Speaker 1: So I am so excited for this guest. He is
Speaker 1: absolutely hilarious and brilliant as well. You might know him
Speaker 1: for some of his funny quips, like this from a
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two campaign ad.
Speaker 2: If you hate cops just because of the cops, the
Speaker 2: next time you get in trouble, caw crackhead.
Speaker 1: See you heard the man. The next time you get
Speaker 1: in trouble, call crackhead if you hate cops. But he's
Speaker 1: also known for eviscerating Joe Biden's judicial nominees and witnesses
Speaker 1: who come before him.
Speaker 2: Tell me what Article five of the Constitution does.
Speaker 3: Article five is not coming to mind at the moment.
Speaker 2: Okay, how about Article two?
Speaker 3: Neither is Article two missile?
Speaker 2: What is collateral estoppele?
Speaker 3: Collateral estoppel? I certainly do know collateral estoppable. I'm finding
Speaker 3: that the bright lights of the moment are for me
Speaker 3: to recall it.
Speaker 2: Okay, So you don't recall it, okay. And the man
Speaker 2: on the bench he's going to decide my case, tells
Speaker 2: me to stand up and announce my pronoun that's not voluntary,
Speaker 2: that's oppressive. And that alone. Forget his writings which Senator
Speaker 2: from Cruise went through very eloquently. That alone tells me
Speaker 2: that he cannot exercise power maturely. If I could vote
Speaker 2: no twice, I would, I think.
Speaker 1: Because the man is so hilarious, people forget how brilliant
Speaker 1: he is. The guy graduated in magna cum laude from
Speaker 1: Vanderbilt University. He got his law degree from the University
Speaker 1: of Virginia, where he was an executive editor of the
Speaker 1: Virginia Law Review and also elected to the Order of
Speaker 1: the KOI if which I'm told his very prestigious. He
Speaker 1: got his Bachelor of Civil Law degree with first honors
Speaker 1: from Oxford Universe. He's written and published several books and
Speaker 1: articles on constitutional law, the Louisiana Products Liability Act, and
Speaker 1: the Federal Power Commission. But because he grew up in
Speaker 1: a small town, he has his finger on the pulse
Speaker 1: of the electorate. He seems to really have an understanding
Speaker 1: of what we all care about, of what Louisiana's care about.
Speaker 1: So I think that's what makes him so interesting. To
Speaker 1: have all of these combine, sitting in the Senate, viscerating
Speaker 1: judicial nominees, bringing common sense to the Senate and the country,
Speaker 1: all while having a sense of humor. So I am
Speaker 1: so excited to interview him about the state of the country,
Speaker 1: his sense of humor, and where this is all going.
Speaker 1: Stay tuned for Senator John Kennedy from Louisiana. Well, Senator Kennedy,
Speaker 1: it's so great to have you on the show. I
Speaker 1: got to meet you recently and I was like, please,
Speaker 1: please please come my MOP podcast. So I appreciate you
Speaker 1: making the time.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: So you're you're a funny guy in a town that
Speaker 1: really lacks a sense of humor. You know, in fact,
Speaker 1: it seems like as a country we've lost or sense
Speaker 1: of humor. You know, you're famous for equips like a
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two campaign ad, Look if you hate cops
Speaker 1: just because they're cops, the next time you're in trouble
Speaker 1: called crackhead. You've joked about Joe Biden that voters don't
Speaker 1: trust him to open a can of prinkles. About the
Speaker 1: one point three trillion dollars stimulus bill, you said, this
Speaker 1: is a great Dane size whiz down the leg of
Speaker 1: every tagspair. How do you come up with this stuff? Like,
Speaker 1: what's your creative process?
Speaker 2: Well, there's there's not really a process. So what before
Speaker 2: I'm interviewed my my, My good team, my communications team
Speaker 2: knows they give me all kinds of facts and figures,
Speaker 2: do a great job with that, but they know to
Speaker 2: leave me alone for about five minutes for the interview
Speaker 2: so I can sort of think what I want to say,
Speaker 2: because usually the interviews, as you know, are very short
Speaker 2: period of time, and you don't want to waste people's time.
Speaker 2: And the American people don't read their Startled every day
Speaker 2: because they're too busy earning of living. So when they
Speaker 2: do see on TV, they want you to make your points.
Speaker 2: I have always admired a clever turn of phrase and
Speaker 2: people who can write. I can write, but it's painful,
Speaker 2: and I don't know. The good Lord just gave me
Speaker 2: a brain that causes me to remember the way people
Speaker 2: cleverly put things sometimes, and some of it just comes
Speaker 2: to me from my upbringing. I was raised in a
Speaker 2: very small, blue collar town in the South, in Louisiana.
Speaker 2: You know what, you know what a small town is.
Speaker 2: A small town is where where everybody knows whose check
Speaker 2: is good and whose spouse isn't. And that was the
Speaker 2: way that that was the way I was raised, and
Speaker 2: so I don't know. Also I can't think of a
Speaker 2: better way to put this. I've always believed you ought
Speaker 2: to always be yourself now unless you suck. If you suck,
Speaker 2: you ought to try to be something else, but always
Speaker 2: try to be yourself. And that's what I do. Sometimes
Speaker 2: it works, sometimes it doesn't.
Speaker 1: I think it works more than not. You know, C
Speaker 1: do you think have we lost our sense of humor
Speaker 1: as a country.
Speaker 2: A little bit? There are things that we can't talk
Speaker 2: about anymore with or without humor. I really regret that
Speaker 2: we can't talk more about, for example, race in America.
Speaker 2: I think we've made a lot of progress in our
Speaker 2: country in one hundred and fifty years. Uh. You know,
Speaker 2: we America caught, like every other civilization, caught the disease
Speaker 2: of slavery, but we beat it back, and since then
Speaker 2: we passed I don't know a dozen civil rights laws.
Speaker 2: That doesn't mean that there aren't racists in our country,
Speaker 2: but I think most people in America today think more
Speaker 2: about about character than color. I think most people understand
Speaker 2: that that to to to a bear, we all taste
Speaker 2: like chicken. But you can't talk about race anymore, and
Speaker 2: you've got to be not that you want to use
Speaker 2: humor necessarily talking about race. But when you do use humor,
Speaker 2: you've got to think about it ahead of time because
Speaker 2: you don't want to you know, you don't want to
Speaker 2: offend anybody and lose the point of your message. But
Speaker 2: there are a lot of I mean, the the moon owing. Well,
Speaker 2: let me back up. I don't hate anybody. I really don't.
Speaker 2: When I say my prayers. One of the things I
Speaker 2: asked God for. Don't want me hate because it's hard
Speaker 2: in Washington, DC, because the deck stacked against you if
Speaker 2: you're conservative. But I don't hate anybody, and I try
Speaker 2: to get along with everybody. But I do say what's
Speaker 2: on my mind, and some people like that, some don't.
Speaker 2: But there are a lot of just professional victims out
Speaker 2: there in America today who hyperventilate on their yoga mats
Speaker 2: if you say something they don't like. I try to
Speaker 2: ignore them. In fact, I try not to worry too
Speaker 2: much about what anybody thinks about me except dogs. I
Speaker 2: really like dogs. I care what dogs think about me,
Speaker 2: but I just let it rip.
Speaker 1: Well, and that's what I've heard. I've heard you're a
Speaker 1: big dog lover. You know, there is that saying if
Speaker 1: you want a friend in Washington and get a dog.
Speaker 1: Is that why as you talk about sort of the
Speaker 1: difficulty in Washington, d C. And sort of the hostility there.
Speaker 2: Well, look, here's the problem in Washington. It is a
Speaker 2: democratic town. Ninety percent of the people in Washington, or
Speaker 2: or corporate phonies or entrenched politicians or academics or members
Speaker 2: of the news media, most of them are Democrats. I
Speaker 2: would have to say today that most of them are.
Speaker 2: They're they're they're deeply weird, They're nauserously woke. They they
Speaker 2: hate George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln and
Speaker 2: doctor Zeus and mister Patata. They they want to seriously
Speaker 2: debate whether a man can breast steed. They think they're
Speaker 2: smarter and more virtuous than most Americans. And that's one
Speaker 2: of the reasons people hate Washington and one of the
Speaker 2: reasons our country is is divided. My experience in Washington,
Speaker 2: and again, I don't hate anybody, I do not. I
Speaker 2: would for grace wherever I can find it. But common
Speaker 2: sense in Washington, DC is illegal. And when I when
Speaker 2: I feel inadequate in Washington, which I many times do,
Speaker 2: I console myself by just looking around, going well, you know,
Speaker 2: I may feel inadequate, but I don't understand how some
Speaker 2: of these people made it through the birth cannot and
Speaker 2: some of the things they come up with. But again
Speaker 2: I try. I don't hate anybody, I really don't.
Speaker 1: You've got to take a quick commercial break. Stay right
Speaker 1: there for more of citer John Kennedy, you talk about
Speaker 1: how common sense is illegal in Washington, d c. But
Speaker 1: it really seems that way, you know, throughout the country.
Speaker 1: I guess, how did we get to this point where
Speaker 1: common sense is illegal? Why? While you know, how do
Speaker 1: we get to this point while we have so many
Speaker 1: Americans who seem to lack common sense or or ignore it.
Speaker 2: Well, let me say firsts, that's a great question. Congress
Speaker 2: is divided because America is divided. Some have argued that
Speaker 2: while President Trump divided, mayor I think I think I
Speaker 2: think the country was was divided before President Trump. In fact,
Speaker 2: I think that's why President Trump was in part elected.
Speaker 2: I mean, I noticed two things about President Trump when
Speaker 2: he ran in twenty sixteen. And you may like him,
Speaker 2: you may dislike him, but this, to me, what I'm
Speaker 2: about to say, I think, at least for me, is
Speaker 2: an objective fact. Though he is a wealthy man. President Trump,
Speaker 2: he never talks down to people. He really doesn't. He
Speaker 2: also in some again you may think this is good
Speaker 2: or bad, but he's authentic in the sense. In this
Speaker 2: sense he says exactly what he thinks, and people find
Speaker 2: that refreshing. Now a lot of my Democratic colleagues, well,
Speaker 2: he broke it all. He angered a lot of people.
Speaker 2: People were angry ahead of time before he took office,
Speaker 2: but I think they're even angrier today. Nobody I know
Speaker 2: is better off to day than they were four years ago.
Speaker 2: With the possible exception of the illegal immorals, they're clearly
Speaker 2: better off. President Biden has been, in my judgment, breathtaking
Speaker 2: me awful. And he's mismanaged Congress. He's mismanaged COVID, he's
Speaker 2: mismanaged the border. He's mismanagedcrime. He's mismanaged economy. He's mismanaged inflation.
Speaker 2: He mismanaged Afghanistan. I could go down the list, and
Speaker 2: all of this directly impacts the American people. I mean
Speaker 2: just inflation alone. You didn't have to be you didn't
Speaker 2: have to be mins material to understand that when you
Speaker 2: spend the extraordinary amounts of money that President Biden has
Speaker 2: spent and create all this demand without changing the supply,
Speaker 2: you're going to have inflation and it's not getting any better. Yes,
Speaker 2: the inflation rate is coming down, but what does that mean.
Speaker 2: That means prices are not rising as rapidly as they
Speaker 2: once were. That doesn't mean that prices, these high prices
Speaker 2: are going to fall. They're just going up less quickly.
Speaker 2: And the American people viscerally instinctively know that they can't.
Speaker 2: They don't have time to sit down and look up
Speaker 2: the definition of deflation versus distintlation. But they know that
Speaker 2: even though inflation is coming down, prices are still high
Speaker 2: and they have to seriously think about selling blood plasma
Speaker 2: before they go to the groctree store. And that angers people.
Speaker 2: And I don't blame it. And that's just one example.
Speaker 2: The border. This has become a cliched expression, but cliches
Speaker 2: become cliches because they're true. Every community is a border
Speaker 2: state now presently.
Speaker 1: Why do you think he's allowing it though? You know,
Speaker 1: because the Center for Immigration Studies recently found that the
Speaker 1: foreign born population in the United States is now at
Speaker 1: a high of fifty one point four million, accounts for
Speaker 1: fifteen point five percent. This has increased dramatically under Biden.
Speaker 1: Why why is he allowing this?
Speaker 2: Well, of course I don't know for sure, but I
Speaker 2: will give you my best guess. I think the people
Speaker 2: who are advising President Biden believe in open borders. They
Speaker 2: won't say, but they clearly have to judge people by
Speaker 2: what they do, not what they say. They couldn't believe
Speaker 2: in open boarders, and it's worked. I mean, we have
Speaker 2: added I don't know nine million people that's for Nebraska's
Speaker 2: under President Biden. We don't have the slightest idea of
Speaker 2: who they are. We don't even know where they are
Speaker 2: in our country. We just know that they are here.
Speaker 2: I think his advisors talked him into doing that. I'm
Speaker 2: not saying he's not responsible because he's the boss, but
Speaker 2: he went along with it. I think he depended upon
Speaker 2: the media to cover for him and for buying large
Speaker 2: the main street media did. But as an issue, it
Speaker 2: has broken clearly broken through, and now the president doesn't
Speaker 2: know what to do about it. Now. He could solve
Speaker 2: seventy percent of it by just going back and doing
Speaker 2: things that were in place the day before he took over.
Speaker 2: For example, seventy percent of the people coming into our
Speaker 2: country through Asyblum claims or otherwise are not from Mexico.
Speaker 2: So if he implemented a say third country program, which
Speaker 2: we can talk about if you want to, that would
Speaker 2: eliminate about seventy percent of the folks right there. But
Speaker 2: he stared to do it because the Moon wing of
Speaker 2: the Democratic Party has taken over the Democratic Party and
Speaker 2: Joe Biden believes that he has to have their votes
Speaker 2: to be relect That's what I think is going on.
Speaker 1: Well, and of course you know it impacts the apportionment
Speaker 1: of House seeds and electional though some of us political Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean because you had Youvet Clerk, a congressman from
Speaker 1: New York, who said that her district can absorb a
Speaker 1: significant number of these migrants, adding that I need more
Speaker 1: people in a district just for redistricting purpose. So I
Speaker 1: don't think as many Americans, you know, know that these
Speaker 1: non citizens, these legal immigrants are being included in that.
Speaker 2: Yes, and that's I'm not saying that's the motivation of
Speaker 2: all people who believe in open borders, but you would
Speaker 2: be naive if you didn't believe it was the motivation
Speaker 2: of some When a state the number of state House
Speaker 2: members that a state has is determined by the number
Speaker 2: of people. So if you add more people, you add
Speaker 2: more House members. Uh. And that's what's been going on.
Speaker 2: And that's some motivation not of everyone, but of many people.
Speaker 1: You know, I've got to get you with you know,
Speaker 1: of course, your your background in constitutional law and just
Speaker 1: you know, being a having your law degree and this
Speaker 1: being an area, and also just you stumping. You know,
Speaker 1: so many judicial nominees that have come before you, as
Speaker 1: well as just witnesses in general. You know, you tweeted
Speaker 1: last year that federal judges would know the difference between
Speaker 1: a law book and an E. LO Bean catalog. But
Speaker 1: President Biden keeps nominating people who can't answer basic legal questions.
Speaker 1: I guess what if it tell you about the judicial
Speaker 1: nominees or the caliber of the judicial nominees that Joe
Speaker 1: Biden has selected, and having a lot of these people
Speaker 1: previously come before you, what can you tell us about
Speaker 1: the caliber and what does that mean for the future
Speaker 1: of the country.
Speaker 2: Well, it tells me that President Biden's picks are primarily
Speaker 2: activists first and a judge's lawyer second. That's not the
Speaker 2: way our constitution is supposed to be set up. A
Speaker 2: judge is supposed to be a neutral arbiter. A judge
Speaker 2: is not supposed to be a politician in robes. The
Speaker 2: Supreme Court is not supposed to be a mini congress.
Speaker 2: It's supposed to be a neutral arbiter that calls balls
Speaker 2: and strikes. Now, when President Biden has nominated good people,
Speaker 2: I'm voting for it. But a lot of the people
Speaker 2: that he has nominated, they don't know. They don't know
Speaker 2: the law, at least they I mean, I don't ask
Speaker 2: esoteric questions. I taught law school for fifteen years. The
Speaker 2: kind of questions I ask were the kind of questions
Speaker 2: I would ask my students if the subject came up
Speaker 2: in class. This is not some game to play, got you.
Speaker 2: This is what these people want to be judges. I mean,
Speaker 2: they're going to be there unelected, they will be there
Speaker 2: for life. They will have the full power of the
Speaker 2: federal United States federal government behind them, and they they
Speaker 2: have an obligation, a moral analytical labligation to be neutral arbiters.
Speaker 2: If if I don't want a nominee whose whose goal
Speaker 2: in life on the bench is to try to rewrite
Speaker 2: the Constitution, every other Thursday to try to advance some
Speaker 2: social or economic agenda that that ought to be in
Speaker 2: front of Congress if it's going to be implemented. And
Speaker 2: that's the way many of these activists approach it. Uh,
Speaker 2: you say, well, why don't you go to the Congress,
Speaker 2: to your legislature Because they know that they're half baked
Speaker 2: ideas aren't going to pass, so they try to do
Speaker 2: it through the courts. That's not the role of the
Speaker 2: federal judiciary in America, or the state judiciary for that matter.
Speaker 2: But President Biden has I would say seven to eight
Speaker 2: out of ten of his nominees have been activists first
Speaker 2: and lawyer's second. And you've got to know them law
Speaker 2: to be a judge. And just because you've seen my
Speaker 2: cousin Denny, doesn't mean you're qualified to be a federal judge.
Speaker 2: You need to know the basic tenants of them all.
Speaker 2: And I think that's what I want. That's my job
Speaker 2: is to see if they know.
Speaker 1: We've got to take a quick commercial break more with
Speaker 1: Cedator John Kennedy. But there are obviously a lot of
Speaker 1: problems facing our country right now. I guess what worries
Speaker 1: you the most, like what keeps you up at night.
Speaker 2: I worry about our institutions. I mean, I worry about
Speaker 2: a lot of things, and I think moms and I
Speaker 2: try to focus my energy on the things that moms
Speaker 2: and dads worry about at night when they lie down
Speaker 2: to sleep and can But I mean, I could talk
Speaker 2: about inflation in the border and educating your children, but
Speaker 2: in a thirty five thousand foot view from that point
Speaker 2: of view. To answer your question, I worry about our institutions.
Speaker 2: You mentioned the courts. Many, not all, but many of
Speaker 2: my Democratic colleagues, if they had their druthers, they would
Speaker 2: just pack the Supreme Court because they don't like the
Speaker 2: way the Supreme Court votes. I don't like the way
Speaker 2: the Supreme Court votes sometimes, and that goes back fifty years.
Speaker 2: But I read their opinions and I try to understand
Speaker 2: how they're deciding the case based on legal principles, not
Speaker 2: based on some political preference. I worry about the institution
Speaker 2: of Congress. We haven't gotten this bad in the Senate,
Speaker 2: but I don't like it in the House. And I've
Speaker 2: got a lot of friends in the House, but I
Speaker 2: don't like it in the House when instead of legislating,
Speaker 2: people are calling each other an ignorant slut and throwing
Speaker 2: people off committees and censoring everybody and seeing who can
Speaker 2: get the most cliques. Now that's not all House members,
Speaker 2: but it's some House members. I don't think that's productive.
Speaker 2: I worry about the institution of the presidency when you
Speaker 2: have a president of the United States who on a
Speaker 2: Monday lectures the American people about democracy and then on
Speaker 2: a Tuesday ignores, just ignores laws passed by the United
Speaker 2: States Congress, for example, the border laws. So we just
Speaker 2: talked about the Supreme Court already struck down President Biden's
Speaker 2: plan to forgive a student debt. They're coming back with
Speaker 2: another plan. They're taking a second run at it. We
Speaker 2: already had a plan for student debt. It was called
Speaker 2: a job and the Supreme Court has said, mister President,
Speaker 2: you can't do this. Wellther he's going to try it again.
Speaker 2: That that impacts the institution of the executive branch, and
Speaker 2: it worries me. I think our institutions will hold. But
Speaker 2: but but let me put it another way. I don't
Speaker 2: mean to talk so long, but right now, and I
Speaker 2: find this very ironic. One of the few institutions left
Speaker 2: in our country that people have respect for is the military. Now,
Speaker 2: I'm delighted that that is the case, but I can
Speaker 2: remember a time during the Vietnam era when when that
Speaker 2: wasn't the case. But when you pull it and say,
Speaker 2: we know, what do you think about the Supreme Court,
Speaker 2: it just bothers me that people don't respect it as
Speaker 2: an institution.
Speaker 1: But I think some of these institutions have does some degree.
Speaker 1: You know, we've been lying to a lot by you know,
Speaker 1: by the people in charge, particularly during COVID, and so
Speaker 1: I think there's just a real lack of trust and
Speaker 1: faith in our institutions, and some of that's warranted.
Speaker 2: Yes, well, look, I don't blame people. Doctor Fauci and
Speaker 2: many of his colleagues did more to set back public
Speaker 2: health than anybody in all of human history. I mean, now,
Speaker 2: if a directive comes from the public health community, you
Speaker 2: don't have people on both sides that you should go.
Speaker 2: I wonder if this is about science or if this
Speaker 2: is about politics. Uh. That's that's the institution of public
Speaker 2: health has been undermined, uh dramatically. And that's just that's
Speaker 2: just one example.
Speaker 1: Sid Mary Kennedy, I want to be respectful of your schedule.
Speaker 1: I could talk to you forever. I really love to
Speaker 1: have you come back on the show. You're just such
Speaker 1: a smirky and I love your sense of humor. I
Speaker 1: just think that, especially with all the craziness going on
Speaker 1: in the country, in the world, I think levity is needed.
Speaker 1: So I appreciate your sense of humor.
Speaker 2: We'll do to get through this. I mean, look, the
Speaker 2: United States of America is the greatest country in all
Speaker 2: of human history. And our institutions will hold. They will
Speaker 2: and and and the fever that we have will eventually break.
Speaker 2: But this is is in my lifetime. Uh this I
Speaker 2: can't I can't think of a time in our country
Speaker 2: when we faced greater danger, not just domestically but internationally
Speaker 2: as well. And it scares me. We'll be okay, but
Speaker 2: we've got to take it sers.
Speaker 1: It scares me too, which is why you know we
Speaker 1: have these conversations on the podcast to try to address
Speaker 1: it and also bring people on like you. Who are
Speaker 1: you trying to make a difference in the Senate. So,
Speaker 1: Senator Kennedy, it's an honor. I really appreciate you making
Speaker 1: the time. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2: Well, listen, tell all your listeners my last piece of advice,
Speaker 2: go vote, Go vote, go vote. If if dead, people
Speaker 2: can do it, so can you make your voice heard?
Speaker 1: Exactly said people can do it, you can too.
Speaker 2: There you go.
Speaker 1: We're gonna thank you so much. Senator You're awesome.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: That was Senator John Kennedy. Hilarious, brilliant. Really appreciate him
Speaker 1: making the time. It was such an honor. I want
Speaker 1: to thank you guys at home for listening every Monday
Speaker 1: and Thursday, but you can listen throughout the week. I
Speaker 1: want to think John Cassi or my producer for putting
Speaker 1: the show together until next time.