November 3, 2025 • 41 mins
1. Kennedy’s Humor and Persona (GRAB SEN KENNEDY'S NEW BOOK HERE!)
- Kennedy is a "Southern trial lawyer with a sharp wit", often underestimated due to his accent and folksy demeanor.
- He’s known for devastating cross-examinations of judicial nominees, both Democrat and Republican.
- His humor is often biting and irreverent, with jokes about colleagues like Chuck Schumer, Mitch McConnell, and even Ted Cruz.
2. Behind-the-Scenes Senate Culture
- Kennedy compares the Senate to junior high school, full of cliques, egos, and petty drama.
- He shares stories of interactions with nominees who failed basic constitutional knowledge.
- The book aims to demystify the Senate and show how disconnected Washington can be from everyday Americans.
3. Critique of Washington
- Kennedy argues that Washington lacks common sense, and that change is only possible by removing entrenched interests (“pigs out of the creek”).
- He emphasizes the importance of storytelling in politics, using humor to make serious points.
4. Praise and Promotion
- Cruz and Ferguson praise Kennedy’s storytelling and comedic timing.
- The book is a very giftable item, especially for those with conservative leanings or frustrations with Washington.
Go to BackyardButchers.com and enter promo code “VERDICT”, that’s V-E-R-D-I-C-T, for up to 30% off, 2 free 10-ounce ribeyes, and free shipping when you subscribe.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome in his Verdict with center Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson
with you, and this is gonna be one of those
shows that's just going to be an.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Awful lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
A good friend of mine and a great friend in
the Senate of Senator Cruz has got a new book
out with maybe one of the best titles for twenty
twenty five, How to.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Test negative for Stupid. Senator.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
You're in DC, and this is just gonna be one
of those shows which I hope everyone enjoys as much
as you and I do hanging out.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
We're our next guests.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Well, I'm very glad to welcome to Verdict John Kennedy.
John is one of my dearest friends in the Senate.
He is someone I am really glad came to be
in the Senate. He is someone with a wicked sense
of humor. He is the most dangerous cross examiner in
the entire United States Senate and in fact, entire generations
(00:54):
of judicial nominees and nominees beat from administrator has studied
past John Kennedy cross examinations that they still have PTSD
from the terror that he puts in them, and and
and and this man in addition to being brilliant as hell.
(01:15):
Is also as good a stand up comedian as I've
ever known. He's written a book. The title of the
book is how to Test Negative for Stupid and Why
Washington Never Will John Welcome to Verdict. I gotta say
your book sucks and it's not funny.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
Well number one, the publisher, Ted would let me use
the title I wanted. I wanted to say always. I
wanted the title to be always be yourself unless you suck,
And they said, Harper Cohen said, no, that's not going
to work. I also got to tell one of my
best Ted cruise stores. Uh oh my Ted. Ted's people
(01:57):
invited me out you remember this. Yeah, he had a
huge fundraisers somewhere out there was some fancy place I
don't remember. I mean it was the room. I mean
it was really fanny rich.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
People don't go to Motel six.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
And I'm a Motel six guy. And anyway, I go
out there and Ted's people said, you remember, I said,
what do you want me to talk about? They said,
make fun of Tid. I said okay, And I said,
these are all of his friends and they said, yeah,
he's some big, heavyweight people. Okay, we're talking mega rich.
(02:28):
So I started off and I said, y'all, no Ted,
y'all know Ted. Well. I said, let me tell you
what you have to understand about Ted Cruz. He is really, really,
really smart. But so was the unibomber. And therein lies
the problem. You can't leave him on supervised. And all
(02:50):
the Ted's contributors stood up and they're going, yeah, that's Tid,
that's their tid. It was great.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
So John is not kidding at all.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
It's really happy.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
No, he's not. I was there.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
I was a witness, and his entire lunch remarks were
basically a stand up comedy routine.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
We had a great time.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
And one of the things he did is he just
basically went through the sec and made fun of everybody.
So he started he said, how do you get in
Oklahoma and ou grad off your front porch? Pay the
man for the pizza?
Speaker 4 (03:28):
Remember that?
Speaker 3 (03:29):
He said, what do you call a genius in Georgia?
A visitor? And then I'm sorry, Ben. He then said,
what does an old miss grad get on his act? Drool?
Speaker 4 (03:45):
We had a great time. I got him on on Alabama.
I said, why did Alabama raise the drinking age to
thirty two to keep alcohol out of the high schools.
We being we had the best time.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
And and he's told that Alabama joke at our Senate
Republican lunches. And Richard Shelby was chairman of the Appropriations Committee,
and I'm pretty sure he like pulled a billion dollars
out of Louisiana.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
He cost me millions, man, let's cost me millions, but
it was worth every penny.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Well, look, John is what I said about his cross examination.
That is not an exaggeration. I mean it is a
beautiful look. And to be honest, he has done that.
He does that mostly to Democrat nominees, but he's done
that to Republicans also. And one of the things people
don't necessarily know. Before John was in the Senate, he
(04:39):
was a trial lawyer and he was a hell of
a trial lawyer. And he knows how to talk to
a jury. You know, John is a little bit He's
got a Southern accent and sometimes he puts it on
a little deep. But I sort of analogized John to like,
you know, you know, there's an old rule of never
play poker with someone named after a state, yep, yep,
(04:59):
And John good Room when the draw gets deep, amen,
and he'll be like, well, I don't know much about that.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
You were about to get robbed.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
It's like at a poker table when someone says, now,
remind me that does a straight beat a flush or
a flush beat a straight like hold on to your
wallet and run out of the door. And so so
when John begins cross examining, all is there is there
a cross examination you've done in the Senate that's your favorite?
Speaker 4 (05:27):
Oh gosh that maybe I don't remember her name, Ted,
you'll remember because you beat the living hell out of her.
Two Uh, that couldn't name any provision of the constitution.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
That okay, she was the one that didn't know Article five.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
That's right. She's from Washington State. And she she after
it was over, she yelke her in something like yeah
she quit, and which was smart, I mean.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
And then the one, okay, Article five is the provision
that it's it's the part of the constitution that lays
out how constitutional amendments happened. And he asked about Article
five and then and this was cruel, but but then
he asked, well, well how about our article two? And
she couldn't answer. And look, if you're not a lawyer.
That doesn't seem like a question that that Look the
(06:09):
way the Constitution set up. Article one sets up the Congress,
Article two sets up the executive and the president, and
Article three sets up the judiciary. If you cannot answer
what is Article two, you will flunk first year civil procedure,
constitutional law.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Like you, you're done.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
Well, you know you're a smoke turkey man. You're dead
is fried chicken?
Speaker 3 (06:33):
And she had no idea. I'm pretty sure we play
that cross examination on this podcast. We've played a bunch
of years, and that really was By the way, this
woman was nominated to be what's called an Article three judge,
and I'm pretty certain she has no idea what Article
three is either. But it was devastating. But to be clear, look,
(06:55):
John doesn't just do that to Democrats. There was a
poor fellow who Trump nominated in the Court of Appeals
I remember.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
And district court, Federal district court.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
You're right, you're right. He had been on the Federal
Election Commission.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
That's exactly right. Nice guy, a.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Nice guy, smart guy, but had no trial experience whatsoever.
And I will say John's cross examination was so devastating
that they withdrew the nomination like it literally at the
end of that cross, They're like, okay, yeah, he's not
going to be a judge.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
Well he's a nice guy, but he just wasn't ready
to be a federal judge. And after it was over,
the president call. President called me. I was I had
phone back home, was in New Orleans. Phone rings, you
know the way it works, unknown normal, you go, Okay,
it's White House. I'm ready to take my kit, my
whip in here. So I pick up the phone and
crew and Trump says, who Kennedy? I watched your your
(07:52):
examination this guy? He said, who was this guy? I said, well,
he's your nominee. And he said he doesn't sound too
Did I interview him? And I said, no, mister President,
you're staffed. Did and he said, you know, he doesn't
seem very qualified. He said, what do you think. I said, well,
mister President, just because you've seen my cousin Vinny doesn't
(08:15):
qualify you to be on the federal bench. And he said, yeah,
you're right. He said, what do you think well to do?
And I said, well, let's put him out of his misery.
I don't want embarrassing and he the President withdrew the appointment.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Yeah, yeah, no, it was. I have never seen a
cross examination take out a nominee, although what was it.
It was the Biden nominee, who was the Russian who
to graduated from a Russian university, And your line was
should I call you comrade?
Speaker 4 (08:42):
She was nominated for a Controller of the currency. She
was a former member of the Communist Party of Russia.
She had graduated from Moscow State University and her dissertation,
a copy of which she wouldn't give us, was on
Karl Marx. So real, Yeah, Ben, it was, and she was.
(09:05):
Her main argument for being Controller of the Currency, which
of course is so responsible all the state banks, was
to get rid of all the banks and have everybody
nominate or a bank rather from the Federal Reserve.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
I want to take a moment and just talk to
you real quick about an incredible opportunity for you to
continue to expand your mind and learn, no matter what
your age is. Senator Cruz and I were at the
memorial service for Charlie Kirk and one of the people
that spoke was the president of Hillsdale College, and he
talked about meeting with Charlie early on and how he said,
(09:40):
you're going to have to work hard, You're going to
have to suffer, and you're going to have to continue
to learn. When he was so young, and he talked
about all of the classes that Charlie ended up taking
at Hillsdale, I immediately said, I want the listeners of
this show to be able to have the same opportunit
unity to do that. There are amazing classes history, economics,
(10:04):
the great works of literature, the meaning of the US Constitution.
And if you didn't say these things in school, or
maybe you did, but you were, like, you know, just
trying to check the box and make the grade when
you're twenty, now is a great time for you to
go back and learn so much more. Hillsdale College is
offering more than forty free I want to say that again,
forty free online courses. That's right, more than forty free
(10:28):
online courses. You can learn about the works of C. S. Lewis,
the stories in the Book of Genesis, the meaning of
the US Constitution. I'm doing that when it's incredible, the
rise and fall of the Roman Republic, or the history
of the ancient Christian Church. With Hidale College's free online courses.
Now I'm also looking at the Constitution one on one.
It's amazing. I refresh your course and you can see
(10:51):
and explore the design, the purpose of the Constitution, the
challenges it faced in the Civil War, and how it's
been undermined for more than a century by progressives and liberals.
This twelve lecture course is self paced, so you start
whenever you want to, and it is truly amazing.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
So how do you do this?
Speaker 1 (11:12):
You can go right now to Hillsdale dot ed u
slash verdict to enroll. There is no cost and it's
easy to get started. That's Hillsdale dot ed u slash
verdict v E R D I c T to enroll
for free and take any one of these classes.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Take advantage of it. It's free Hillsdale.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Dot edu slash v E R D I c T
verdict and go check out the amazing classes they have there.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
All right, I got a question for both of you.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
Are you man?
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Has there ever been a time that you guys are
both sitting there beating the hell out of someoney?
Speaker 2 (11:51):
And do you ever look at each other and grin
like how does it work?
Speaker 5 (11:54):
Like?
Speaker 2 (11:54):
You go?
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Then I ten goes first and and and he knocks
them to Pluto and softens them up. And I talk
about it in my book. You know, I think, what
did I say about Tid? I said, I didn't call
him articulate, though he is. I said Ted could talk
a dog off a meat whack, and he could talk
(12:18):
the hide off a cow. And he knocks these witnesses
to Pluto, and then Josh Hotley, I think is ahead
of them. He goes next, and then I bat clean up.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
There's a murderer's row. We have fun and it actually
starts with Mike Lee and from Mike John Kennedy, right,
I mean, those are four questioners I actually feel for
a witness because that's and they're also different styles. So
I will say, Ben, one thing that that that you
may not not appreciate not being a lawyer, but but
John's and my legal careers are very very different. So
(12:51):
I'm an appellate lawyer and the vast majority of what
I've done is arguing a court of appeals and court
of appeals is is totally different, very different. So there's
trial courts and courts of appeals. The court of appeals
is you're standing in front of judges, typically three judges
if it's the Supreme Court nine judges, and you are
you write a brief that is in the Supreme Court.
(13:13):
It's a fifty page written argument, and then your argument
would usually be thirty minutes and most of it is
questioning from judges. So it's questioning about the law. You
got to be quick, you got to be able to dance.
I mean, being an appellate lawyer is a very precise,
it's a more it's a more academic skill.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
It is very academic. A lot of law professors and
an intellectual discussion. That's what it is.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
So a trial lawyer is what most people think of
when you turn on the TV, when you think of
La law or Perry Mason. Like, like a trial lawyer,
you're you're in a court room, you're talking to jury room,
talking about jury. You have witnesses, like appellate lawyers don't
have witnesses. You have witnesses. You either have direct examination
across it. And so trial lawyers tend to be better storytellers,
(14:00):
they tend to be more relatable. They're they're you know,
they're talking to you know, Aunt Bertha in the jury
pool instead of Anton and Scalia. I mean those are different.
You have different arguments scenario. And so the two best
trial lawyers on judiciary are are John Kennedy and Lindsey Graham.
Lindsey Graham is also an.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
Is very good. He has a little trouble staying on
topics sometimes. I talk about Lindsay in the book I
Love Lindsay. He's one of my favorites. I said, one
of the reasons I M like Lindsey. How did I
put it? He's like Ted and I he plays out
of the pocket, and you don't know what you're going
(14:40):
to get. If you invite Lindsay to dinner, you may.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
He's a great dinner companion. I mean, you will laugh.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
Your way you say so. If you invite Lindsay to
dinner in your home, you may get an intellectual conversation.
On the other hand, he could get drunk and vomit
in the fish tank. And you don't know which you
have no idea or both the same evening.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
What made you want to write this book? I mean
the titles hysterical, but but but when did you decide
you want to do this? And and what is it
that people are going to get if they go buy this?
Speaker 4 (15:11):
Well, it was about a year ago. It's look, Ted's
written four or five, it's been it's a lot of work.
As you will know, this this book is not about
policy per se. It's it's a story book. I use
stories to make my points about policy.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
And by the way, all good trial lawyers and all
good politicians or storytellers. I mean, if you can't tell
a story, you don't belong in this business.
Speaker 4 (15:37):
That's right. Some of the stories I think you know
more than some frankly or funny. Some of them are bizarre.
They're all true. And I used the stories to make
three points. Number one, I want people to understand through
the stories what the Senate is really like behind the scenes.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
And basically, think mean ger girls. It's it's not even
high school, it's a junior high. It's Caddy, their clicks,
their popular kids. They're the geeks. The jocks like.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
It, Ted Dale, It's like high school, but nobody ever
gets out of the sophomore year. And and the second
reason I wrote the book, I wanted to help people
understand in in real time, why in Washington, normal is
just a setting on the clothes dryer. This place is
a different world. And the third reason I wrote it
(16:30):
was to try to make people understand that it doesn't
have to be this way if we have a return
to common sense. But but I also don't bubble wrap it.
The uh, the water in Washington, d C. Is not
going to clear up until you get the pigs out
of the creek. That's just the way it is. And
and look, some people like the book, some don't. I'm
(16:52):
really proud it's it's doing well.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
All right, and so so I gave him some grief.
But it is a terrific book. It is fun. He's
telling very real stories. You look at the front. He
looks grumpy on the front. That picture you picked.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
You, I didn't pick it. The publisher picked it.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
You know, you look kind of like your your stomach's upset,
but you look like you're getting ready to rip someone
a new one. Is what it what it looks like.
And and and so let me encourage everyone who's who's
listening to this or watching this. Go to Amazon, go
to Barnes and Noble, buy the book. Buy one so
so look, it's fixing to be November. It's Christmas season.
Buy two or three books by a book to give it.
Speaker 4 (17:31):
I love this guy.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
Give it to your mom. This is a great present,
you know, And actually you can give your family members
an autograph copy because see John's from Lousiana, so he
can't can't can't actually sign his signatures. And just put
an X and it'll look it'll look real.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
I rooped through them. Just put that X and you'll
it's my.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
And by the way, if you have a liberal uncle,
buy this for him. It'll piss him off. It'll be
the best present you can put under the tree.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
Well, I hope the book a lot of time on.
I hope it'll make people think. It may make you laugh,
it's the truth. It may make you day drink because
I don't sugarcoat it. And I talk about a lot
of different senators. I don't try to be mean, but
I talked I talk about Thune, I talk about President Trump,
(18:19):
I talk about President Biden, talk about Senator Grassley, I
talk about Chuck Schumer. I think Chuck got a little
mad at me because they I described him as imagine
a five year old and a Batman costume. I said,
that's on a sugar that's how Chuck is when he
gets excited. And I talked something about Mitch. I explained
(18:43):
that that Ted and I think we were together. We
saw Mitch smile once back in twenty seventeen.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
But what once, just one time broke news.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
I I talk about the time I really almost got
in trouble on this. Mitch was not amused. But I
was asked to compare Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer, and
I told the truth. I said, they have a lot
in common. Each is very smart, each is very tenacious,
(19:19):
and each of them could lose his place during sex. Well,
my office, Mitch was a majority leader then, And.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
How did that go? By the way after, I'd love
to see that it.
Speaker 4 (19:35):
Was a warmer. I was pretty sure was my office
was going to be moved to Richmond, as I recall.
But anyway, I had fun of writing it.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
And to be clear that that's not the only joke.
John Kennedy is told about his colleagues having sex. So
at my Donor retreat, then you will remember this. John
stood up in front of everyone and he said, you know,
Ted told me about his first sexual experience. I remember this,
(20:05):
and everyone starts looking at you, going, wait, where is
this going? He said, he was young, it was dark,
he was scared, he was alone.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
You have to think about that. The folks in the
Owens State took them about five seconds. They said, Okay,
we get it. We get it.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Well, we get it.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
We're all there. I have to admit. I turned to
Heidi and I said, wait a second. I paid the
fly John here, like out of my campaign money. I
paid his airline.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
We had a good time.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
That's what happens when you bring a small town Louisiana
boy back to the big leagues, you know, with all
the high flute and donors. I got to ask you
in your book, one of the cool things is you
talk about being a small town guy.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Is it, Jeffrey? Is that right Louisiana? Okay, gotcha? All right.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
So I actually think there's something interesting that's happening in
the country right now, and I want to get your
take on it. I think small town America had been
overlooked for so long, forgotten, referred to to flyover country.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
I think there's a huge pendulum swinging.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Right now in this country where rural America is mattering
now a lot more than it has in my lifetime.
Small town America is being listened to now and has
a voice that they haven't had in a long time.
The mainstream media has lost a lot of their power
to influence and to try to act like only big
cities matter and the rest of the country doesn't.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Are you seeing the same thing? And as you look.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Back at your career, your life, where you came from,
are you do you see that there's I think a
big glimmer of hope right now that small town America
is actually being listened to for once in Washington, d C.
Speaker 4 (21:47):
Well, small town America is America. When I grew up
in Zachary, there's about three thousand.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
People what part of the state of Zachary.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
Zachary's sort of just north of that route. The people
of Zachary when I grew up there, and it's still
the case, Tad. You know, these folks, they get up
every day, they go to work, They pay the law,
they pay the taxes, try to save a little money
for retirement, try to do the right thing by their kids.
(22:17):
They don't read their stytle every day. They don't have
time they're earning.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
Zachary a pretty rural town. There's a lot of a
lot of farm and egg or what would you do.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
Some farm, some egg. But it's about thirty miles north
of bat Rouge, so you could call it a suburb,
but that sounds too affluent. But but but these are
real folks and they don't read their stytle every day,
but they get it. And I remember thinking during the
Biden administration, have these people ever been any place but California, Washington,
(22:53):
and New York. Yep, they they all in Washington. President people.
They all thought they were smarter and more virtuous than
everybody else. And their attitude towards rural America was, we're
smarter than you, We're more virtuous than you. Shut up
and send us your money and all your freedom, and
we'll tell you how to to to live your life.
(23:16):
And I think that's the genesis a part of President
Trump's support.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
I mean absolutely.
Speaker 4 (23:22):
I mean Trump picked up on that early on. And
even though he's a billionaire and even though he's a
New York developer, he doesn't talk down to people.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Yeah, yeah, he.
Speaker 4 (23:34):
Doesn't talk yet.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Know, he's very real. He communicates, He tells you exactly
what he thinks. You never know what he's gonna say,
because to say anything. He is funny as hell. He
actually didn't get credit for the sense of humor he has,
but he can say things that will just just be
side splitting the fun.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
I was with him about a week before his debate
with President Biden and Jake Tapper and Dana Bash and uh,
it was the two from CNN and by and I said, well,
what do you think, mister president? He said, Kennedy, I
don't know. I got back Tapper, I got bashed, bashed,
(24:11):
and I got Joe Biden. It's gonna be two and
a half to one.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
That's fun.
Speaker 4 (24:18):
And I am laughing so hard. He's just two and
a half to one. And then of course they had
the infamous debate and President Biden just crumpled. But there.
You know, I talk about President Trump in the book.
I've got a different style from than him. Sure, I
told the president, so does everybody else. So does everybody else.
(24:39):
I mean, it's clear that the president's unfiltered. He he
grows anxious when he has an unexpressed thought. He just
he can't. I told him one time, he said, why
do you like my tweets? Kennedy? And I said, you know,
mister president, I got to be diplomatic here. I said,
tweeting a little bit less would not cause brain damage.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
And he said, what you don't like my tweets.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
I said, no, hold on what year did you tell
you it was? Because this could this could have been.
Speaker 4 (25:12):
Professed in his first term, and okay, I will say
his second term is tweets.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
I've gotten much more disciplines. Yes, there's a very different
discipline than this first term.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
He let it ripped, and he and and we added,
think you for your attention to this matter, like he's
cocleutely different man and for you.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
But he didn't get it, and he didn't know whether
to be offended orway, and he said, what do you mean.
I said, look, mister president, look at this way. I
like steak, but I don't like the eight steaks at
one time. And he said, you don't like my tweets.
I said, no, I didn't say that, And of course
it made no difference.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
He just all right, now, let me ask growing up
you're growing up little town in Louisiana, did you always
know that you want to be a lawyer?
Speaker 4 (25:53):
No?
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Did you have your parents lawyers and lawyers in the family.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
I care my parents, uh, brilliant sized education to you,
just like yours. But when I wasn't studying, I cared
about two things. I cared about basketball, and I cared
about cheerleaders.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Are you ball playing? And did you play hoops? And
I played hoops? What position?
Speaker 4 (26:15):
Forward? All right?
Speaker 3 (26:16):
How's you jump shot? Ball? Handling?
Speaker 4 (26:18):
What jump shot? Man?
Speaker 5 (26:19):
Well?
Speaker 3 (26:19):
You know I still play twice a week. I know
you do.
Speaker 4 (26:21):
I've seen you come in the cloak room. He comes
in the cloak room to vote, and he's all worked
up and sweaty and he's beating up on somebody.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
But uh, Cruise, Hender, I'm gonna advise you don't take
the bait when he asked you to play, because I've
already had a broken bone.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
Broken's fingers.
Speaker 4 (26:41):
Cruise is a total ball, crooked, total ball.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
What I got to ask you?
Speaker 5 (26:45):
Ben?
Speaker 3 (26:46):
So you broke your pinky? Where exactly did you have
your pinky stuck?
Speaker 2 (26:50):
All right? You know, here's what I know.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
When I broke my pinky, we were at one of
them high fluting houses, and I thought about calling Kennedy, say,
well you represent me. Yeah, you could have gotten me
a really good settlement.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
Yeah, was a tech billionaire's house that you broke your
picky and you didn't even get tape on it.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
I would nothing. I got. I powered through like a real.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
A called me. We'd have gotten you a beach house.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
We could have I could have been.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
I'd take it to the trial court. We might have
gotten you two beach houses.
Speaker 5 (27:17):
Man.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
So for the last several weeks you've heard me talk
with Josh Sherard from Burnham about real stories of how
people like you and I have used their burn A
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(27:40):
a burn A launcher that was used and how it
helped a woman protect herself from a home intruder.
Speaker 5 (27:45):
So, a Chicago woman was recently the victim of a
home invasion that occurred in broad daylight when several men
broke into her home while she was inside in the
middle of the day, and it was all caught on video. So,
while sitting in her kitchen, the homeowner began hearing range
noises coming from the front door, so she went to
investigate and saw that intruders had made it inside her home,
(28:06):
at which point she yelled that she'd called police to
try and scare them off. Now. Fortunately in this case,
it worked and they promptly exited the house and the
victim and a neighbor actually chased the intruders down the
street while calling nine to one one. While on the
phone with nine to one one, dispatchers told the home
owner that police were on their way. However, it ended
up taking police over four hours to reach the scene
(28:27):
due to an overwhelming backlog of emergency calls. It was
only sheer luck in this case that she wasn't hurt
or killed.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
And this is where you asked the question, is Burna
something that could have been used in that situation for
home defense? And how could she have deployed it to
keep herself safe and deter those attackers.
Speaker 5 (28:44):
You know, absolutely in this case she lucked out and
she was able to call their bluff and they ran off.
But in many cases that's not going to happen. Any
kind of resistance has to be used to get those
attackers out and to get you to safety. Burna Max
or kinetic rounds both what have allowed her the time
to get out and get somewhere safe.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
It is really an incredible option. And I have a Burnham,
I have real handguns as well, But I always have
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(29:26):
I know you got to run center soon, but I
want to ask you one other question you want, and
it goes back to the book. When when you write
this book and you sit down to do it, who
did you envision reading it? Is there some bigger purpose
where you're like, I want to write this for the
future generation?
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Was part of it?
Speaker 1 (29:44):
Just I want to just tell my story and how
I got to where I am today?
Speaker 2 (29:47):
What was it?
Speaker 4 (29:47):
Here's what I did. I shut down with a handheld
dictaphone at my kitchen table and I started dictating, and
I dictated. I dictated, I don't I don't know how
many hours, hundreds of hours, and then I had a
transcribed and then I put it together, and then I
had an editor come in who looked at it and
rearranged it. And then I just started editing. And I
(30:09):
was speaking to the same person that Ted and I
both speak to when we do interviews the average American,
and I tried to speak plainly. I don't try to
muddy the water to make it look deep. The American
people don't have time for that. And I wanted to
understand that if you get mad, I can't help it.
(30:32):
I have the right to remain silent, but God did
not give me the ability. And some people are gonna
like it and some don't. But that's what the American
people expect from their politicians today. And it's one of
the reasons that Senator Schumer, who Ted and I both
know he's right now. He's got thirty percent approval rating,
(30:55):
he's got a sixty percent disapproval rating the other ten percent.
Paul's their video game to answer the pollster's call, and
and Chuck is polling. He's pulling right up there with
clubbing Baby Seals. That's I mean.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
But to be fair, he's still above Chamydia. He's still.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
He's still both. It's large, it's close. But because Chuck's
been here so long, Ted, you know, he's been here
so long, he sounds like Washington.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
So I will say, it's interesting you and I have
a very similar process. It sounds like for writing a book,
because that's that's very much the books I've written, and
some of it is it maybe being a lawyer and
having written briefs that that that process of recording and
telling stories in my books, I just try to tell
stories because that's how people come.
Speaker 4 (31:44):
I've read a couple of books. There's a differs between
you and me. Though I've written one book. Ted's written
about a squillion. Okay, but but it's hard. I mean,
it is a painful process.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
You know, all right, you're a kid. When does the
idea of being a lawyer? What was it that made
you say, hey, I can do that. I want to
do that.
Speaker 4 (32:04):
My dad was from a depression family in Oklahoma. He
got a degree, works the way through college and patrol
im engineering, came to losing end of the work in
the wall fields, married my mom. I have three brothers.
From day one, they drilled into us education education, education,
and it wasn't where you're going to go to college,
(32:25):
it's or when you're going to go to college. It
was where And that was drilled in from day one.
And I enjoyed college, but I started thinking about law
school then, but I stalled and resedalled it as long
as I could. I mean, I spent four years in college,
and then I went three years in law school and
then a clerk frog federal judge, and I tried to
(32:48):
get a Supreme Court clerkship. I didn't. You did. And
then I said, well, I'm not ready for the real world.
I'm going back to school. I went back and got
another the Law of Gride. Finally I had, you know,
I had to. I was out of money, you know,
and I wanted to eat and live indoors. So I
didn't want to live in a refrigerator box behind an
(33:09):
out back. So I had to go to work for
a living.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
And Ben, I know something that I know you don't know.
I know the name of his old law partner.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Who is that?
Speaker 4 (33:16):
Who's that?
Speaker 3 (33:17):
So he would practice his name obviously as John Kennedy
and his partner was Jose Kenseko, and he'd walk in it.
It'd be John Kennedy and Jose story. That's a they
would double take.
Speaker 4 (33:28):
One of my best friends. I was in a for Louisiana,
a big law fer six trading halliers, and one of
my good friends was Jose Kenseka. And we'd go to meetings.
I'd say I'm John Kennedy. This is jose Kensekh. We're
here to see so and so, and they said, they
would say, you're here to see security. True story.
Speaker 3 (33:47):
All right, So when did you get when did you
get the idea in your head you wanted to run
for office? Was this something like as a kid, you
always want to.
Speaker 4 (33:54):
I always thought about it, but I was practicing all
earning a good living. Louisiana politics was rough. I mean
it was rough. He was under Governor Edwin the Edwards.
I wasn't part of his clique.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
Who has my favorite political bumper sticker ever?
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Yep?
Speaker 3 (34:13):
And you know exactly where I'm going?
Speaker 2 (34:15):
Do you know?
Speaker 3 (34:15):
Do you know this? Ben? I don't know if you
know this, I do not. So Edwin Edwards is running
for governor against David Duke. Now, David Duke was the
former Grand Grand Wizard of the KKK.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
Grand Yeah grand words.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
But Edwin Edwards was as corrupt, he was as crooked
as the dog's hind legs. See, I'm trying to do
this to keep up with John pretty good ted and
and everyone knew he was corrupt, and so Edwin.
Speaker 4 (34:38):
Edwards bumper sticker said, vote for the crook.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
It matters, that's right, And if you're running against a kleansman,
that was a winning slogan. And then you know what,
he was indicted and convicted of embezzlement or fraud.
Speaker 4 (34:52):
When the economy was doing well at Luisiana. I mean,
this was having a colorful governor was all fun and games.
He was. He was a bit. He's very promiscuous. He
used to say, uh, I give they make How did
he put it? When I give blood? They usually to
make Viagara?
Speaker 2 (35:12):
That was.
Speaker 4 (35:14):
I always thought that was a pretty good one.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
And there's a bumper cigaph.
Speaker 3 (35:18):
That's the line they would have used about strom Thurmon too.
You and I didn't serve with strom Thurman, but by
all accounts, that would have described him accurately.
Speaker 4 (35:25):
And he was running for governor, I think his third time,
and he was way ahead of the polls. He was
running against incumbent and the press asking us, they said
he you're gonna win this race, and he said, put
it this way. The only way I could lose this
race and the last week is if I'm caught in
bed with a live girl or a dead boy. And
(35:46):
I thought that was pretty clever. But eventually his past
caught up to him, and we elected a reform governor
named Buddy Romer, and I'd supported him. He asked me
to leave him my practice come to Baton Rouge, and
I liked it. I was just legal counsel, and I stayed.
And then I ran for office and got elected, and
I ran for the Senate three times. It took me
(36:08):
three times to get here, and I thought they left
me for dead for a few times. Politically, I switched
parties because the Democrat I couldn't. I just couldn't be
a Democrat anymore. And they all got mad at me,
and they tried to hurt me. But the mistake they made,
they're gonna let me live. They never should have letting
(36:29):
me live it. So I wanted on the third time.
And here we are having fun.
Speaker 5 (36:34):
All right.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
Biggest surprises when you get to the Senate. Biggest surprise
upside and biggest surprise downside.
Speaker 4 (36:41):
Biggest surprise upside. You probably saw this. I came in
wanting to gallop. You can't gallop in the Senate. You
have to inch along, And at first that frustrated me.
It still does, but it's not altogether bad, because after
a while you were a senator's job is not just
(37:02):
to advance good ideas, it's to kill bad ideas. And
sometimes killing the bad ideas is more important than advancing
the good ideas. That has been my biggest transformation in
the Senate. But it's frustrating Senator McConnell, who's your friend
(37:23):
in mine? But Mitch was the majority leader, and I
wasn't used to taking orders from another politician, and Mitch
and I butted heads a few times. She butted heads
with you. Mitch liked to run it from the top down,
and I thought, I remember you and I talked when
(37:44):
we passed President Trump's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. We
passed it through reconciliation, and Ted was an advocate of
doing a second Billy, and it just took a majority
vote no Democrats, and I I'm ACKed. Hm and and
Mitch wouldn't do it, and we left so much good
(38:05):
policy on the table.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
It remains the most politically indefensible decision I've ever seen.
Speaker 4 (38:09):
And I hope we don't do it under Trump's second term.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
And actually John brought that up at lunch today, made
that argument, and it's clearly, look, it is our best
avenue to win victories and we should be focused on
winning victories. Now that Ben said, we got a lot
done in that one, big boy, it's.
Speaker 4 (38:29):
Sure, but we get a second body.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
At the end, exactly, and a third if we want.
Speaker 4 (38:33):
It, and why not take it? Why not take it?
And we don't have to get we don't have to
get Democratic votes because I'm I'm I'm you know, I
think I want to think the best of people, But
I just think it's gonna be hard to negotiate anything
with the Democrats from here on now.
Speaker 3 (38:51):
They just hate Trump. They're so extreme right now.
Speaker 4 (38:54):
I'm just blinded by by their their passion center.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
I'm gonna I'm afraid of hitman from your staff's telling
me we were supposed to wrap with you a few
minutes ago.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
So I want to hold up the book again.
Speaker 3 (39:06):
All right, So let me tell everyone again. Book is
How to Test Negative for Stupid and Why Washington Never
Will It is by John Kennedy, not John F. Kennedy,
but John Kennedy, the great United States Senator. The book
is funny, it is interesting. It gives you stories behind
the scenes of what's going on in the US. Senate
John Kennedy rats out all his colleagues. He makes them embarrassed.
(39:29):
He makes them curl up, curl up. Chuck Schumer curled
up in a ball in the closet and cried like
a little girl. When when when John Kennedy wrote this book.
So you need to go to Amazon and buy it.
And I will say as I said before, John Kennedy
is easily one of my favorite colleagues. He is bunny,
is funny as hell, and he is smart as hell.
(39:52):
A lot of people don't realize this man is dangerous
and has you know he's an Oxford educated lawyer and
and with a Southern accent, particular Yankees underestimating and be like,
all right, he's got a Southern accident. He can't be
all that bright.
Speaker 4 (40:04):
You can't accuse me of being self aware, not being
self aware. I'm fully aware that my voice scares small children,
it sets off car arms, but it's my voice. But
thank you for having me ed, Thank you, Ben.
Speaker 3 (40:17):
And I'm gonna close. I'm gonna close with my favorite kennedyism,
which was in a judiciary committee hearing. John Kennedy leaned
forward into the microphone and he said, Christmas tree ornaments
and Jeffrey Epstein two things you know didn't hang themselves.
Speaker 2 (40:39):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (40:39):
I was sitting there going, wait, this is at an
open hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Did he really
say that.
Speaker 2 (40:47):
It was I did?
Speaker 4 (40:48):
It was true. I'd read that joke somewhere. It seemed
like a good idea at the time. Thank you, guys.
Speaker 1 (40:55):
Buy the book wherever you can how to test negative
for stupid.
Speaker 2 (40:59):
Get it on Amazon, don't forget.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
You can get this podcast Monday, Wednesday, Friday, wherever you
get your podcasts. Share it on social media. Sent her
cruise and I will see you back here in a
couple of days. And grab the book right after this
as well.
Welcome in his Verdict with center Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson
with you, and this is gonna be one of those
shows that's just going to be an.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Awful lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
A good friend of mine and a great friend in
the Senate of Senator Cruz has got a new book
out with maybe one of the best titles for twenty
twenty five, How to.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Test negative for Stupid. Senator.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
You're in DC, and this is just gonna be one
of those shows which I hope everyone enjoys as much
as you and I do hanging out.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
We're our next guests.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Well, I'm very glad to welcome to Verdict John Kennedy.
John is one of my dearest friends in the Senate.
He is someone I am really glad came to be
in the Senate. He is someone with a wicked sense
of humor. He is the most dangerous cross examiner in
the entire United States Senate and in fact, entire generations
(00:54):
of judicial nominees and nominees beat from administrator has studied
past John Kennedy cross examinations that they still have PTSD
from the terror that he puts in them, and and
and and this man in addition to being brilliant as hell.
(01:15):
Is also as good a stand up comedian as I've
ever known. He's written a book. The title of the
book is how to Test Negative for Stupid and Why
Washington Never Will John Welcome to Verdict. I gotta say
your book sucks and it's not funny.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
Well number one, the publisher, Ted would let me use
the title I wanted. I wanted to say always. I
wanted the title to be always be yourself unless you suck,
And they said, Harper Cohen said, no, that's not going
to work. I also got to tell one of my
best Ted cruise stores. Uh oh my Ted. Ted's people
(01:57):
invited me out you remember this. Yeah, he had a
huge fundraisers somewhere out there was some fancy place I
don't remember. I mean it was the room. I mean
it was really fanny rich.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
People don't go to Motel six.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
And I'm a Motel six guy. And anyway, I go
out there and Ted's people said, you remember, I said,
what do you want me to talk about? They said,
make fun of Tid. I said okay, And I said,
these are all of his friends and they said, yeah,
he's some big, heavyweight people. Okay, we're talking mega rich.
(02:28):
So I started off and I said, y'all, no Ted,
y'all know Ted. Well. I said, let me tell you
what you have to understand about Ted Cruz. He is really, really,
really smart. But so was the unibomber. And therein lies
the problem. You can't leave him on supervised. And all
(02:50):
the Ted's contributors stood up and they're going, yeah, that's Tid,
that's their tid. It was great.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
So John is not kidding at all.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
It's really happy.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
No, he's not. I was there.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
I was a witness, and his entire lunch remarks were
basically a stand up comedy routine.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
We had a great time.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
And one of the things he did is he just
basically went through the sec and made fun of everybody.
So he started he said, how do you get in
Oklahoma and ou grad off your front porch? Pay the
man for the pizza?
Speaker 4 (03:28):
Remember that?
Speaker 3 (03:29):
He said, what do you call a genius in Georgia?
A visitor? And then I'm sorry, Ben. He then said,
what does an old miss grad get on his act? Drool?
Speaker 4 (03:45):
We had a great time. I got him on on Alabama.
I said, why did Alabama raise the drinking age to
thirty two to keep alcohol out of the high schools.
We being we had the best time.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
And and he's told that Alabama joke at our Senate
Republican lunches. And Richard Shelby was chairman of the Appropriations Committee,
and I'm pretty sure he like pulled a billion dollars
out of Louisiana.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
He cost me millions, man, let's cost me millions, but
it was worth every penny.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Well, look, John is what I said about his cross examination.
That is not an exaggeration. I mean it is a
beautiful look. And to be honest, he has done that.
He does that mostly to Democrat nominees, but he's done
that to Republicans also. And one of the things people
don't necessarily know. Before John was in the Senate, he
(04:39):
was a trial lawyer and he was a hell of
a trial lawyer. And he knows how to talk to
a jury. You know, John is a little bit He's
got a Southern accent and sometimes he puts it on
a little deep. But I sort of analogized John to like,
you know, you know, there's an old rule of never
play poker with someone named after a state, yep, yep,
(04:59):
And John good Room when the draw gets deep, amen,
and he'll be like, well, I don't know much about that.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
You were about to get robbed.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
It's like at a poker table when someone says, now,
remind me that does a straight beat a flush or
a flush beat a straight like hold on to your
wallet and run out of the door. And so so
when John begins cross examining, all is there is there
a cross examination you've done in the Senate that's your favorite?
Speaker 4 (05:27):
Oh gosh that maybe I don't remember her name, Ted,
you'll remember because you beat the living hell out of her.
Two Uh, that couldn't name any provision of the constitution.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
That okay, she was the one that didn't know Article five.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
That's right. She's from Washington State. And she she after
it was over, she yelke her in something like yeah
she quit, and which was smart, I mean.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
And then the one, okay, Article five is the provision
that it's it's the part of the constitution that lays
out how constitutional amendments happened. And he asked about Article
five and then and this was cruel, but but then
he asked, well, well how about our article two? And
she couldn't answer. And look, if you're not a lawyer.
That doesn't seem like a question that that Look the
(06:09):
way the Constitution set up. Article one sets up the Congress,
Article two sets up the executive and the president, and
Article three sets up the judiciary. If you cannot answer
what is Article two, you will flunk first year civil procedure,
constitutional law.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Like you, you're done.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
Well, you know you're a smoke turkey man. You're dead
is fried chicken?
Speaker 3 (06:33):
And she had no idea. I'm pretty sure we play
that cross examination on this podcast. We've played a bunch
of years, and that really was By the way, this
woman was nominated to be what's called an Article three judge,
and I'm pretty certain she has no idea what Article
three is either. But it was devastating. But to be clear, look,
(06:55):
John doesn't just do that to Democrats. There was a
poor fellow who Trump nominated in the Court of Appeals
I remember.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
And district court, Federal district court.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
You're right, you're right. He had been on the Federal
Election Commission.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
That's exactly right. Nice guy, a.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Nice guy, smart guy, but had no trial experience whatsoever.
And I will say John's cross examination was so devastating
that they withdrew the nomination like it literally at the
end of that cross, They're like, okay, yeah, he's not
going to be a judge.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
Well he's a nice guy, but he just wasn't ready
to be a federal judge. And after it was over,
the president call. President called me. I was I had
phone back home, was in New Orleans. Phone rings, you
know the way it works, unknown normal, you go, Okay,
it's White House. I'm ready to take my kit, my
whip in here. So I pick up the phone and
crew and Trump says, who Kennedy? I watched your your
(07:52):
examination this guy? He said, who was this guy? I said, well,
he's your nominee. And he said he doesn't sound too
Did I interview him? And I said, no, mister President,
you're staffed. Did and he said, you know, he doesn't
seem very qualified. He said, what do you think. I said, well,
mister President, just because you've seen my cousin Vinny doesn't
(08:15):
qualify you to be on the federal bench. And he said, yeah,
you're right. He said, what do you think well to do?
And I said, well, let's put him out of his misery.
I don't want embarrassing and he the President withdrew the appointment.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Yeah, yeah, no, it was. I have never seen a
cross examination take out a nominee, although what was it.
It was the Biden nominee, who was the Russian who
to graduated from a Russian university, And your line was
should I call you comrade?
Speaker 4 (08:42):
She was nominated for a Controller of the currency. She
was a former member of the Communist Party of Russia.
She had graduated from Moscow State University and her dissertation,
a copy of which she wouldn't give us, was on
Karl Marx. So real, Yeah, Ben, it was, and she was.
(09:05):
Her main argument for being Controller of the Currency, which
of course is so responsible all the state banks, was
to get rid of all the banks and have everybody
nominate or a bank rather from the Federal Reserve.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
I want to take a moment and just talk to
you real quick about an incredible opportunity for you to
continue to expand your mind and learn, no matter what
your age is. Senator Cruz and I were at the
memorial service for Charlie Kirk and one of the people
that spoke was the president of Hillsdale College, and he
talked about meeting with Charlie early on and how he said,
(09:40):
you're going to have to work hard, You're going to
have to suffer, and you're going to have to continue
to learn. When he was so young, and he talked
about all of the classes that Charlie ended up taking
at Hillsdale, I immediately said, I want the listeners of
this show to be able to have the same opportunit
unity to do that. There are amazing classes history, economics,
(10:04):
the great works of literature, the meaning of the US Constitution.
And if you didn't say these things in school, or
maybe you did, but you were, like, you know, just
trying to check the box and make the grade when
you're twenty, now is a great time for you to
go back and learn so much more. Hillsdale College is
offering more than forty free I want to say that again,
forty free online courses. That's right, more than forty free
(10:28):
online courses. You can learn about the works of C. S. Lewis,
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of the ancient Christian Church. With Hidale College's free online courses.
Now I'm also looking at the Constitution one on one.
It's amazing. I refresh your course and you can see
(10:51):
and explore the design, the purpose of the Constitution, the
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been undermined for more than a century by progressives and liberals.
This twelve lecture course is self paced, so you start
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Speaker 2 (11:10):
So how do you do this?
Speaker 1 (11:12):
You can go right now to Hillsdale dot ed u
slash verdict to enroll. There is no cost and it's
easy to get started. That's Hillsdale dot ed u slash
verdict v E R D I c T to enroll
for free and take any one of these classes.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Take advantage of it. It's free Hillsdale.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Dot edu slash v E R D I c T
verdict and go check out the amazing classes they have there.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
All right, I got a question for both of you.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
Are you man?
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Has there ever been a time that you guys are
both sitting there beating the hell out of someoney?
Speaker 2 (11:51):
And do you ever look at each other and grin
like how does it work?
Speaker 5 (11:54):
Like?
Speaker 2 (11:54):
You go?
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Then I ten goes first and and and he knocks
them to Pluto and softens them up. And I talk
about it in my book. You know, I think, what
did I say about Tid? I said, I didn't call
him articulate, though he is. I said Ted could talk
a dog off a meat whack, and he could talk
(12:18):
the hide off a cow. And he knocks these witnesses
to Pluto, and then Josh Hotley, I think is ahead
of them. He goes next, and then I bat clean up.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
There's a murderer's row. We have fun and it actually
starts with Mike Lee and from Mike John Kennedy, right,
I mean, those are four questioners I actually feel for
a witness because that's and they're also different styles. So
I will say, Ben, one thing that that that you
may not not appreciate not being a lawyer, but but
John's and my legal careers are very very different. So
(12:51):
I'm an appellate lawyer and the vast majority of what
I've done is arguing a court of appeals and court
of appeals is is totally different, very different. So there's
trial courts and courts of appeals. The court of appeals
is you're standing in front of judges, typically three judges
if it's the Supreme Court nine judges, and you are
you write a brief that is in the Supreme Court.
(13:13):
It's a fifty page written argument, and then your argument
would usually be thirty minutes and most of it is
questioning from judges. So it's questioning about the law. You
got to be quick, you got to be able to dance.
I mean, being an appellate lawyer is a very precise,
it's a more it's a more academic skill.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
It is very academic. A lot of law professors and
an intellectual discussion. That's what it is.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
So a trial lawyer is what most people think of
when you turn on the TV, when you think of
La law or Perry Mason. Like, like a trial lawyer,
you're you're in a court room, you're talking to jury room,
talking about jury. You have witnesses, like appellate lawyers don't
have witnesses. You have witnesses. You either have direct examination
across it. And so trial lawyers tend to be better storytellers,
(14:00):
they tend to be more relatable. They're they're you know,
they're talking to you know, Aunt Bertha in the jury
pool instead of Anton and Scalia. I mean those are different.
You have different arguments scenario. And so the two best
trial lawyers on judiciary are are John Kennedy and Lindsey Graham.
Lindsey Graham is also an.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
Is very good. He has a little trouble staying on
topics sometimes. I talk about Lindsay in the book I
Love Lindsay. He's one of my favorites. I said, one
of the reasons I M like Lindsey. How did I
put it? He's like Ted and I he plays out
of the pocket, and you don't know what you're going
(14:40):
to get. If you invite Lindsay to dinner, you may.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
He's a great dinner companion. I mean, you will laugh.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
Your way you say so. If you invite Lindsay to
dinner in your home, you may get an intellectual conversation.
On the other hand, he could get drunk and vomit
in the fish tank. And you don't know which you
have no idea or both the same evening.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
What made you want to write this book? I mean
the titles hysterical, but but but when did you decide
you want to do this? And and what is it
that people are going to get if they go buy this?
Speaker 4 (15:11):
Well, it was about a year ago. It's look, Ted's
written four or five, it's been it's a lot of work.
As you will know, this this book is not about
policy per se. It's it's a story book. I use
stories to make my points about policy.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
And by the way, all good trial lawyers and all
good politicians or storytellers. I mean, if you can't tell
a story, you don't belong in this business.
Speaker 4 (15:37):
That's right. Some of the stories I think you know
more than some frankly or funny. Some of them are bizarre.
They're all true. And I used the stories to make
three points. Number one, I want people to understand through
the stories what the Senate is really like behind the scenes.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
And basically, think mean ger girls. It's it's not even
high school, it's a junior high. It's Caddy, their clicks,
their popular kids. They're the geeks. The jocks like.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
It, Ted Dale, It's like high school, but nobody ever
gets out of the sophomore year. And and the second
reason I wrote the book, I wanted to help people
understand in in real time, why in Washington, normal is
just a setting on the clothes dryer. This place is
a different world. And the third reason I wrote it
(16:30):
was to try to make people understand that it doesn't
have to be this way if we have a return
to common sense. But but I also don't bubble wrap it.
The uh, the water in Washington, d C. Is not
going to clear up until you get the pigs out
of the creek. That's just the way it is. And
and look, some people like the book, some don't. I'm
(16:52):
really proud it's it's doing well.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
All right, and so so I gave him some grief.
But it is a terrific book. It is fun. He's
telling very real stories. You look at the front. He
looks grumpy on the front. That picture you picked.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
You, I didn't pick it. The publisher picked it.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
You know, you look kind of like your your stomach's upset,
but you look like you're getting ready to rip someone
a new one. Is what it what it looks like.
And and and so let me encourage everyone who's who's
listening to this or watching this. Go to Amazon, go
to Barnes and Noble, buy the book. Buy one so
so look, it's fixing to be November. It's Christmas season.
Buy two or three books by a book to give it.
Speaker 4 (17:31):
I love this guy.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
Give it to your mom. This is a great present,
you know, And actually you can give your family members
an autograph copy because see John's from Lousiana, so he
can't can't can't actually sign his signatures. And just put
an X and it'll look it'll look real.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
I rooped through them. Just put that X and you'll
it's my.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
And by the way, if you have a liberal uncle,
buy this for him. It'll piss him off. It'll be
the best present you can put under the tree.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
Well, I hope the book a lot of time on.
I hope it'll make people think. It may make you laugh,
it's the truth. It may make you day drink because
I don't sugarcoat it. And I talk about a lot
of different senators. I don't try to be mean, but
I talked I talk about Thune, I talk about President Trump,
(18:19):
I talk about President Biden, talk about Senator Grassley, I
talk about Chuck Schumer. I think Chuck got a little
mad at me because they I described him as imagine
a five year old and a Batman costume. I said,
that's on a sugar that's how Chuck is when he
gets excited. And I talked something about Mitch. I explained
(18:43):
that that Ted and I think we were together. We
saw Mitch smile once back in twenty seventeen.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
But what once, just one time broke news.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
I I talk about the time I really almost got
in trouble on this. Mitch was not amused. But I
was asked to compare Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer, and
I told the truth. I said, they have a lot
in common. Each is very smart, each is very tenacious,
(19:19):
and each of them could lose his place during sex. Well,
my office, Mitch was a majority leader then, And.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
How did that go? By the way after, I'd love
to see that it.
Speaker 4 (19:35):
Was a warmer. I was pretty sure was my office
was going to be moved to Richmond, as I recall.
But anyway, I had fun of writing it.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
And to be clear that that's not the only joke.
John Kennedy is told about his colleagues having sex. So
at my Donor retreat, then you will remember this. John
stood up in front of everyone and he said, you know,
Ted told me about his first sexual experience. I remember this,
(20:05):
and everyone starts looking at you, going, wait, where is
this going? He said, he was young, it was dark,
he was scared, he was alone.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
You have to think about that. The folks in the
Owens State took them about five seconds. They said, Okay,
we get it. We get it.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Well, we get it.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
We're all there. I have to admit. I turned to
Heidi and I said, wait a second. I paid the
fly John here, like out of my campaign money. I
paid his airline.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
We had a good time.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
That's what happens when you bring a small town Louisiana
boy back to the big leagues, you know, with all
the high flute and donors. I got to ask you
in your book, one of the cool things is you
talk about being a small town guy.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Is it, Jeffrey? Is that right Louisiana? Okay, gotcha? All right.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
So I actually think there's something interesting that's happening in
the country right now, and I want to get your
take on it. I think small town America had been
overlooked for so long, forgotten, referred to to flyover country.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
I think there's a huge pendulum swinging.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Right now in this country where rural America is mattering
now a lot more than it has in my lifetime.
Small town America is being listened to now and has
a voice that they haven't had in a long time.
The mainstream media has lost a lot of their power
to influence and to try to act like only big
cities matter and the rest of the country doesn't.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Are you seeing the same thing? And as you look.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Back at your career, your life, where you came from,
are you do you see that there's I think a
big glimmer of hope right now that small town America
is actually being listened to for once in Washington, d C.
Speaker 4 (21:47):
Well, small town America is America. When I grew up
in Zachary, there's about three thousand.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
People what part of the state of Zachary.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
Zachary's sort of just north of that route. The people
of Zachary when I grew up there, and it's still
the case, Tad. You know, these folks, they get up
every day, they go to work, They pay the law,
they pay the taxes, try to save a little money
for retirement, try to do the right thing by their kids.
(22:17):
They don't read their stytle every day. They don't have
time they're earning.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
Zachary a pretty rural town. There's a lot of a
lot of farm and egg or what would you do.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
Some farm, some egg. But it's about thirty miles north
of bat Rouge, so you could call it a suburb,
but that sounds too affluent. But but but these are
real folks and they don't read their stytle every day,
but they get it. And I remember thinking during the
Biden administration, have these people ever been any place but California, Washington,
(22:53):
and New York. Yep, they they all in Washington. President people.
They all thought they were smarter and more virtuous than
everybody else. And their attitude towards rural America was, we're
smarter than you, We're more virtuous than you. Shut up
and send us your money and all your freedom, and
we'll tell you how to to to live your life.
(23:16):
And I think that's the genesis a part of President
Trump's support.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
I mean absolutely.
Speaker 4 (23:22):
I mean Trump picked up on that early on. And
even though he's a billionaire and even though he's a
New York developer, he doesn't talk down to people.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Yeah, yeah, he.
Speaker 4 (23:34):
Doesn't talk yet.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Know, he's very real. He communicates, He tells you exactly
what he thinks. You never know what he's gonna say,
because to say anything. He is funny as hell. He
actually didn't get credit for the sense of humor he has,
but he can say things that will just just be
side splitting the fun.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
I was with him about a week before his debate
with President Biden and Jake Tapper and Dana Bash and uh,
it was the two from CNN and by and I said, well,
what do you think, mister president? He said, Kennedy, I
don't know. I got back Tapper, I got bashed, bashed,
(24:11):
and I got Joe Biden. It's gonna be two and
a half to one.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
That's fun.
Speaker 4 (24:18):
And I am laughing so hard. He's just two and
a half to one. And then of course they had
the infamous debate and President Biden just crumpled. But there.
You know, I talk about President Trump in the book.
I've got a different style from than him. Sure, I
told the president, so does everybody else. So does everybody else.
(24:39):
I mean, it's clear that the president's unfiltered. He he
grows anxious when he has an unexpressed thought. He just
he can't. I told him one time, he said, why
do you like my tweets? Kennedy? And I said, you know,
mister president, I got to be diplomatic here. I said,
tweeting a little bit less would not cause brain damage.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
And he said, what you don't like my tweets.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
I said, no, hold on what year did you tell
you it was? Because this could this could have been.
Speaker 4 (25:12):
Professed in his first term, and okay, I will say
his second term is tweets.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
I've gotten much more disciplines. Yes, there's a very different
discipline than this first term.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
He let it ripped, and he and and we added,
think you for your attention to this matter, like he's
cocleutely different man and for you.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
But he didn't get it, and he didn't know whether
to be offended orway, and he said, what do you mean.
I said, look, mister president, look at this way. I
like steak, but I don't like the eight steaks at
one time. And he said, you don't like my tweets.
I said, no, I didn't say that, And of course
it made no difference.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
He just all right, now, let me ask growing up
you're growing up little town in Louisiana, did you always
know that you want to be a lawyer?
Speaker 4 (25:53):
No?
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Did you have your parents lawyers and lawyers in the family.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
I care my parents, uh, brilliant sized education to you,
just like yours. But when I wasn't studying, I cared
about two things. I cared about basketball, and I cared
about cheerleaders.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Are you ball playing? And did you play hoops? And
I played hoops? What position?
Speaker 4 (26:15):
Forward? All right?
Speaker 3 (26:16):
How's you jump shot? Ball? Handling?
Speaker 4 (26:18):
What jump shot? Man?
Speaker 5 (26:19):
Well?
Speaker 3 (26:19):
You know I still play twice a week. I know
you do.
Speaker 4 (26:21):
I've seen you come in the cloak room. He comes
in the cloak room to vote, and he's all worked
up and sweaty and he's beating up on somebody.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
But uh, Cruise, Hender, I'm gonna advise you don't take
the bait when he asked you to play, because I've
already had a broken bone.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
Broken's fingers.
Speaker 4 (26:41):
Cruise is a total ball, crooked, total ball.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
What I got to ask you?
Speaker 5 (26:45):
Ben?
Speaker 3 (26:46):
So you broke your pinky? Where exactly did you have
your pinky stuck?
Speaker 2 (26:50):
All right? You know, here's what I know.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
When I broke my pinky, we were at one of
them high fluting houses, and I thought about calling Kennedy, say,
well you represent me. Yeah, you could have gotten me
a really good settlement.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
Yeah, was a tech billionaire's house that you broke your
picky and you didn't even get tape on it.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
I would nothing. I got. I powered through like a real.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
A called me. We'd have gotten you a beach house.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
We could have I could have been.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
I'd take it to the trial court. We might have
gotten you two beach houses.
Speaker 5 (27:17):
Man.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
So for the last several weeks you've heard me talk
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people like you and I have used their burn A
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(27:40):
a burn A launcher that was used and how it
helped a woman protect herself from a home intruder.
Speaker 5 (27:45):
So, a Chicago woman was recently the victim of a
home invasion that occurred in broad daylight when several men
broke into her home while she was inside in the
middle of the day, and it was all caught on video. So,
while sitting in her kitchen, the homeowner began hearing range
noises coming from the front door, so she went to
investigate and saw that intruders had made it inside her home,
(28:06):
at which point she yelled that she'd called police to
try and scare them off. Now. Fortunately in this case,
it worked and they promptly exited the house and the
victim and a neighbor actually chased the intruders down the
street while calling nine to one one. While on the
phone with nine to one one, dispatchers told the home
owner that police were on their way. However, it ended
up taking police over four hours to reach the scene
(28:27):
due to an overwhelming backlog of emergency calls. It was
only sheer luck in this case that she wasn't hurt
or killed.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
And this is where you asked the question, is Burna
something that could have been used in that situation for
home defense? And how could she have deployed it to
keep herself safe and deter those attackers.
Speaker 5 (28:44):
You know, absolutely in this case she lucked out and
she was able to call their bluff and they ran off.
But in many cases that's not going to happen. Any
kind of resistance has to be used to get those
attackers out and to get you to safety. Burna Max
or kinetic rounds both what have allowed her the time
to get out and get somewhere safe.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
It is really an incredible option. And I have a Burnham,
I have real handguns as well, But I always have
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(29:26):
I know you got to run center soon, but I
want to ask you one other question you want, and
it goes back to the book. When when you write
this book and you sit down to do it, who
did you envision reading it? Is there some bigger purpose
where you're like, I want to write this for the
future generation?
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Was part of it?
Speaker 1 (29:44):
Just I want to just tell my story and how
I got to where I am today?
Speaker 2 (29:47):
What was it?
Speaker 4 (29:47):
Here's what I did. I shut down with a handheld
dictaphone at my kitchen table and I started dictating, and
I dictated. I dictated, I don't I don't know how
many hours, hundreds of hours, and then I had a
transcribed and then I put it together, and then I
had an editor come in who looked at it and
rearranged it. And then I just started editing. And I
(30:09):
was speaking to the same person that Ted and I
both speak to when we do interviews the average American,
and I tried to speak plainly. I don't try to
muddy the water to make it look deep. The American
people don't have time for that. And I wanted to
understand that if you get mad, I can't help it.
(30:32):
I have the right to remain silent, but God did
not give me the ability. And some people are gonna
like it and some don't. But that's what the American
people expect from their politicians today. And it's one of
the reasons that Senator Schumer, who Ted and I both
know he's right now. He's got thirty percent approval rating,
(30:55):
he's got a sixty percent disapproval rating the other ten percent.
Paul's their video game to answer the pollster's call, and
and Chuck is polling. He's pulling right up there with
clubbing Baby Seals. That's I mean.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
But to be fair, he's still above Chamydia. He's still.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
He's still both. It's large, it's close. But because Chuck's
been here so long, Ted, you know, he's been here
so long, he sounds like Washington.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
So I will say, it's interesting you and I have
a very similar process. It sounds like for writing a book,
because that's that's very much the books I've written, and
some of it is it maybe being a lawyer and
having written briefs that that that process of recording and
telling stories in my books, I just try to tell
stories because that's how people come.
Speaker 4 (31:44):
I've read a couple of books. There's a differs between
you and me. Though I've written one book. Ted's written
about a squillion. Okay, but but it's hard. I mean,
it is a painful process.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
You know, all right, you're a kid. When does the
idea of being a lawyer? What was it that made
you say, hey, I can do that. I want to
do that.
Speaker 4 (32:04):
My dad was from a depression family in Oklahoma. He
got a degree, works the way through college and patrol
im engineering, came to losing end of the work in
the wall fields, married my mom. I have three brothers.
From day one, they drilled into us education education, education,
and it wasn't where you're going to go to college,
(32:25):
it's or when you're going to go to college. It
was where And that was drilled in from day one.
And I enjoyed college, but I started thinking about law
school then, but I stalled and resedalled it as long
as I could. I mean, I spent four years in college,
and then I went three years in law school and
then a clerk frog federal judge, and I tried to
(32:48):
get a Supreme Court clerkship. I didn't. You did. And
then I said, well, I'm not ready for the real world.
I'm going back to school. I went back and got
another the Law of Gride. Finally I had, you know,
I had to. I was out of money, you know,
and I wanted to eat and live indoors. So I
didn't want to live in a refrigerator box behind an
(33:09):
out back. So I had to go to work for
a living.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
And Ben, I know something that I know you don't know.
I know the name of his old law partner.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Who is that?
Speaker 4 (33:16):
Who's that?
Speaker 3 (33:17):
So he would practice his name obviously as John Kennedy
and his partner was Jose Kenseko, and he'd walk in it.
It'd be John Kennedy and Jose story. That's a they
would double take.
Speaker 4 (33:28):
One of my best friends. I was in a for Louisiana,
a big law fer six trading halliers, and one of
my good friends was Jose Kenseka. And we'd go to meetings.
I'd say I'm John Kennedy. This is jose Kensekh. We're
here to see so and so, and they said, they
would say, you're here to see security. True story.
Speaker 3 (33:47):
All right, So when did you get when did you
get the idea in your head you wanted to run
for office? Was this something like as a kid, you
always want to.
Speaker 4 (33:54):
I always thought about it, but I was practicing all
earning a good living. Louisiana politics was rough. I mean
it was rough. He was under Governor Edwin the Edwards.
I wasn't part of his clique.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
Who has my favorite political bumper sticker ever?
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Yep?
Speaker 3 (34:13):
And you know exactly where I'm going?
Speaker 2 (34:15):
Do you know?
Speaker 3 (34:15):
Do you know this? Ben? I don't know if you
know this, I do not. So Edwin Edwards is running
for governor against David Duke. Now, David Duke was the
former Grand Grand Wizard of the KKK.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
Grand Yeah grand words.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
But Edwin Edwards was as corrupt, he was as crooked
as the dog's hind legs. See, I'm trying to do
this to keep up with John pretty good ted and
and everyone knew he was corrupt, and so Edwin.
Speaker 4 (34:38):
Edwards bumper sticker said, vote for the crook.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
It matters, that's right, And if you're running against a kleansman,
that was a winning slogan. And then you know what,
he was indicted and convicted of embezzlement or fraud.
Speaker 4 (34:52):
When the economy was doing well at Luisiana. I mean,
this was having a colorful governor was all fun and games.
He was. He was a bit. He's very promiscuous. He
used to say, uh, I give they make How did
he put it? When I give blood? They usually to
make Viagara?
Speaker 2 (35:12):
That was.
Speaker 4 (35:14):
I always thought that was a pretty good one.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
And there's a bumper cigaph.
Speaker 3 (35:18):
That's the line they would have used about strom Thurmon too.
You and I didn't serve with strom Thurman, but by
all accounts, that would have described him accurately.
Speaker 4 (35:25):
And he was running for governor, I think his third time,
and he was way ahead of the polls. He was
running against incumbent and the press asking us, they said
he you're gonna win this race, and he said, put
it this way. The only way I could lose this
race and the last week is if I'm caught in
bed with a live girl or a dead boy. And
(35:46):
I thought that was pretty clever. But eventually his past
caught up to him, and we elected a reform governor
named Buddy Romer, and I'd supported him. He asked me
to leave him my practice come to Baton Rouge, and
I liked it. I was just legal counsel, and I stayed.
And then I ran for office and got elected, and
I ran for the Senate three times. It took me
(36:08):
three times to get here, and I thought they left
me for dead for a few times. Politically, I switched
parties because the Democrat I couldn't. I just couldn't be
a Democrat anymore. And they all got mad at me,
and they tried to hurt me. But the mistake they made,
they're gonna let me live. They never should have letting
(36:29):
me live it. So I wanted on the third time.
And here we are having fun.
Speaker 5 (36:34):
All right.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
Biggest surprises when you get to the Senate. Biggest surprise
upside and biggest surprise downside.
Speaker 4 (36:41):
Biggest surprise upside. You probably saw this. I came in
wanting to gallop. You can't gallop in the Senate. You
have to inch along, And at first that frustrated me.
It still does, but it's not altogether bad, because after
a while you were a senator's job is not just
(37:02):
to advance good ideas, it's to kill bad ideas. And
sometimes killing the bad ideas is more important than advancing
the good ideas. That has been my biggest transformation in
the Senate. But it's frustrating Senator McConnell, who's your friend
(37:23):
in mine? But Mitch was the majority leader, and I
wasn't used to taking orders from another politician, and Mitch
and I butted heads a few times. She butted heads
with you. Mitch liked to run it from the top down,
and I thought, I remember you and I talked when
(37:44):
we passed President Trump's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. We
passed it through reconciliation, and Ted was an advocate of
doing a second Billy, and it just took a majority
vote no Democrats, and I I'm ACKed. Hm and and
Mitch wouldn't do it, and we left so much good
(38:05):
policy on the table.
Speaker 3 (38:06):
It remains the most politically indefensible decision I've ever seen.
Speaker 4 (38:09):
And I hope we don't do it under Trump's second term.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
And actually John brought that up at lunch today, made
that argument, and it's clearly, look, it is our best
avenue to win victories and we should be focused on
winning victories. Now that Ben said, we got a lot
done in that one, big boy, it's.
Speaker 4 (38:29):
Sure, but we get a second body.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
At the end, exactly, and a third if we want.
Speaker 4 (38:33):
It, and why not take it? Why not take it?
And we don't have to get we don't have to
get Democratic votes because I'm I'm I'm you know, I
think I want to think the best of people, But
I just think it's gonna be hard to negotiate anything
with the Democrats from here on now.
Speaker 3 (38:51):
They just hate Trump. They're so extreme right now.
Speaker 4 (38:54):
I'm just blinded by by their their passion center.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
I'm gonna I'm afraid of hitman from your staff's telling
me we were supposed to wrap with you a few
minutes ago.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
So I want to hold up the book again.
Speaker 3 (39:06):
All right, So let me tell everyone again. Book is
How to Test Negative for Stupid and Why Washington Never
Will It is by John Kennedy, not John F. Kennedy,
but John Kennedy, the great United States Senator. The book
is funny, it is interesting. It gives you stories behind
the scenes of what's going on in the US. Senate
John Kennedy rats out all his colleagues. He makes them embarrassed.
(39:29):
He makes them curl up, curl up. Chuck Schumer curled
up in a ball in the closet and cried like
a little girl. When when when John Kennedy wrote this book.
So you need to go to Amazon and buy it.
And I will say as I said before, John Kennedy
is easily one of my favorite colleagues. He is bunny,
is funny as hell, and he is smart as hell.
(39:52):
A lot of people don't realize this man is dangerous
and has you know he's an Oxford educated lawyer and
and with a Southern accent, particular Yankees underestimating and be like,
all right, he's got a Southern accident. He can't be
all that bright.
Speaker 4 (40:04):
You can't accuse me of being self aware, not being
self aware. I'm fully aware that my voice scares small children,
it sets off car arms, but it's my voice. But
thank you for having me ed, Thank you, Ben.
Speaker 3 (40:17):
And I'm gonna close. I'm gonna close with my favorite kennedyism,
which was in a judiciary committee hearing. John Kennedy leaned
forward into the microphone and he said, Christmas tree ornaments
and Jeffrey Epstein two things you know didn't hang themselves.
Speaker 2 (40:39):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (40:39):
I was sitting there going, wait, this is at an
open hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Did he really
say that.
Speaker 2 (40:47):
It was I did?
Speaker 4 (40:48):
It was true. I'd read that joke somewhere. It seemed
like a good idea at the time. Thank you, guys.
Speaker 1 (40:55):
Buy the book wherever you can how to test negative
for stupid.
Speaker 2 (40:59):
Get it on Amazon, don't forget.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
You can get this podcast Monday, Wednesday, Friday, wherever you
get your podcasts. Share it on social media. Sent her
cruise and I will see you back here in a
couple of days. And grab the book right after this
as well.
Host
Ben Ferguson
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