Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / The Wit & Wisdom of Sen John Kennedy One-on-One

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The Wit & Wisdom of Sen John Kennedy One-on-One · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome in his Verdict with center Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: with you, and this is gonna be one of those
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: shows that's just going to be an.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Awful lot of fun.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: A good friend of mine and a great friend in
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: the Senate of Senator Cruz has got a new book
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: out with maybe one of the best titles for twenty
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: twenty five, How to.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Test negative for Stupid. Senator.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: You're in DC, and this is just gonna be one
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: of those shows which I hope everyone enjoys as much
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: as you and I do hanging out.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: We're our next guests.
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: Well, I'm very glad to welcome to Verdict John Kennedy.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: John is one of my dearest friends in the Senate.
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: He is someone I am really glad came to be
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: in the Senate. He is someone with a wicked sense
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: of humor. He is the most dangerous cross examiner in
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: the entire United States Senate and in fact, entire generations
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: of judicial nominees and nominees beat from administrator has studied
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: past John Kennedy cross examinations that they still have PTSD
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: from the terror that he puts in them, and and
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: and and this man in addition to being brilliant as hell.
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: Is also as good a stand up comedian as I've
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: ever known. He's written a book. The title of the
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: book is how to Test Negative for Stupid and Why
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: Washington Never Will John Welcome to Verdict. I gotta say
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: your book sucks and it's not funny.
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: Well number one, the publisher, Ted would let me use
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: the title I wanted. I wanted to say always. I
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: wanted the title to be always be yourself unless you suck,
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: And they said, Harper Cohen said, no, that's not going
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: to work. I also got to tell one of my
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: best Ted cruise stores. Uh oh my Ted. Ted's people
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: invited me out you remember this. Yeah, he had a
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: huge fundraisers somewhere out there was some fancy place I
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: don't remember. I mean it was the room. I mean
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: it was really fanny rich.
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: People don't go to Motel six.
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: And I'm a Motel six guy. And anyway, I go
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: out there and Ted's people said, you remember, I said,
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: what do you want me to talk about? They said,
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: make fun of Tid. I said okay, And I said,
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: these are all of his friends and they said, yeah,
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: he's some big, heavyweight people. Okay, we're talking mega rich.
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: So I started off and I said, y'all, no Ted,
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: y'all know Ted. Well. I said, let me tell you
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: what you have to understand about Ted Cruz. He is really, really,
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: really smart. But so was the unibomber. And therein lies
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: the problem. You can't leave him on supervised. And all
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: the Ted's contributors stood up and they're going, yeah, that's Tid,
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: that's their tid. It was great.
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: So John is not kidding at all.
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: It's really happy.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: No, he's not. I was there.
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: I was a witness, and his entire lunch remarks were
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: basically a stand up comedy routine.
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: We had a great time.
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: And one of the things he did is he just
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: basically went through the sec and made fun of everybody.
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: So he started he said, how do you get in
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: Oklahoma and ou grad off your front porch? Pay the
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: man for the pizza?
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: Remember that?
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: He said, what do you call a genius in Georgia?
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: A visitor? And then I'm sorry, Ben. He then said,
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: what does an old miss grad get on his act? Drool?
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: We had a great time. I got him on on Alabama.
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: I said, why did Alabama raise the drinking age to
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: thirty two to keep alcohol out of the high schools.
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: We being we had the best time.
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: And and he's told that Alabama joke at our Senate
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: Republican lunches. And Richard Shelby was chairman of the Appropriations Committee,
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: and I'm pretty sure he like pulled a billion dollars
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: out of Louisiana.
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: He cost me millions, man, let's cost me millions, but
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: it was worth every penny.
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: Well, look, John is what I said about his cross examination.
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: That is not an exaggeration. I mean it is a
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: beautiful look. And to be honest, he has done that.
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: He does that mostly to Democrat nominees, but he's done
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: that to Republicans also. And one of the things people
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: don't necessarily know. Before John was in the Senate, he
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: was a trial lawyer and he was a hell of
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: a trial lawyer. And he knows how to talk to
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: a jury. You know, John is a little bit He's
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: got a Southern accent and sometimes he puts it on
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: a little deep. But I sort of analogized John to like,
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: you know, you know, there's an old rule of never
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: play poker with someone named after a state, yep, yep,
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: And John good Room when the draw gets deep, amen,
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: and he'll be like, well, I don't know much about that.
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: You were about to get robbed.
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: It's like at a poker table when someone says, now,
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: remind me that does a straight beat a flush or
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: a flush beat a straight like hold on to your
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: wallet and run out of the door. And so so
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: when John begins cross examining, all is there is there
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: a cross examination you've done in the Senate that's your favorite?
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: Oh gosh that maybe I don't remember her name, Ted,
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: you'll remember because you beat the living hell out of her.
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: Two Uh, that couldn't name any provision of the constitution.
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: That okay, she was the one that didn't know Article five.
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: That's right. She's from Washington State. And she she after
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: it was over, she yelke her in something like yeah
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: she quit, and which was smart, I mean.
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: And then the one, okay, Article five is the provision
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: that it's it's the part of the constitution that lays
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: out how constitutional amendments happened. And he asked about Article
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: five and then and this was cruel, but but then
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: he asked, well, well how about our article two? And
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: she couldn't answer. And look, if you're not a lawyer.
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: That doesn't seem like a question that that Look the
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: way the Constitution set up. Article one sets up the Congress,
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: Article two sets up the executive and the president, and
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: Article three sets up the judiciary. If you cannot answer
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: what is Article two, you will flunk first year civil procedure,
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: constitutional law.
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: Like you, you're done.
• 6:28
  Speaker 4: Well, you know you're a smoke turkey man. You're dead
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: is fried chicken?
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: And she had no idea. I'm pretty sure we play
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: that cross examination on this podcast. We've played a bunch
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: of years, and that really was By the way, this
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: woman was nominated to be what's called an Article three judge,
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: and I'm pretty certain she has no idea what Article
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: three is either. But it was devastating. But to be clear, look,
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: John doesn't just do that to Democrats. There was a
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: poor fellow who Trump nominated in the Court of Appeals
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: I remember.
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: And district court, Federal district court.
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: You're right, you're right. He had been on the Federal
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: Election Commission.
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: That's exactly right. Nice guy, a.
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: Nice guy, smart guy, but had no trial experience whatsoever.
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: And I will say John's cross examination was so devastating
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: that they withdrew the nomination like it literally at the
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: end of that cross, They're like, okay, yeah, he's not
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: going to be a judge.
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: Well he's a nice guy, but he just wasn't ready
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: to be a federal judge. And after it was over,
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: the president call. President called me. I was I had
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: phone back home, was in New Orleans. Phone rings, you
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: know the way it works, unknown normal, you go, Okay,
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: it's White House. I'm ready to take my kit, my
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: whip in here. So I pick up the phone and
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: crew and Trump says, who Kennedy? I watched your your
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: examination this guy? He said, who was this guy? I said, well,
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: he's your nominee. And he said he doesn't sound too
• 8:01
  Speaker 4: Did I interview him? And I said, no, mister President,
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: you're staffed. Did and he said, you know, he doesn't
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: seem very qualified. He said, what do you think. I said, well,
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: mister President, just because you've seen my cousin Vinny doesn't
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: qualify you to be on the federal bench. And he said, yeah,
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: you're right. He said, what do you think well to do?
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: And I said, well, let's put him out of his misery.
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: I don't want embarrassing and he the President withdrew the appointment.
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, no, it was. I have never seen a
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: cross examination take out a nominee, although what was it.
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: It was the Biden nominee, who was the Russian who
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: to graduated from a Russian university, And your line was
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: should I call you comrade?
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: She was nominated for a Controller of the currency. She
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: was a former member of the Communist Party of Russia.
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: She had graduated from Moscow State University and her dissertation,
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: a copy of which she wouldn't give us, was on
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: Karl Marx. So real, Yeah, Ben, it was, and she was.
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: Her main argument for being Controller of the Currency, which
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: of course is so responsible all the state banks, was
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: to get rid of all the banks and have everybody
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: nominate or a bank rather from the Federal Reserve.
• 9:20
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• 9:21
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• 11:43
  Speaker 2: All right, I got a question for both of you.
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: Are you man?
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: Has there ever been a time that you guys are
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: both sitting there beating the hell out of someoney?
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: And do you ever look at each other and grin
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: like how does it work?
• 11:54
  Speaker 5: Like?
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: You go?
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: Then I ten goes first and and and he knocks
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: them to Pluto and softens them up. And I talk
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: about it in my book. You know, I think, what
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: did I say about Tid? I said, I didn't call
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: him articulate, though he is. I said Ted could talk
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: a dog off a meat whack, and he could talk
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: the hide off a cow. And he knocks these witnesses
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: to Pluto, and then Josh Hotley, I think is ahead
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: of them. He goes next, and then I bat clean up.
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: There's a murderer's row. We have fun and it actually
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: starts with Mike Lee and from Mike John Kennedy, right,
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: I mean, those are four questioners I actually feel for
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: a witness because that's and they're also different styles. So
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: I will say, Ben, one thing that that that you
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: may not not appreciate not being a lawyer, but but
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: John's and my legal careers are very very different. So
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: I'm an appellate lawyer and the vast majority of what
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: I've done is arguing a court of appeals and court
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: of appeals is is totally different, very different. So there's
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: trial courts and courts of appeals. The court of appeals
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: is you're standing in front of judges, typically three judges
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: if it's the Supreme Court nine judges, and you are
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: you write a brief that is in the Supreme Court.
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: It's a fifty page written argument, and then your argument
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: would usually be thirty minutes and most of it is
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: questioning from judges. So it's questioning about the law. You
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: got to be quick, you got to be able to dance.
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: I mean, being an appellate lawyer is a very precise,
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: it's a more it's a more academic skill.
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: It is very academic. A lot of law professors and
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: an intellectual discussion. That's what it is.
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: So a trial lawyer is what most people think of
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: when you turn on the TV, when you think of
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: La law or Perry Mason. Like, like a trial lawyer,
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: you're you're in a court room, you're talking to jury room,
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: talking about jury. You have witnesses, like appellate lawyers don't
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: have witnesses. You have witnesses. You either have direct examination
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: across it. And so trial lawyers tend to be better storytellers,
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: they tend to be more relatable. They're they're you know,
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: they're talking to you know, Aunt Bertha in the jury
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: pool instead of Anton and Scalia. I mean those are different.
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: You have different arguments scenario. And so the two best
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: trial lawyers on judiciary are are John Kennedy and Lindsey Graham.
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: Lindsey Graham is also an.
• 14:19
  Speaker 4: Is very good. He has a little trouble staying on
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: topics sometimes. I talk about Lindsay in the book I
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: Love Lindsay. He's one of my favorites. I said, one
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: of the reasons I M like Lindsey. How did I
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: put it? He's like Ted and I he plays out
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: of the pocket, and you don't know what you're going
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: to get. If you invite Lindsay to dinner, you may.
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: He's a great dinner companion. I mean, you will laugh.
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: Your way you say so. If you invite Lindsay to
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: dinner in your home, you may get an intellectual conversation.
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: On the other hand, he could get drunk and vomit
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: in the fish tank. And you don't know which you
• 14:58
  Speaker 4: have no idea or both the same evening.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: What made you want to write this book? I mean
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: the titles hysterical, but but but when did you decide
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: you want to do this? And and what is it
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: that people are going to get if they go buy this?
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: Well, it was about a year ago. It's look, Ted's
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: written four or five, it's been it's a lot of work.
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: As you will know, this this book is not about
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: policy per se. It's it's a story book. I use
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: stories to make my points about policy.
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: And by the way, all good trial lawyers and all
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: good politicians or storytellers. I mean, if you can't tell
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: a story, you don't belong in this business.
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: That's right. Some of the stories I think you know
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: more than some frankly or funny. Some of them are bizarre.
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: They're all true. And I used the stories to make
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: three points. Number one, I want people to understand through
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: the stories what the Senate is really like behind the scenes.
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: And basically, think mean ger girls. It's it's not even
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: high school, it's a junior high. It's Caddy, their clicks,
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: their popular kids. They're the geeks. The jocks like.
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: It, Ted Dale, It's like high school, but nobody ever
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: gets out of the sophomore year. And and the second
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: reason I wrote the book, I wanted to help people
• 16:17
  Speaker 4: understand in in real time, why in Washington, normal is
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: just a setting on the clothes dryer. This place is
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: a different world. And the third reason I wrote it
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: was to try to make people understand that it doesn't
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: have to be this way if we have a return
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: to common sense. But but I also don't bubble wrap it.
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: The uh, the water in Washington, d C. Is not
• 16:43
  Speaker 4: going to clear up until you get the pigs out
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: of the creek. That's just the way it is. And
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: and look, some people like the book, some don't. I'm
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: really proud it's it's doing well.
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: All right, and so so I gave him some grief.
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: But it is a terrific book. It is fun. He's
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: telling very real stories. You look at the front. He
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: looks grumpy on the front. That picture you picked.
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: You, I didn't pick it. The publisher picked it.
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: You know, you look kind of like your your stomach's upset,
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: but you look like you're getting ready to rip someone
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: a new one. Is what it what it looks like.
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: And and and so let me encourage everyone who's who's
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: listening to this or watching this. Go to Amazon, go
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: to Barnes and Noble, buy the book. Buy one so
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: so look, it's fixing to be November. It's Christmas season.
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: Buy two or three books by a book to give it.
• 17:31
  Speaker 4: I love this guy.
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: Give it to your mom. This is a great present,
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: you know, And actually you can give your family members
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: an autograph copy because see John's from Lousiana, so he
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: can't can't can't actually sign his signatures. And just put
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: an X and it'll look it'll look real.
• 17:46
  Speaker 4: I rooped through them. Just put that X and you'll
• 17:48
  Speaker 4: it's my.
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: And by the way, if you have a liberal uncle,
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: buy this for him. It'll piss him off. It'll be
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: the best present you can put under the tree.
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: Well, I hope the book a lot of time on.
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: I hope it'll make people think. It may make you laugh,
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: it's the truth. It may make you day drink because
• 18:10
  Speaker 4: I don't sugarcoat it. And I talk about a lot
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: of different senators. I don't try to be mean, but
• 18:16
  Speaker 4: I talked I talk about Thune, I talk about President Trump,
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: I talk about President Biden, talk about Senator Grassley, I
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: talk about Chuck Schumer. I think Chuck got a little
• 18:26
  Speaker 4: mad at me because they I described him as imagine
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: a five year old and a Batman costume. I said,
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: that's on a sugar that's how Chuck is when he
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: gets excited. And I talked something about Mitch. I explained
• 18:43
  Speaker 4: that that Ted and I think we were together. We
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: saw Mitch smile once back in twenty seventeen.
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: But what once, just one time broke news.
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: I I talk about the time I really almost got
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: in trouble on this. Mitch was not amused. But I
• 19:04
  Speaker 4: was asked to compare Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer, and
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: I told the truth. I said, they have a lot
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: in common. Each is very smart, each is very tenacious,
• 19:19
  Speaker 4: and each of them could lose his place during sex. Well,
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: my office, Mitch was a majority leader then, And.
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: How did that go? By the way after, I'd love
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: to see that it.
• 19:35
  Speaker 4: Was a warmer. I was pretty sure was my office
• 19:37
  Speaker 4: was going to be moved to Richmond, as I recall.
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: But anyway, I had fun of writing it.
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: And to be clear that that's not the only joke.
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: John Kennedy is told about his colleagues having sex. So
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: at my Donor retreat, then you will remember this. John
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: stood up in front of everyone and he said, you know,
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: Ted told me about his first sexual experience. I remember this,
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: and everyone starts looking at you, going, wait, where is
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: this going? He said, he was young, it was dark,
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: he was scared, he was alone.
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: You have to think about that. The folks in the
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: Owens State took them about five seconds. They said, Okay,
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: we get it. We get it.
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: Well, we get it.
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: We're all there. I have to admit. I turned to
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: Heidi and I said, wait a second. I paid the
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: fly John here, like out of my campaign money. I
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: paid his airline.
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: We had a good time.
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: That's what happens when you bring a small town Louisiana
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: boy back to the big leagues, you know, with all
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: the high flute and donors. I got to ask you
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: in your book, one of the cool things is you
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: talk about being a small town guy.
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: Is it, Jeffrey? Is that right Louisiana? Okay, gotcha? All right.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: So I actually think there's something interesting that's happening in
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: the country right now, and I want to get your
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: take on it. I think small town America had been
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: overlooked for so long, forgotten, referred to to flyover country.
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: I think there's a huge pendulum swinging.
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: Right now in this country where rural America is mattering
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: now a lot more than it has in my lifetime.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: Small town America is being listened to now and has
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: a voice that they haven't had in a long time.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: The mainstream media has lost a lot of their power
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: to influence and to try to act like only big
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: cities matter and the rest of the country doesn't.
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: Are you seeing the same thing? And as you look.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: Back at your career, your life, where you came from,
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: are you do you see that there's I think a
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: big glimmer of hope right now that small town America
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: is actually being listened to for once in Washington, d C.
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: Well, small town America is America. When I grew up
• 21:52
  Speaker 4: in Zachary, there's about three thousand.
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: People what part of the state of Zachary.
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: Zachary's sort of just north of that route. The people
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: of Zachary when I grew up there, and it's still
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: the case, Tad. You know, these folks, they get up
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: every day, they go to work, They pay the law,
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: they pay the taxes, try to save a little money
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: for retirement, try to do the right thing by their kids.
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: They don't read their stytle every day. They don't have
• 22:19
  Speaker 4: time they're earning.
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: Zachary a pretty rural town. There's a lot of a
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: lot of farm and egg or what would you do.
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: Some farm, some egg. But it's about thirty miles north
• 22:28
  Speaker 4: of bat Rouge, so you could call it a suburb,
• 22:31
  Speaker 4: but that sounds too affluent. But but but these are
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: real folks and they don't read their stytle every day,
• 22:40
  Speaker 4: but they get it. And I remember thinking during the
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: Biden administration, have these people ever been any place but California, Washington,
• 22:53
  Speaker 4: and New York. Yep, they they all in Washington. President people.
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: They all thought they were smarter and more virtuous than
• 23:03
  Speaker 4: everybody else. And their attitude towards rural America was, we're
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: smarter than you, We're more virtuous than you. Shut up
• 23:10
  Speaker 4: and send us your money and all your freedom, and
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: we'll tell you how to to to live your life.
• 23:16
  Speaker 4: And I think that's the genesis a part of President
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: Trump's support.
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: I mean absolutely.
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: I mean Trump picked up on that early on. And
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: even though he's a billionaire and even though he's a
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: New York developer, he doesn't talk down to people.
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, he.
• 23:34
  Speaker 4: Doesn't talk yet.
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: Know, he's very real. He communicates, He tells you exactly
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: what he thinks. You never know what he's gonna say,
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: because to say anything. He is funny as hell. He
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: actually didn't get credit for the sense of humor he has,
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: but he can say things that will just just be
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: side splitting the fun.
• 23:50
  Speaker 4: I was with him about a week before his debate
• 23:54
  Speaker 4: with President Biden and Jake Tapper and Dana Bash and uh,
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: it was the two from CNN and by and I said, well,
• 24:03
  Speaker 4: what do you think, mister president? He said, Kennedy, I
• 24:05
  Speaker 4: don't know. I got back Tapper, I got bashed, bashed,
• 24:11
  Speaker 4: and I got Joe Biden. It's gonna be two and
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: a half to one.
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: That's fun.
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: And I am laughing so hard. He's just two and
• 24:22
  Speaker 4: a half to one. And then of course they had
• 24:24
  Speaker 4: the infamous debate and President Biden just crumpled. But there.
• 24:30
  Speaker 4: You know, I talk about President Trump in the book.
• 24:33
  Speaker 4: I've got a different style from than him. Sure, I
• 24:36
  Speaker 4: told the president, so does everybody else. So does everybody else.
• 24:39
  Speaker 4: I mean, it's clear that the president's unfiltered. He he
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: grows anxious when he has an unexpressed thought. He just
• 24:47
  Speaker 4: he can't. I told him one time, he said, why
• 24:50
  Speaker 4: do you like my tweets? Kennedy? And I said, you know,
• 24:54
  Speaker 4: mister president, I got to be diplomatic here. I said,
• 24:58
  Speaker 4: tweeting a little bit less would not cause brain damage.
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: And he said, what you don't like my tweets.
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: I said, no, hold on what year did you tell
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: you it was? Because this could this could have been.
• 25:12
  Speaker 4: Professed in his first term, and okay, I will say
• 25:16
  Speaker 4: his second term is tweets.
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: I've gotten much more disciplines. Yes, there's a very different
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: discipline than this first term.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: He let it ripped, and he and and we added,
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: think you for your attention to this matter, like he's
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: cocleutely different man and for you.
• 25:30
  Speaker 4: But he didn't get it, and he didn't know whether
• 25:32
  Speaker 4: to be offended orway, and he said, what do you mean.
• 25:35
  Speaker 4: I said, look, mister president, look at this way. I
• 25:37
  Speaker 4: like steak, but I don't like the eight steaks at
• 25:40
  Speaker 4: one time. And he said, you don't like my tweets.
• 25:43
  Speaker 4: I said, no, I didn't say that, And of course
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: it made no difference.
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: He just all right, now, let me ask growing up
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: you're growing up little town in Louisiana, did you always
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: know that you want to be a lawyer?
• 25:53
  Speaker 4: No?
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: Did you have your parents lawyers and lawyers in the family.
• 25:56
  Speaker 4: I care my parents, uh, brilliant sized education to you,
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: just like yours. But when I wasn't studying, I cared
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: about two things. I cared about basketball, and I cared
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: about cheerleaders.
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: Are you ball playing? And did you play hoops? And
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: I played hoops? What position?
• 26:15
  Speaker 4: Forward? All right?
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: How's you jump shot? Ball? Handling?
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: What jump shot? Man?
• 26:19
  Speaker 5: Well?
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: You know I still play twice a week. I know
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: you do.
• 26:21
  Speaker 4: I've seen you come in the cloak room. He comes
• 26:24
  Speaker 4: in the cloak room to vote, and he's all worked
• 26:27
  Speaker 4: up and sweaty and he's beating up on somebody.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: But uh, Cruise, Hender, I'm gonna advise you don't take
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: the bait when he asked you to play, because I've
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: already had a broken bone.
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: Broken's fingers.
• 26:41
  Speaker 4: Cruise is a total ball, crooked, total ball.
• 26:44
  Speaker 3: What I got to ask you?
• 26:45
  Speaker 5: Ben?
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: So you broke your pinky? Where exactly did you have
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: your pinky stuck?
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: All right? You know, here's what I know.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: When I broke my pinky, we were at one of
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: them high fluting houses, and I thought about calling Kennedy, say,
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: well you represent me. Yeah, you could have gotten me
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: a really good settlement.
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah, was a tech billionaire's house that you broke your
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: picky and you didn't even get tape on it.
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: I would nothing. I got. I powered through like a real.
• 27:08
  Speaker 4: A called me. We'd have gotten you a beach house.
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: We could have I could have been.
• 27:13
  Speaker 4: I'd take it to the trial court. We might have
• 27:16
  Speaker 4: gotten you two beach houses.
• 27:17
  Speaker 5: Man.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: So for the last several weeks you've heard me talk
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: with Josh Sherard from Burnham about real stories of how
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: people like you and I have used their burn A
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: launcher to protect themselves and their families. Now, Burna is
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: a handheld pistol that fires both kinetic rounds and chemical
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: irritants to separate you from an attacker. Josh is back
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: with me today to tell you a real story about
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: a burn A launcher that was used and how it
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: helped a woman protect herself from a home intruder.
• 27:45
  Speaker 5: So, a Chicago woman was recently the victim of a
• 27:48
  Speaker 5: home invasion that occurred in broad daylight when several men
• 27:51
  Speaker 5: broke into her home while she was inside in the
• 27:54
  Speaker 5: middle of the day, and it was all caught on video. So,
• 27:57
  Speaker 5: while sitting in her kitchen, the homeowner began hearing range
• 28:00
  Speaker 5: noises coming from the front door, so she went to
• 28:02
  Speaker 5: investigate and saw that intruders had made it inside her home,
• 28:06
  Speaker 5: at which point she yelled that she'd called police to
• 28:08
  Speaker 5: try and scare them off. Now. Fortunately in this case,
• 28:11
  Speaker 5: it worked and they promptly exited the house and the
• 28:14
  Speaker 5: victim and a neighbor actually chased the intruders down the
• 28:17
  Speaker 5: street while calling nine to one one. While on the
• 28:19
  Speaker 5: phone with nine to one one, dispatchers told the home
• 28:21
  Speaker 5: owner that police were on their way. However, it ended
• 28:24
  Speaker 5: up taking police over four hours to reach the scene
• 28:27
  Speaker 5: due to an overwhelming backlog of emergency calls. It was
• 28:31
  Speaker 5: only sheer luck in this case that she wasn't hurt
• 28:33
  Speaker 5: or killed.
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: And this is where you asked the question, is Burna
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: something that could have been used in that situation for
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: home defense? And how could she have deployed it to
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: keep herself safe and deter those attackers.
• 28:44
  Speaker 5: You know, absolutely in this case she lucked out and
• 28:47
  Speaker 5: she was able to call their bluff and they ran off.
• 28:50
  Speaker 5: But in many cases that's not going to happen. Any
• 28:53
  Speaker 5: kind of resistance has to be used to get those
• 28:55
  Speaker 5: attackers out and to get you to safety. Burna Max
• 28:59
  Speaker 5: or kinetic rounds both what have allowed her the time
• 29:02
  Speaker 5: to get out and get somewhere safe.
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: It is really an incredible option. And I have a Burnham,
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: I have real handguns as well, But I always have
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: a Burnham and if you want to see what it
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: can do to protect you and your family or a
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: loved one that you know needs this, go to burn
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: up b Why r in a dot com again, that's
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: burnum by RNA dot com, Burner dot com right now.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: I know you got to run center soon, but I
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: want to ask you one other question you want, and
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: it goes back to the book. When when you write
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: this book and you sit down to do it, who
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: did you envision reading it? Is there some bigger purpose
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: where you're like, I want to write this for the
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: future generation?
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: Was part of it?
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: Just I want to just tell my story and how
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: I got to where I am today?
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: What was it?
• 29:47
  Speaker 4: Here's what I did. I shut down with a handheld
• 29:50
  Speaker 4: dictaphone at my kitchen table and I started dictating, and
• 29:54
  Speaker 4: I dictated. I dictated, I don't I don't know how
• 29:57
  Speaker 4: many hours, hundreds of hours, and then I had a
• 30:00
  Speaker 4: transcribed and then I put it together, and then I
• 30:03
  Speaker 4: had an editor come in who looked at it and
• 30:06
  Speaker 4: rearranged it. And then I just started editing. And I
• 30:09
  Speaker 4: was speaking to the same person that Ted and I
• 30:12
  Speaker 4: both speak to when we do interviews the average American,
• 30:16
  Speaker 4: and I tried to speak plainly. I don't try to
• 30:20
  Speaker 4: muddy the water to make it look deep. The American
• 30:24
  Speaker 4: people don't have time for that. And I wanted to
• 30:27
  Speaker 4: understand that if you get mad, I can't help it.
• 30:32
  Speaker 4: I have the right to remain silent, but God did
• 30:34
  Speaker 4: not give me the ability. And some people are gonna
• 30:38
  Speaker 4: like it and some don't. But that's what the American
• 30:42
  Speaker 4: people expect from their politicians today. And it's one of
• 30:45
  Speaker 4: the reasons that Senator Schumer, who Ted and I both
• 30:49
  Speaker 4: know he's right now. He's got thirty percent approval rating,
• 30:55
  Speaker 4: he's got a sixty percent disapproval rating the other ten percent.
• 31:00
  Speaker 4: Paul's their video game to answer the pollster's call, and
• 31:03
  Speaker 4: and Chuck is polling. He's pulling right up there with
• 31:08
  Speaker 4: clubbing Baby Seals. That's I mean.
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: But to be fair, he's still above Chamydia. He's still.
• 31:15
  Speaker 4: He's still both. It's large, it's close. But because Chuck's
• 31:21
  Speaker 4: been here so long, Ted, you know, he's been here
• 31:24
  Speaker 4: so long, he sounds like Washington.
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: So I will say, it's interesting you and I have
• 31:29
  Speaker 3: a very similar process. It sounds like for writing a book,
• 31:32
  Speaker 3: because that's that's very much the books I've written, and
• 31:35
  Speaker 3: some of it is it maybe being a lawyer and
• 31:36
  Speaker 3: having written briefs that that that process of recording and
• 31:40
  Speaker 3: telling stories in my books, I just try to tell
• 31:43
  Speaker 3: stories because that's how people come.
• 31:44
  Speaker 4: I've read a couple of books. There's a differs between
• 31:47
  Speaker 4: you and me. Though I've written one book. Ted's written
• 31:49
  Speaker 4: about a squillion. Okay, but but it's hard. I mean,
• 31:53
  Speaker 4: it is a painful process.
• 31:57
  Speaker 3: You know, all right, you're a kid. When does the
• 31:59
  Speaker 3: idea of being a lawyer? What was it that made
• 32:01
  Speaker 3: you say, hey, I can do that. I want to
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: do that.
• 32:04
  Speaker 4: My dad was from a depression family in Oklahoma. He
• 32:07
  Speaker 4: got a degree, works the way through college and patrol
• 32:10
  Speaker 4: im engineering, came to losing end of the work in
• 32:12
  Speaker 4: the wall fields, married my mom. I have three brothers.
• 32:16
  Speaker 4: From day one, they drilled into us education education, education,
• 32:21
  Speaker 4: and it wasn't where you're going to go to college,
• 32:25
  Speaker 4: it's or when you're going to go to college. It
• 32:27
  Speaker 4: was where And that was drilled in from day one.
• 32:30
  Speaker 4: And I enjoyed college, but I started thinking about law
• 32:34
  Speaker 4: school then, but I stalled and resedalled it as long
• 32:38
  Speaker 4: as I could. I mean, I spent four years in college,
• 32:42
  Speaker 4: and then I went three years in law school and
• 32:44
  Speaker 4: then a clerk frog federal judge, and I tried to
• 32:48
  Speaker 4: get a Supreme Court clerkship. I didn't. You did. And
• 32:53
  Speaker 4: then I said, well, I'm not ready for the real world.
• 32:56
  Speaker 4: I'm going back to school. I went back and got
• 32:57
  Speaker 4: another the Law of Gride. Finally I had, you know,
• 33:01
  Speaker 4: I had to. I was out of money, you know,
• 33:03
  Speaker 4: and I wanted to eat and live indoors. So I
• 33:06
  Speaker 4: didn't want to live in a refrigerator box behind an
• 33:09
  Speaker 4: out back. So I had to go to work for
• 33:10
  Speaker 4: a living.
• 33:11
  Speaker 3: And Ben, I know something that I know you don't know.
• 33:13
  Speaker 3: I know the name of his old law partner.
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: Who is that?
• 33:16
  Speaker 4: Who's that?
• 33:17
  Speaker 3: So he would practice his name obviously as John Kennedy
• 33:20
  Speaker 3: and his partner was Jose Kenseko, and he'd walk in it.
• 33:23
  Speaker 3: It'd be John Kennedy and Jose story. That's a they
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: would double take.
• 33:28
  Speaker 4: One of my best friends. I was in a for Louisiana,
• 33:31
  Speaker 4: a big law fer six trading halliers, and one of
• 33:33
  Speaker 4: my good friends was Jose Kenseka. And we'd go to meetings.
• 33:37
  Speaker 4: I'd say I'm John Kennedy. This is jose Kensekh. We're
• 33:40
  Speaker 4: here to see so and so, and they said, they
• 33:42
  Speaker 4: would say, you're here to see security. True story.
• 33:47
  Speaker 3: All right, So when did you get when did you
• 33:50
  Speaker 3: get the idea in your head you wanted to run
• 33:51
  Speaker 3: for office? Was this something like as a kid, you
• 33:53
  Speaker 3: always want to.
• 33:54
  Speaker 4: I always thought about it, but I was practicing all
• 33:58
  Speaker 4: earning a good living. Louisiana politics was rough. I mean
• 34:03
  Speaker 4: it was rough. He was under Governor Edwin the Edwards.
• 34:07
  Speaker 4: I wasn't part of his clique.
• 34:09
  Speaker 3: Who has my favorite political bumper sticker ever?
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: Yep?
• 34:13
  Speaker 3: And you know exactly where I'm going?
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: Do you know?
• 34:15
  Speaker 3: Do you know this? Ben? I don't know if you
• 34:16
  Speaker 3: know this, I do not. So Edwin Edwards is running
• 34:19
  Speaker 3: for governor against David Duke. Now, David Duke was the
• 34:23
  Speaker 3: former Grand Grand Wizard of the KKK.
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: Grand Yeah grand words.
• 34:27
  Speaker 3: But Edwin Edwards was as corrupt, he was as crooked
• 34:31
  Speaker 3: as the dog's hind legs. See, I'm trying to do
• 34:33
  Speaker 3: this to keep up with John pretty good ted and
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: and everyone knew he was corrupt, and so Edwin.
• 34:38
  Speaker 4: Edwards bumper sticker said, vote for the crook.
• 34:42
  Speaker 3: It matters, that's right, And if you're running against a kleansman,
• 34:46
  Speaker 3: that was a winning slogan. And then you know what,
• 34:48
  Speaker 3: he was indicted and convicted of embezzlement or fraud.
• 34:52
  Speaker 4: When the economy was doing well at Luisiana. I mean,
• 34:54
  Speaker 4: this was having a colorful governor was all fun and games.
• 34:58
  Speaker 4: He was. He was a bit. He's very promiscuous. He
• 35:02
  Speaker 4: used to say, uh, I give they make How did
• 35:08
  Speaker 4: he put it? When I give blood? They usually to
• 35:11
  Speaker 4: make Viagara?
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: That was.
• 35:14
  Speaker 4: I always thought that was a pretty good one.
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: And there's a bumper cigaph.
• 35:18
  Speaker 3: That's the line they would have used about strom Thurmon too.
• 35:20
  Speaker 3: You and I didn't serve with strom Thurman, but by
• 35:22
  Speaker 3: all accounts, that would have described him accurately.
• 35:25
  Speaker 4: And he was running for governor, I think his third time,
• 35:28
  Speaker 4: and he was way ahead of the polls. He was
• 35:30
  Speaker 4: running against incumbent and the press asking us, they said
• 35:33
  Speaker 4: he you're gonna win this race, and he said, put
• 35:35
  Speaker 4: it this way. The only way I could lose this
• 35:38
  Speaker 4: race and the last week is if I'm caught in
• 35:42
  Speaker 4: bed with a live girl or a dead boy. And
• 35:46
  Speaker 4: I thought that was pretty clever. But eventually his past
• 35:50
  Speaker 4: caught up to him, and we elected a reform governor
• 35:52
  Speaker 4: named Buddy Romer, and I'd supported him. He asked me
• 35:56
  Speaker 4: to leave him my practice come to Baton Rouge, and
• 35:58
  Speaker 4: I liked it. I was just legal counsel, and I stayed.
• 36:04
  Speaker 4: And then I ran for office and got elected, and
• 36:06
  Speaker 4: I ran for the Senate three times. It took me
• 36:08
  Speaker 4: three times to get here, and I thought they left
• 36:13
  Speaker 4: me for dead for a few times. Politically, I switched
• 36:17
  Speaker 4: parties because the Democrat I couldn't. I just couldn't be
• 36:20
  Speaker 4: a Democrat anymore. And they all got mad at me,
• 36:23
  Speaker 4: and they tried to hurt me. But the mistake they made,
• 36:26
  Speaker 4: they're gonna let me live. They never should have letting
• 36:29
  Speaker 4: me live it. So I wanted on the third time.
• 36:32
  Speaker 4: And here we are having fun.
• 36:34
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 36:34
  Speaker 3: Biggest surprises when you get to the Senate. Biggest surprise
• 36:37
  Speaker 3: upside and biggest surprise downside.
• 36:41
  Speaker 4: Biggest surprise upside. You probably saw this. I came in
• 36:46
  Speaker 4: wanting to gallop. You can't gallop in the Senate. You
• 36:51
  Speaker 4: have to inch along, And at first that frustrated me.
• 36:55
  Speaker 4: It still does, but it's not altogether bad, because after
• 36:59
  Speaker 4: a while you were a senator's job is not just
• 37:02
  Speaker 4: to advance good ideas, it's to kill bad ideas. And
• 37:08
  Speaker 4: sometimes killing the bad ideas is more important than advancing
• 37:12
  Speaker 4: the good ideas. That has been my biggest transformation in
• 37:18
  Speaker 4: the Senate. But it's frustrating Senator McConnell, who's your friend
• 37:23
  Speaker 4: in mine? But Mitch was the majority leader, and I
• 37:28
  Speaker 4: wasn't used to taking orders from another politician, and Mitch
• 37:33
  Speaker 4: and I butted heads a few times. She butted heads
• 37:36
  Speaker 4: with you. Mitch liked to run it from the top down,
• 37:40
  Speaker 4: and I thought, I remember you and I talked when
• 37:44
  Speaker 4: we passed President Trump's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. We
• 37:48
  Speaker 4: passed it through reconciliation, and Ted was an advocate of
• 37:52
  Speaker 4: doing a second Billy, and it just took a majority
• 37:57
  Speaker 4: vote no Democrats, and I I'm ACKed. Hm and and
• 38:02
  Speaker 4: Mitch wouldn't do it, and we left so much good
• 38:05
  Speaker 4: policy on the table.
• 38:06
  Speaker 3: It remains the most politically indefensible decision I've ever seen.
• 38:09
  Speaker 4: And I hope we don't do it under Trump's second term.
• 38:14
  Speaker 3: And actually John brought that up at lunch today, made
• 38:18
  Speaker 3: that argument, and it's clearly, look, it is our best
• 38:22
  Speaker 3: avenue to win victories and we should be focused on
• 38:25
  Speaker 3: winning victories. Now that Ben said, we got a lot
• 38:27
  Speaker 3: done in that one, big boy, it's.
• 38:29
  Speaker 4: Sure, but we get a second body.
• 38:31
  Speaker 3: At the end, exactly, and a third if we want.
• 38:33
  Speaker 4: It, and why not take it? Why not take it?
• 38:36
  Speaker 4: And we don't have to get we don't have to
• 38:38
  Speaker 4: get Democratic votes because I'm I'm I'm you know, I
• 38:43
  Speaker 4: think I want to think the best of people, But
• 38:46
  Speaker 4: I just think it's gonna be hard to negotiate anything
• 38:49
  Speaker 4: with the Democrats from here on now.
• 38:51
  Speaker 3: They just hate Trump. They're so extreme right now.
• 38:54
  Speaker 4: I'm just blinded by by their their passion center.
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm afraid of hitman from your staff's telling
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: me we were supposed to wrap with you a few
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: minutes ago.
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: So I want to hold up the book again.
• 39:06
  Speaker 3: All right, So let me tell everyone again. Book is
• 39:10
  Speaker 3: How to Test Negative for Stupid and Why Washington Never
• 39:13
  Speaker 3: Will It is by John Kennedy, not John F. Kennedy,
• 39:16
  Speaker 3: but John Kennedy, the great United States Senator. The book
• 39:20
  Speaker 3: is funny, it is interesting. It gives you stories behind
• 39:23
  Speaker 3: the scenes of what's going on in the US. Senate
• 39:25
  Speaker 3: John Kennedy rats out all his colleagues. He makes them embarrassed.
• 39:29
  Speaker 3: He makes them curl up, curl up. Chuck Schumer curled
• 39:33
  Speaker 3: up in a ball in the closet and cried like
• 39:35
  Speaker 3: a little girl. When when when John Kennedy wrote this book.
• 39:38
  Speaker 3: So you need to go to Amazon and buy it.
• 39:40
  Speaker 3: And I will say as I said before, John Kennedy
• 39:44
  Speaker 3: is easily one of my favorite colleagues. He is bunny,
• 39:48
  Speaker 3: is funny as hell, and he is smart as hell.
• 39:52
  Speaker 3: A lot of people don't realize this man is dangerous
• 39:54
  Speaker 3: and has you know he's an Oxford educated lawyer and
• 39:58
  Speaker 3: and with a Southern accent, particular Yankees underestimating and be like,
• 40:01
  Speaker 3: all right, he's got a Southern accident. He can't be
• 40:03
  Speaker 3: all that bright.
• 40:04
  Speaker 4: You can't accuse me of being self aware, not being
• 40:07
  Speaker 4: self aware. I'm fully aware that my voice scares small children,
• 40:12
  Speaker 4: it sets off car arms, but it's my voice. But
• 40:15
  Speaker 4: thank you for having me ed, Thank you, Ben.
• 40:17
  Speaker 3: And I'm gonna close. I'm gonna close with my favorite kennedyism,
• 40:22
  Speaker 3: which was in a judiciary committee hearing. John Kennedy leaned
• 40:27
  Speaker 3: forward into the microphone and he said, Christmas tree ornaments
• 40:33
  Speaker 3: and Jeffrey Epstein two things you know didn't hang themselves.
• 40:39
  Speaker 2: I love it.
• 40:39
  Speaker 3: I was sitting there going, wait, this is at an
• 40:42
  Speaker 3: open hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Did he really
• 40:46
  Speaker 3: say that.
• 40:47
  Speaker 2: It was I did?
• 40:48
  Speaker 4: It was true. I'd read that joke somewhere. It seemed
• 40:51
  Speaker 4: like a good idea at the time. Thank you, guys.
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: Buy the book wherever you can how to test negative
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: for stupid.
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: Get it on Amazon, don't forget.
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: You can get this podcast Monday, Wednesday, Friday, wherever you
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: get your podcasts. Share it on social media. Sent her
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: cruise and I will see you back here in a
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: couple of days. And grab the book right after this
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: as well.