again you may think this is good 0:11:30.000 --> 0:11:34.200 or bad, but he's authentic in the sense. In this 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:38.600 sense he says exactly what he thinks, and people find 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:43.200 that refreshing. Now a lot of my Democratic colleagues, well, 0:11:43.200 --> 0:11:46.200 he broke it all. He angered a lot of people. 0:11:46.440 --> 0:11:49.840 People were angry ahead of time before he took office, 0:11:49.960 --> 0:11:57.360 but I think they're even angrier today. Nobody I know 0:11:58.880 --> 0:12:02.760 is better off to day than they were four years ago. 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:07.800 With the possible exception of the illegal immorals, they're clearly 0:12:07.880 --> 0:12:14.080 better off. President Biden has been, in my judgment, breathtaking 0:12:14.320 --> 0:12:20.480 me awful. And he's mismanaged Congress. He's mismanaged COVID, he's 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:25.800 mismanaged the border. He's mismanagedcrime. He's mismanaged economy. He's mismanaged inflation. 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:30.040 He mismanaged Afghanistan. I could go down the list, and 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:34.719 all of this directly impacts the American people. I mean 0:12:34.880 --> 0:12:41.920 just inflation alone. You didn't have to be you didn't 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:45.280 have to be mins material to understand that when you 0:12:46.200 --> 0:12:50.920 spend the extraordinary amounts of money that President Biden has 0:12:50.960 --> 0:12:55.680 spent and create all this demand without changing the supply, 0:12:55.840 --> 0:13:01.520 you're going to have inflation and it's not getting any better. Yes, 0:13:01.600 --> 0:13:05.160 the inflation rate is coming down, but what does that mean. 0:13:05.200 --> 0:13:09.079 That means prices are not rising as rapidly as they 0:13:09.160 --> 0:13:13.520 once were. That doesn't mean that prices, these high prices 0:13:13.600 --> 0:13:16.800 are going to fall. They're just going up less quickly. 0:13:17.559 --> 0:13:22.959 And the American people viscerally instinctively know that they can't. 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:26.320 They don't have time to sit down and look up 0:13:26.320 --> 0:13:30.400 the definition of deflation versus distintlation. But they know that 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:34.839 even though inflation is coming down, prices are still high 0:13:34.920 --> 0:13:37.959 and they have to seriously think about selling blood plasma 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:41.920 before they go to the groctree store. And that angers people. 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:44.360 And I don't blame it. And that's just one example. 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:49.760 The border. This has become a cliched expression, but cliches 0:13:49.800 --> 0:13:54.720 become cliches because they're true. Every community is a border 0:13:54.760 --> 0:13:57.520 state now presently. 0:13:58.200 --> 0:14:00.360 Why do you think he's allowing it though? You know, 0:14:00.360 --> 0:14:03.839 because the Center for Immigration Studies recently found that the 0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:07.240 foreign born population in the United States is now at 0:14:07.240 --> 0:14:10.520 a high of fifty one point four million, accounts for 0:14:10.559 --> 0:14:15.360 fifteen point five percent. This has increased dramatically under Biden. 0:14:15.800 --> 0:14:17.360 Why why is he allowing this? 0:14:18.480 --> 0:14:20.800 Well, of course I don't know for sure, but I 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:25.320 will give you my best guess. I think the people 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:31.640 who are advising President Biden believe in open borders. They 0:14:31.680 --> 0:14:35.360 won't say, but they clearly have to judge people by 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:37.600 what they do, not what they say. They couldn't believe 0:14:37.600 --> 0:14:43.200 in open boarders, and it's worked. I mean, we have 0:14:43.320 --> 0:14:47.240 added I don't know nine million people that's for Nebraska's 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:50.360 under President Biden. We don't have the slightest idea of 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:52.560 who they are. We don't even know where they are 0:14:52.560 --> 0:14:55.120 in our country. We just know that they are here. 0:14:55.680 --> 0:15:00.920 I think his advisors talked him into doing that. I'm 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:04.520 not saying he's not responsible because he's the boss, but 0:15:04.600 --> 0:15:07.600 he went along with it. I think he depended upon 0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:11.880 the media to cover for him and for buying large 0:15:11.920 --> 0:15:16.600 the main street media did. But as an issue, it 0:15:16.640 --> 0:15:20.120 has broken clearly broken through, and now the president doesn't 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:24.600 know what to do about it. Now. He could solve 0:15:24.840 --> 0:15:28.880 seventy percent of it by just going back and doing 0:15:29.000 --> 0:15:34.040 things that were in place the day before he took over. 0:15:34.160 --> 0:15:37.600 For example, seventy percent of the people coming into our 0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:42.560 country through Asyblum claims or otherwise are not from Mexico. 0:15:43.360 --> 0:15:47.840 So if he implemented a say third country program, which 0:15:47.880 --> 0:15:50.320 we can talk about if you want to, that would 0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:54.160 eliminate about seventy percent of the folks right there. But 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:57.840 he stared to do it because the Moon wing of 0:15:57.880 --> 0:16:01.720 the Democratic Party has taken over the Democratic Party and 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:04.600 Joe Biden believes that he has to have their votes 0:16:04.760 --> 0:16:07.440 to be relect That's what I think is going on. 0:16:08.520 --> 0:16:11.000 Well, and of course you know it impacts the apportionment 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:15.520 of House seeds and electional though some of us political Yeah, 0:16:15.680 --> 0:16:19.000 I mean because you had Youvet Clerk, a congressman from 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:21.600 New York, who said that her district can absorb a 0:16:21.640 --> 0:16:24.440 significant number of these migrants, adding that I need more 0:16:24.480 --> 0:16:27.680 people in a district just for redistricting purpose. So I 0:16:27.680 --> 0:16:30.120 don't think as many Americans, you know, know that these 0:16:30.600 --> 0:16:35.120 non citizens, these legal immigrants are being included in that. 0:16:35.480 --> 0:16:39.120 Yes, and that's I'm not saying that's the motivation of 0:16:39.200 --> 0:16:42.040 all people who believe in open borders, but you would 0:16:42.040 --> 0:16:44.680 be naive if you didn't believe it was the motivation 0:16:44.800 --> 0:16:51.520 of some When a state the number of state House 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:54.680 members that a state has is determined by the number 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:58.720 of people. So if you add more people, you add 0:16:58.760 --> 0:17:02.800 more House members. Uh. And that's what's been going on. 0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:07.399 And that's some motivation not of everyone, but of many people. 0:17:08.080 --> 0:17:10.239 You know, I've got to get you with you know, 0:17:10.320 --> 0:17:15.080 of course, your your background in constitutional law and just 0:17:15.160 --> 0:17:19.240 you know, being a having your law degree and this 0:17:19.320 --> 0:17:22.159 being an area, and also just you stumping. You know, 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:24.840 so many judicial nominees that have come before you, as 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:27.800 well as just witnesses in general. You know, you tweeted 0:17:27.880 --> 0:17:31.679 last year that federal judges would know the difference between 0:17:31.720 --> 0:17:33.879 a law book and an E. LO Bean catalog. But 0:17:34.000 --> 0:17:38.840 President Biden keeps nominating people who can't answer basic legal questions. 0:17:39.080 --> 0:17:41.560 I guess what if it tell you about the judicial 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:45.200 nominees or the caliber of the judicial nominees that Joe 0:17:45.200 --> 0:17:47.919 Biden has selected, and having a lot of these people 0:17:48.880 --> 0:17:51.320 previously come before you, what can you tell us about 0:17:51.640 --> 0:17:53.960 the caliber and what does that mean for the future 0:17:53.960 --> 0:17:54.600 of the country. 0:17:55.760 --> 0:18:00.719 Well, it tells me that President Biden's picks are primarily 0:18:00.840 --> 0:18:10.000 activists first and a judge's lawyer second. That's not the 0:18:10.040 --> 0:18:16.520 way our constitution is supposed to be set up. A 0:18:16.640 --> 0:18:20.600 judge is supposed to be a neutral arbiter. A judge 0:18:20.640 --> 0:18:23.679 is not supposed to be a politician in robes. The 0:18:23.720 --> 0:18:27.240 Supreme Court is not supposed to be a mini congress. 0:18:27.480 --> 0:18:31.199 It's supposed to be a neutral arbiter that calls balls 0:18:31.240 --> 0:18:35.480 and strikes. Now, when President Biden has nominated good people, 0:18:35.520 --> 0:18:38.560 I'm voting for it. But a lot of the people 0:18:38.640 --> 0:18:42.800 that he has nominated, they don't know. They don't know 0:18:42.840 --> 0:18:45.800 the law, at least they I mean, I don't ask 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:49.359 esoteric questions. I taught law school for fifteen years. The 0:18:49.480 --> 0:18:53.400 kind of questions I ask were the kind of questions 0:18:53.440 --> 0:18:57.439 I would ask my students if the subject came up 0:18:57.480 --> 0:19:02.760 in class. This is not some game to play, got you. 0:19:03.080 --> 0:19:08.600 This is what these people want to be judges. I mean, 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:12.080 they're going to be there unelected, they will be there 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:16.760 for life. They will have the full power of the 0:19:16.760 --> 0:19:23.560 federal United States federal government behind them, and they they 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:28.080 have an obligation, a moral analytical labligation to be neutral arbiters. 0:19:28.840 --> 0:19:36.040 If if I don't want a nominee whose whose goal 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:39.120 in life on the bench is to try to rewrite 0:19:39.119 --> 0:19:43.639 the Constitution, every other Thursday to try to advance some 0:19:43.960 --> 0:19:48.760 social or economic agenda that that ought to be in 0:19:48.800 --> 0:19:51.399 front of Congress if it's going to be implemented. And 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:56.080 that's the way many of these activists approach it. Uh, 0:19:56.200 --> 0:19:58.360 you say, well, why don't you go to the Congress, 0:19:58.520 --> 0:20:03.240 to your legislature Because they know that they're half baked 0:20:03.280 --> 0:20:05.760 ideas aren't going to pass, so they try to do 0:20:05.800 --> 0:20:08.800 it through the courts. That's not the role of the 0:20:08.840 --> 0:20:13.560 federal judiciary in America, or the state judiciary for that matter. 0:20:13.680 --> 0:20:17.160 But President Biden has I would say seven to eight 0:20:17.200 --> 0:20:21.880 out of ten of his nominees have been activists first 0:20:22.000 --> 0:20:26.560 and lawyer's second. And you've got to know them law 0:20:26.880 --> 0:20:29.960 to be a judge. And just because you've seen my 0:20:30.119 --> 0:20:34.520 cousin Denny, doesn't mean you're qualified to be a federal judge. 0:20:34.560 --> 0:20:38.480 You need to know the basic tenants of them all. 0:20:39.600 --> 0:20:41.600 And I think that's what I want. That's my job 0:20:41.680 --> 0:20:42.639 is to see if they know. 0:20:42.840 --> 0:20:45.760 We've got to take a quick commercial break more with 0:20:45.840 --> 0:20:51.600 Cedator John Kennedy. But there are obviously a lot of 0:20:51.760 --> 0:20:56.800 problems facing our country right now. I guess what worries 0:20:56.840 --> 0:20:58.720 you the most, like what keeps you up at night. 0:21:00.320 --> 0:21:03.960 I worry about our institutions. I mean, I worry about 0:21:04.000 --> 0:21:06.399 a lot of things, and I think moms and I 0:21:06.480 --> 0:21:10.000 try to focus my energy on the things that moms 0:21:10.040 --> 0:21:12.640 and dads worry about at night when they lie down 0:21:12.680 --> 0:21:17.600 to sleep and can But I mean, I could talk 0:21:17.640 --> 0:21:22.480 about inflation in the border and educating your children, but 0:21:23.400 --> 0:21:27.960 in a thirty five thousand foot view from that point 0:21:27.960 --> 0:21:31.720 of view. To answer your question, I worry about our institutions. 0:21:31.720 --> 0:21:35.600 You mentioned the courts. Many, not all, but many of 0:21:35.600 --> 0:21:40.360 my Democratic colleagues, if they had their druthers, they would 0:21:40.440 --> 0:21:43.080 just pack the Supreme Court because they don't like the 0:21:43.119 --> 0:21:45.840 way the Supreme Court votes. I don't like the way 0:21:45.840 --> 0:21:50.560 the Supreme Court votes sometimes, and that goes back fifty years. 0:21:51.160 --> 0:21:55.440 But I read their opinions and I try to understand 0:21:57.760 --> 0:22:01.679 how they're deciding the case based on legal principles, not 0:22:01.800 --> 0:22:06.600 based on some political preference. I worry about the institution 0:22:06.760 --> 0:22:13.439 of Congress. We haven't gotten this bad in the Senate, 0:22:13.480 --> 0:22:15.600 but I don't like it in the House. And I've 0:22:15.600 --> 0:22:16.960 got a lot of friends in the House, but I 0:22:17.040 --> 0:22:20.760 don't like it in the House when instead of legislating, 0:22:20.960 --> 0:22:25.760 people are calling each other an ignorant slut and throwing 0:22:25.840 --> 0:22:31.240 people off committees and censoring everybody and seeing who can 0:22:31.280 --> 0:22:34.520 get the most cliques. Now that's not all House members, 0:22:34.520 --> 0:22:37.400 but it's some House members. I don't think that's productive. 0:22:37.920 --> 0:22:43.000 I worry about the institution of the presidency when you 0:22:43.080 --> 0:22:46.320 have a president of the United States who on a 0:22:46.359 --> 0:22:51.000 Monday lectures the American people about democracy and then on 0:22:51.040 --> 0:22:56.879 a Tuesday ignores, just ignores laws passed by the United 0:22:56.880 --> 0:23:00.439 States Congress, for example, the border laws. So we just 0:23:00.480 --> 0:23:05.200 talked about the Supreme Court already struck down President Biden's 0:23:05.240 --> 0:23:08.639 plan to forgive a student debt. They're coming back with 0:23:08.760 --> 0:23:14.600 another plan. They're taking a second run at it. We 0:23:14.680 --> 0:23:17.359 already had a plan for student debt. It was called 0:23:17.400 --> 0:23:21.040 a job and the Supreme Court has said, mister President, 0:23:21.119 --> 0:23:23.200 you can't do this. Wellther he's going to try it again. 0:23:24.440 --> 0:23:28.679 That that impacts the institution of the executive branch, and 0:23:28.880 --> 0:23:33.360 it worries me. I think our institutions will hold. But 0:23:33.359 --> 0:23:36.800 but but let me put it another way. I don't 0:23:36.840 --> 0:23:40.520 mean to talk so long, but right now, and I 0:23:40.560 --> 0:23:44.720 find this very ironic. One of the few institutions left 0:23:44.760 --> 0:23:50.040 in our country that people have respect for is the military. Now, 0:23:50.080 --> 0:23:54.439 I'm delighted that that is the case, but I can 0:23:54.520 --> 0:23:58.520 remember a time during the Vietnam era when when that 0:23:58.720 --> 0:24:02.080 wasn't the case. But when you pull it and say, 0:24:02.119 --> 0:24:04.119 we know, what do you think about the Supreme Court, 0:24:05.680 --> 0:24:08.480 it just bothers me that people don't respect it as 0:24:08.520 --> 0:24:09.440 an institution. 0:24:09.720 --> 0:24:13.879 But I think some of these institutions have does some degree. 0:24:14.280 --> 0:24:16.880 You know, we've been lying to a lot by you know, 0:24:17.000 --> 0:24:19.760 by the people in charge, particularly during COVID, and so 0:24:19.800 --> 0:24:22.119 I think there's just a real lack of trust and 0:24:22.160 --> 0:24:24.560 faith in our institutions, and some of that's warranted. 0:24:25.720 --> 0:24:31.760 Yes, well, look, I don't blame people. Doctor Fauci and 0:24:31.800 --> 0:24:38.560 many of his colleagues did more to set back public 0:24:38.640 --> 0:24:47.840 health than anybody in all of human history. I mean, now, 0:24:47.920 --> 0:24:53.159 if a directive comes from the public health community, you 0:24:53.200 --> 0:24:55.640 don't have people on both sides that you should go. 0:24:56.200 --> 0:24:58.240 I wonder if this is about science or if this 0:24:58.320 --> 0:25:03.680 is about politics. Uh. That's that's the institution of public 0:25:03.760 --> 0:25:09.520 health has been undermined, uh dramatically. And that's just that's 0:25:09.720 --> 0:25:10.919 just one example. 0:25:11.119 --> 0:25:13.919 Sid Mary Kennedy, I want to be respectful of your schedule. 0:25:14.000 --> 0:25:15.639 I could talk to you forever. I really love to 0:25:15.640 --> 0:25:17.360 have you come back on the show. You're just such 0:25:17.359 --> 0:25:20.959 a smirky and I love your sense of humor. I 0:25:21.000 --> 0:25:23.840 just think that, especially with all the craziness going on 0:25:23.920 --> 0:25:26.320 in the country, in the world, I think levity is needed. 0:25:27.000 --> 0:25:28.720 So I appreciate your sense of humor. 0:25:28.800 --> 0:25:31.040 We'll do to get through this. I mean, look, the 0:25:31.200 --> 0:25:34.360 United States of America is the greatest country in all 0:25:34.400 --> 0:25:38.800 of human history. And our institutions will hold. They will 0:25:40.320 --> 0:25:45.960 and and and the fever that we have will eventually break. 0:25:49.400 --> 0:25:54.080 But this is is in my lifetime. Uh this I 0:25:54.119 --> 0:25:57.280 can't I can't think of a time in our country 0:25:58.119 --> 0:26:03.240 when we faced greater danger, not just domestically but internationally 0:26:03.359 --> 0:26:07.439 as well. And it scares me. We'll be okay, but 0:26:07.520 --> 0:26:08.719 we've got to take it sers. 0:26:10.000 --> 0:26:12.639 It scares me too, which is why you know we 0:26:12.720 --> 0:26:15.840 have these conversations on the podcast to try to address 0:26:15.880 --> 0:26:17.640 it and also bring people on like you. Who are 0:26:17.720 --> 0:26:20.120 you trying to make a difference in the Senate. So, 0:26:20.600 --> 0:26:23.160 Senator Kennedy, it's an honor. I really appreciate you making 0:26:23.200 --> 0:26:24.600 the time. Thank you so much. 0:26:24.720 --> 0:26:29.479 Well, listen, tell all your listeners my last piece of advice, 0:26:29.600 --> 0:26:34.320 go vote, Go vote, go vote. If if dead, people 0:26:34.359 --> 0:26:37.160 can do it, so can you make your voice heard? 0:26:38.280 --> 0:26:40.960 Exactly said people can do it, you can too. 0:26:41.160 --> 0:26:41.600 There you go. 0:26:41.680 --> 0:26:46.159