Sen. John Kennedy: Washington’s lost its mind and China’s trying to rule the world.

Summary

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Pod Force One: Sen. John Kennedy – “Washington’s Lost Its Mind and China’s Trying to Rule the World”

Host: Miranda Devine, New York Post
Guest: Sen. John Kennedy (Louisiana)
Air Date: October 22, 2025

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Overview

In this candid and wide-ranging episode, Miranda Devine sits down with Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana to discuss his new book, How to Test Negative for Stupid and Why Washington Never Will. The conversation delves into the dysfunction of Washington politics, party infighting, Kennedy’s personal political journey, sharp critiques of both the Democratic and Republican parties, and significant foreign policy challenges—particularly concerning China, Russia, and the Middle East. Interwoven are colorful anecdotes, memorable one-liners, and reflections on Kennedy’s rural upbringing and path to public service.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Problem with Washington Today

• Government Shutdowns & Partisan Ego (01:36–04:36)

  • Kennedy blames the current shutdown on ego: “This shutdown will not end until 60 US senators take their egos out back and shoot them.” (02:57)
  • Accuses Democrats—specifically Senator Schumer—of being driven by internal politics and pressure from the party’s left wing.
  • Views the Democratic Party as being in a “civil war,” with its “loon wing...on the ascendancy.” (04:16)

• On Loss of Common Sense (02:57)

  • “Common sense is illegal.” – Sen. John Kennedy

• Lack of Leadership in the Democratic Party (04:40–06:19)

  • Kennedy urges Democrats to seek wisdom from Bill Clinton, claiming moves to the far left “as seen by the average American is just stone cold crazy.”

2. Party Politics and Senate Culture

• Transition from Democrat to Republican (08:29–09:39)

  • Kennedy describes his switch as reflecting the changing landscape in Louisiana, distancing himself from an increasingly liberal Democratic Party:
  • “I said, one day, you know, there’s got to be a better way of doing this… I want you all to know that if that upsets you, you can vote against me, but that’s what I’m up to.” (09:23)

• The Senate’s Quirky Internal Dynamics (06:19–08:29, 27:32–29:46)

  • Differentiates between the “free-range chickens” of the GOP (including himself and Rand Paul) and the more tightly disciplined Democrats (“if Chuck told some of the Democrats to go join the Taliban, they would say, where’s the line, Mr. Leader?” (07:26))
  • Lightheartedly recounts Senate lunches, sharing Louisiana delicacies and pranks, such as presenting Tic-Tacs as alligator eggs.

• On the Absence of ‘Dummies’ in the Senate (32:38–33:19)

  • “I haven’t met a dummy yet. Really. United States Senate.” —John Kennedy

3. Reflections on Joe Biden’s Presidency

• Kennedy’s Personal Observations (12:22–14:59)

  • Kennedy shares his candid (and biting) assessment of Joe Biden’s cognitive abilities during his presidency:
    • “It would take him an hour and a half to watch 60 Minutes.” (13:13)
    • “I could see the beginning of his neurodegenerative disease.” (13:36)
  • Criticizes Biden’s staff for isolating the president and hiding health issues from both parties and the Cabinet.

• Anecdote About Major, Biden’s Dog (12:23–12:41)

  • “His answer was, ‘Oh, well, it wasn’t [Major’s] fault he bit all those Secret Service agents.’” – Miranda Devine

4. Foreign Policy: China, Russia, and the Middle East

• China’s Ascendancy and U.S. Decline (17:17–26:03)

  • Kennedy argues China has ambitions to “dominate the Indo-Pacific” in coordination with Russia and Iran. (17:17)
  • Suggests Chinese, Russian, and Iranian leaders perceived Biden as weak, facilitating global instability.

• Afghanistan and Ukraine (15:24–15:54; 24:00–25:53)

  • Attributes botched Afghanistan withdrawal and Ukraine invasion to perception of U.S. weakness.
  • “He…at a short press conference said, well, if it’s a small incursion, yes, it might be okay. And I’m thinking...‘Holy Moses.’ That’s an invitation.” (15:28–15:53)

• Israel, Gaza, and the Middle East Peace (20:00–21:37)

  • Kennedy defends Israel’s actions and asserts long-term American support will hold.
  • Criticizes European leaders for “playing act” at the U.N. on Palestinian statehood without proposing workable solutions (21:57).

• Younger Americans and Shifting Support (20:00–21:23)

  • Discusses the fading support for Israel among youth and academic circles (“Columbia University”).

5. On Trump, MAGA, and Republican Factions

• The Trump Phenomenon (09:39–11:33, 26:03–27:26)

  • Kennedy offers candid, humorous reflections on Trump’s communication style:
    • “I told him one time…‘You grow anxious when you have an unexpressed thought.’ He just says everything.” (11:23)
  • Argues Trump’s unpredictability gave the U.S. foreign policy strength (“He’s unpredictable…that alone made the world a much safer place.” (26:24–27:26))

• MAGA vs. Traditional Conservatives (36:34–37:22)

  • Identifies “MAGA” Republicans as more fiscally responsible: “They understand you can’t just keep charging more and more to the credit card and paying the minimum without getting in trouble.” (37:05)

6. Views on Congressional Dysfunction and Fiscal Policy

• Chronic Spending and National Debt (34:28–36:35)

  • Expresses frustration at endless deficit spending: “Their favorite type of spending is more.” (35:01)
  • On inflation and the bond market: “You want to know why long-term rates have not come down?...Because it’s Congress they think will never ever stop deficit spending.” (35:01–36:34)

• On Willpower and the “Magical Healing Power of the Word No” (36:20)

  • “It’s not going to stop until members of Congress learn the magical healing power of the word no.” (36:20)

7. Personal Stories and Life Lessons

• Upbringing in Small-Town Louisiana (40:58–42:49)

  • Kennedy shares colorful stories of his father, a Depression-era “Grapes of Wrath” figure, and the dignity of hard work imposed from a young age.
  • “We didn’t have a town drunk. Some people would have to take turns. We were so small.” (41:03)

• On Family, Marriage, and Fatherhood (42:51–45:24)

  • Details about meeting his wife Becky, raising his son Preston, and the humor and heart of family life.

• Secrets of Success: Hard Work and Grit (45:41–47:46)

  • “I’ve been around a lot of people, a lot smarter than me...but they couldn’t outwork me. And that was my secret… It’s 20% inspiration, 80% perspiration.” (45:58–46:57)
  • Emphasizes ordinary Americans—“ordinary people doing extraordinary things”—as the true source of America’s greatness. (47:46)

• Oxford Anecdotes (48:10–50:53)

  • Recounts unique British academic traditions (formal dress for exams, cold dormitories) and his cultural adaptation.
  • “You’re nervous as a pregnant nun and you have to put on all this regalia.” (48:21)
  • “The food sucked...I lived off Kit Kat bars.” (50:42)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Party Dysfunction:
  • “This shutdown will not end until 60 US senators take their egos out back and shoot them.” – John Kennedy (02:57)
• On Chuck Schumer’s Leadership:
  • “Imagine a five-year-old in a Batman costume after Halloween with a bunch of sugar.” (31:29)
• On the Nature of Trump:
  • “He’s unpredictable…This man will kill you and hurt you the entire time you’re dying if you push him too far.” (26:24–27:26)
• On Fiscally Responsible Politics:
  • “It’s not going to stop until members of Congress learn the magical healing power of the word no.” (36:20)
• On American Decline (seen from Beijing):
  • “They look at America and what do they see?... They see Americans debating whether a man can breastfeed. Yes. And they go, just feed.” (24:25)
• On Success:
  • “I’ve been around smart people my whole life, but there’s no better recipe…80% perspiration.” (46:25)
• On Family:
  • “You’ll never know love until you have a child…He was right.” (42:51)

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Key Timestamps

• Shutdown/Ego & Dem Civil War: 01:36–04:36
• Democrat-to-Republican Switch: 08:29–09:39
• Biden Critique & Anecdotes: 12:22–14:59
• Ukraine, China, and Foreign Policy: 17:17–27:26
• Senate Lunch & Louisiana Cuisine: 27:32–29:46
• On Senate Intellectualism: 32:38–33:19
• Congress and Debt Addiction: 34:28–36:35
• MAGA vs. Establishment: 36:34–37:22
• Childhood & Upbringing: 40:58–42:49
• Oxford Stories: 48:10–50:53

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Tone & Language

• Kennedy’s Speech:

  • Folksy, humorous, direct, peppered with witty analogies.
  • Frustration with Washington and both parties’ lack of common sense.
  • Colorful, self-deprecating, candid (and at times, irreverent).

• Devine’s Style:

  • Probing, at times playful, appreciative of Kennedy’s colorful language and stories.

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Conclusion

Through sharp critiques, vivid stories, and whip-smart humor, Senator Kennedy diagnoses Washington’s pathologies, warns of China’s rise, dissects inner-party strife, and champions American resilience founded on hard work and common sense. This episode is not only a tour of the battles shaping American politics but a personal look at how experience, honesty, and humor shape a statesman’s worldview.

Transcript

[Miranda Devine]

Welcome back to PodForceOne. I'm Miranda Devine and today I'm talking with Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana. He has a new book out called how to Test Negative for Stupid and why Washington Never Will. Senator John Kennedy, thank you for joining podforce One.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Thank you.

[Miranda Devine]

I'll just go through quickly your very impressive resume. You're a lawyer, you're a former state treasurer, you're the Senate's master of the mic drop.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Mom.

[Miranda Devine]

Born in 1951 in Centerville, Mississippi, Raised in small town Zachary, Louisiana. You graduated top of your class at Vanderbilt University where senior class president earned a law degree from the University of Virginia. And then you went to Oxford University where you did your postgraduate degree. Elected to the US Senate in 2016 the same night as Donald Trump.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yeah.

[Miranda Devine]

But you had been for a long time a Democrat. So we'll talk about that later because that's an interesting transition. Married to your wife Becky for 35 years. Your favorite pastimes are fly fishing and duck hunting.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yes.

[Miranda Devine]

And your new book, which is wonderful.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Thank you, Marin.

[Miranda Devine]

It's, it's mercifully short, so I always am very thankful to people who keep it tight. How to Test Negative for Stupid and why Washington Never Will. So let's start there. Is Washington irredeemably stupid?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Well, if you want to understand why we're in a shutdown right now, read the book. It explains why US senators are not like most teenagers. They're all over 40. This is an ego driven shutdown. It's politic. Here's what happened. The country was rocking along, minding its own business. Our budget ran out at midnight. We knew it was going to run out. So we've been talking to the Democrats about just extending the negotiations for a new budget for six or seven weeks, no strings attached. Just let's keep talking, but keep the government open. And the Democrats stepped up and said, we will vote no. We're going to shut her all down unless you give us $1.5 trillion and we're going to tell you how to spend it. Well, I mean, our heads snapped back and I thought, you know, my, my mama did not raise a fool and if she did, it was one of my three brothers and I'm not voting for this. And every Republican said, are you kidding me? So that's why we're in a shutdown. It's really about. But it's not about the money. It's also about politics, which I'll be glad to go into if you want.

[Miranda Devine]

Apart from the shutdown, what else is irredeemably stupid in Washington.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Well, common sense is illegal. And the problem you've got, and I'll tie it again to the shutdown. This shutdown will not end until 60 US senators take their egos out back and shoot them. Because this is all ego driven. For example, it's not all his fault, but he deserves a lot of the blame. Senator Schumer is worried about his personal politics in New York with AOC nipping his heels. I mean, his numbers, his, his poll numbers for his reelection or on a journey to the center of the Earth. The loon wing or the progressive wing or the socialist wing, whatever you want to call it, of the Democratic Party is mad at him. They don't love him. Chuck wants them to love him. They'll never love him. And because they're run by Congresswoman Ocasio Cortez and she's probably going to run against Chuck. Now, I'm not saying that's the entire.

[Miranda Devine]

Reason she might run for president, but.

[Senator John Kennedy]

She could run for president. But that's driving a lot of this. The, the Democrat, My party, all parties change. Yeah, my party, Republican Party has changed, but the Democratic Party is in a fight for its soul.

[Miranda Devine]

It's in a civil war.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And the loon wing, as I call it, or if you want to be polite, the socialist wing, is on the ascendancy. They're about to elect a mayor, a socialist mayor of New York, which I find breathtakingly dumb. Yeah, but, but you know, this is a democracy. People can, people can vote how they wish.

[Miranda Devine]

But what's gone wrong with the Democrats? Is it Donald Trump that's made them.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Well, for one thing, they don't have leadership. If I were advising the Democrats, I'm not. They don't want my advice, Miranda, but I really would, I would tell them to go talk to Bill Clinton. Not Joe Biden, not Barack Obama, but Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton can explain to them how what a lot of they are doing in terms of as seen by the average American is just stone cold crazy. I mean, open borders belief that our kids can change genders at recess. The, the loon wing of the party, it hates George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and, and Thomas Jefferson and Dr. Seuss and Mr. Potato Head. They think that they're all racist. The average American doesn't think that. And Clinton moved the party back to the middle, but they don't want to listen to it because Clinton, I mean, I'm not, I don't agree with a lot of what President Clinton stands for, but he's certainly Not a member of the lone wing of the party. This is going to sound. His wife is his, his wife is little to the left of Lenin. But Carville has given them advice. Now, I've known James for a long time. I knew him. I'll tell you how long I've known Card. I knew him when he was poor. Oh, that's been a long time. But Carver is preaching the same thing. Yeah. But anyway, that fight's going on with the party and that explains a lot.

[Miranda Devine]

Of the shutdown and your Senate colleagues. I mean, it's meant to be a very collegial place.

[Senator John Kennedy]

It is. It is collegial compared to the House.

[Miranda Devine]

Right. But I mean, you must look across the aisle at your Senate colleagues and either pity them or just marvel at their stupidity.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Well, the Senate Democrats and the, and the Senate Republicans are different. In the Republican side, we've got. We've got four or five free range chickens. Right. They, they, they wander.

[Miranda Devine]

You're one of them.

[Senator John Kennedy]

I am one. But. Yeah, but they'll wander off.

[Miranda Devine]

Who are the others?

[Senator John Kennedy]

And Grandpa Rand Paul Ramsey. Free range ticket is Tim Cruz. No, Cruz is not really. He can be on certain issues. Yeah. And I don't mean this critically. They're just. I think it's a positive. Susan Collins is another. Mitch. Mitch can be. Since he's no longer majority.

[Miranda Devine]

Right.

[Senator John Kennedy]

We don't always move in tandem. Now, that's good and bad, but the Democrats, for the most part, if Chuck. What. What Chuck tells me to do, they do. Right. I don't. Look, I don't mean any disrespect, but.

[Miranda Devine]

If Donald Trump envies that.

[Senator John Kennedy]

If. Yeah, well, of course, that's all presidents want you to do with their what you're told. But if Chuck told some of the Democrats to go join the Taliban, they would say, where's the line, Mr. Leader? But that's why we're in a shutdown. Yeah. And here's how it's going to end. I predict Chuck will go to. To six or eight of his members and saying, look, we got to get this thing back open. So I want you to vote to open it up, but don't tell anybody I told you. So I'm going to keep voting no, so I can try to save face. But you vote to open it back up. Now, nobody will be fooled. And the risk that Senator Schumer runs by doing that. There's a fine line between looking like you're in charge and mutiny. You don't want it to look like a mutiny because then he looks Weaker, but that's how this thing will get open, because the Democrats know they're, they're, they're on. They're not on solid ground, don't you think?

[Miranda Devine]

I mean, I hate to keep critiquing the Democratic Party, but. You were a Democratic Party until 2007.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yeah, but, but in Louisiana, national politics had not seeped in Louisiana. In our state at that time, most people were Democrats, but they were conservative Democrats.

[Miranda Devine]

Like blue dog Democrats?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yes. Yeah, I was. I've been fiscally conservative all my life. But then things started changing, and I looked up one day, I was a state treasurer, and all of the people that supported me and all the people who handled my legislation in the state legislature, they were Republicans, right. And the Democrats would dog cuss me. And I'm a member of their party, right, Because I wasn't part of the moon wing. And so I said, one day, you know, there's got to be a better way of doing this. And I just decided before, about two, two months before my. One of my reelection campaigns for treasurer, I stood up front of God and country people in Louisiana. I said, look, hey, I'm going to change parties. I want you all to know that if that upsets you, you can vote against me, but that's what I'm up to. And I did, and I've never looked back.

[Miranda Devine]

And did any particular incident precipitate that like that? Was there a drama with something?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yeah, well, my Democratic colleagues stopped talking to me. You know, for example, I would go down to the state legislature. I was constantly, I'm. I'm cheap, especially with taxpayer money. I squeak when I walk. Okay, I'm cheap. And I would go down to the legislature and try to give them ideas about how to save money. Well, my Democratic colleagues in the legislature would come up to me and they'd say, Kennedy, what, what, what planet did you parachute in from where the party likes to spend money. You need to be helping us add money. I said, no, guys, you know, this money didn't just fall from heaven. We thank heaven for it. But it came out of people's pockets, and we grew further and further apart, mostly on fiscal matters. And then of course, after I switch, switch parties, the Democrats today, I don't, I don't recognize many of them. You know, all this stuff about transgenderism and open borders and hatred of people and you're a racist if you don't agree with everything they stand for. And I, that I think that's why their party's in trouble. I'm not Saying, my party's perfect. But I think this is the way most Americans look at it today, and it's why Trump was elected. Yeah. People look at the choice, Democrat, Republican, they say, well, Republicans aren't perfect, but the other side's crazy. Right. And that's why they elected President Trump. Trump. They know all about President Trump. He's unruly. He. He. I told him one time. He. I said, Mr. President, your problem is you grow anxious when you have an unexpressed thought. He just says any. He says everything.

[Miranda Devine]

But did you really say that?

[Senator John Kennedy]

I did say that.

[Miranda Devine]

What did he say?

[Senator John Kennedy]

He was cool about it. Yeah. He. He asked me one time. He said, how you like my tweets? And I said, well, Mr. President, don't take this the wrong way, but tweeting a little bit less would not cause brain damage. And he looked at me, said, you don't like my tweets? I said, no, I didn't say that. I said, I like steak, but I don't like eight steaks at one time. And you can't just say everything that comes into your head. But of course, you think it had name and it. No, zero. And he. It. But the American people get it, but they think they to. Between them and Harris, it was hope versus more hurt. And that's why Trump won.

[Miranda Devine]

Yeah. And Joe Biden. You. You famously, I think you write about.

[Senator John Kennedy]

It in the book.

[Miranda Devine]

You went and met him, I think, in 21, just after he was president, and you lingered quite a lot and got an opportunity to observe him. You asked him about his dog, Major. I thought it was interesting that his answer was, oh, well, it wasn't his fault. He bit all those Secret Service agents.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Well, President Biden and I were both dog lovers, but. But I did. I was over at the White House for a photo op on a bill I passed. I stayed for 45 minutes, much to his. His. His staff chagrin, and we just talked, and I got to know him a little bit. Look, we all age differently at that point. This was in the first year of his presidency. The President Biden was very far along. He. Far, even far along in terms of his age. Even then. Even then. It would. It would. To paraphrase a former Louisiana governor, it would take him an hour and a half to watch 60 Minutes. He was very, very slow, but he had reached the point in his life. This was early on when I could tell. All he wanted to do was sit around, tell war stories. Yeah. Talk about the good old days.

[Miranda Devine]

So for Grande.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yep. And then when he was done. He wanted some hot soup and an.

[Miranda Devine]

Early bedtime, which is pretty much what he got.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And, and I figured his staff was getting maybe 4 hours, 5 hours of work out of the day. He couldn't help it in the sense we all age differently. We do. But he, he did not. I could see the beginning of his neurodegenerative disease. It got worse. His staff cleverly hid it until they couldn't anymore. He had to debate in front of God and country, American people. And the American people saw it and they said, look, this man is just, you know, he's like my grandpa, you know, who I just took the car keys from.

[Miranda Devine]

But I mean, what a travesty that he was allowed to or chosen by the Democratic Party, which knew that he had cognitive issues before he ran president.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And we all knew it, but we, we couldn't. His staff would not let any of us, not just Republicans, but Democrats, around him or the Cabinet, even the Cabinet. They kept him totally isolate. And you could see bits and pieces of it when he would, when he would talk and sound like he was from outer space. Yeah. You know, and my, my people back home, L.A. would say, who is really the president? And I tell them the truth. Whoever the hell has control with that teleprompter.

[Miranda Devine]

Yes.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Because of the auto pin or the auto pin, because he. All he's doing is reading and doing what he's told. Now, I'm not saying he didn't have some independent thoughts, but I don't believe he was working, Miranda, more than at the end, probably three hours a day. And you can't do that job in three hours a day.

[Miranda Devine]

But what a catastrophe for the country that's going to take.

[Senator John Kennedy]

It was dangerous.

[Miranda Devine]

Dangerous. I look at what happened with the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Well, and I remember when, when Putin was lined up on the Ukrainian border, thinking about going in, weighing his option, watching President Biden at a short press conference say, well, if it's a small incursion, yes, it might be okay. And I'm thinking, holy. I'm going to say what I say thought. Holy Moses.

[Miranda Devine]

That's an invitation.

[Senator John Kennedy]

That's an invitation.

[Miranda Devine]

But you think that was deliberate?

[Senator John Kennedy]

I think he just started rambling. He Afghanistan, he removed the sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. He removed the sanctions on Iran from selling their oil. Now President Xi in China is working with Putin and Russia in the Ayatollah in Iran. They see all this. They're working together, and they saw a president who, who was not clearly in grasp, didn't have a clean grasp on all of his faculties. They saw weakness and they made their move. And that's how Ukraine started.

[Miranda Devine]

And do you think also that China, because he also removed a lot of the Trump era sort of restrictions on China, for instance, stealing our intellectual property in universities and so on. He closed down those programs. You know, I wrote the laptop from hell. I looked into what I saw was corruption, influence peddling and you know, perhaps his selling out to China. Do you think there was anything in that? Do you think that he was doing these things just because he was randomly, you know, a Roomba wandering around aimlessly or was there method in the madness?

[Senator John Kennedy]

I think he was getting weaker and weaker as a president. My just point politically, but also physically, I think he surrounded himself with staff that were a bunch of left winning workers. I think President Xi is the quarterback of all of this. She is working with Putin, working with the Ayatollah. Their goal was to have Russia dominate Central and Eastern Europe, the Ayatollah dominate the Middle East, China dominate the Indo Pacific with freedom to roam and sub Sahara Africa and South America. And that's not a world safe for Americans. Now I don't want America to be the world's policeman, but I don't want Xi Jinping or Vladimir Putin or the Ayatollah in Iran to be and dealing. These are hard men. They're all men. They're hard men. Dealing with them is like hand feeding a shark. And they understand one thing. And Biden would send Solomon and Lincoln. Lincoln over to talk to them. Yeah. I mean we're in the middle of a prison riot in Ukraine and, and Sullivan would go over there and try to quote Socrates to them. Yes. Instead of showing force. And even when, when Hamas attacked Israel, all Israel did, they did the right thing. Israel beat Hamas, they beat Hezbollah, they backed off Iran and they did it with President Biden hanging all over their back. And Europe, yes, saying stop, stop. And, and Israel said, no, we're not going to stop until we kill these people who want to kill us first.

[Isabelle Brown]

Isabelle Brown.

[Miranda Devine]

Isabelle Brown. Isabel Brown.

[Isabelle Brown]

The wait is almost over.

She's joining Daily Wire plus with the Isabel Brown Show.

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[Senator John Kennedy]

Private equity keeps investing capital gains tax on home.

[Miranda Devine]

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[Senator John Kennedy]

That's.

[Isabelle Brown]

But do you truly understand how they impact your world and your wallet in a world that skims the what understand the why. Because context changes everything. Subscribe to Learn [e-mail] the global benchmark for business news.

[Miranda Devine]

So the Israel question, we're seeing that in America polls are showing that America we're which used to be back Israel, most Americans to the hilt. Now that's softening and especially with the younger generation. And it's over. The Hamas, the war in Gaza. Why do you think that is happening?

[Senator John Kennedy]

I think short term opinion is mixed, but I think long term the American people will come to realize that the Middle east is safer because of what Israel did. Not just safer for the Israeli people. By backing off Iran. Iran is behind Hamas and Hezbollah by backing off Iran bombing its nuclear site, bombing its nuclear site, knocking out its air defenses. It's not just Israel safer. It's Saudi Arabia. It's Egypt. Yeah. It's Jordan. Yeah. It's all the country. They, they will not say it publicly, but they're more scared of Iran, who's backed by China and Russia and North Korea than they are of Israel. Now Israel's, I know they're unpopular in Europe and, and in some quarters of the United States.

[Miranda Devine]

Columbia University.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Columbia. But I think history will prove that they, their actions resulted in a more stable Middle East. And I think Trump deserves a lot of credit for backing. Because President Biden did.

[Miranda Devine]

No. And what's supposed to happen to the Palestinian refugees?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Well, that's the question. I mean, if you ask Prime Minister Starmer in the UK just came out and said why. But we need a Palestinian state. Okay, Cinderella, where do you want, where you want to put it?

[Miranda Devine]

Liverpool.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yeah. Who's going to run it? Are you going to let Hamas run it? What's hot Hezbollah's role. How are you going to keep them out without Israel involved or the, or some sort of police force? How are you going to keep Iran out? It's real easy for Starmer and Macron in France to go to the UN and play act and say, oh, you know, I'm politically correct, we need a Palestinian state. But the mechanics of how to do it while really protecting the Palestinian people and having stability in the Middle East. You're not going to do it by letting the terrorists come back in. You're just not. These people are crazy. They hate their religion. The, the zealots not all members of the Muslim face, but, but the radical Muslim faith, but the radicalized part of Islam. They hate Americans, they hate Jews. They want to kill us and drink our blood out of a boot.

[Miranda Devine]

And yet they're allied with the queers for Palestine and the far left.

[Senator John Kennedy]

They're allied with many people in Europe. Yeah. I mean, Starmer and, and, and Macron and the Prime Minister of Canada. They think the way you deal with the terrorists is give them a cup of hot cocoa and a hug.

[Miranda Devine]

But aren't they doing that for political, domestic, because they've got so many.

[Senator John Kennedy]

But that's not leadership. Leadership is telling the people the truth. You know, when I vote in the Senate, here's how I vote. I vote like I think my people back home would want me to vote or how I think they would want me to vote if, if they have the same information I do. Miranda. Now, a lot of times they don't have the same information that I do. So when I vote, they'll say, oh, we don't like that. But I've got to go explain to them. Let me tell you what's really going on. And sometimes some people still stay mad at and what they call leadership.

[Miranda Devine]

How do they feel about, for instance, your die hard support for Ukraine?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Some of them like it, some of them don't.

[Miranda Devine]

Yeah.

[Senator John Kennedy]

I mean, I had a, I had a guy text me the other day, he said, kennedy, you're wrong on Ukraine. And by the way, I watched on tv, you look like my second wife. I said, that's a pretty good cut. You know, but probably a lot of my people disagree with me on Ukraine. Yeah. But they don't see what I'm saying. It's not just Putin, it's Xi.

[Miranda Devine]

Yes.

[Senator John Kennedy]

It's the Ayatollah. It's North Korea. Yeah. I've been to China many times. I met with President Xi. Here's what they think. They think America is in decline. They think they're in the ascendancy while they're. They built a ship, a boat and a nuclear weapon while you and I have been talking. And they look at America and what do they see in America? They see Americans debating whether a man can breastfeed. Yes. And they go, just feed.

[AMPM Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Whether a man can breastfeed, like that's subject to debate in all these cultural wars. And they're convinced, they take the long view, but they're convinced that they're rising, America's declining. We've got to show them they're wrong. But she is calling a lot of she could end that war in Ukraine and settle the Middle east tomorrow. Tomorrow. Really? All he'd have to do is call Putin and say, putin, I want it stopped. And if you says no, no, no, all she's. She will say, look, I don't mean to embarrass you, but if you don't stop it, I'll punish you the rest of your natural life. And you won't be running Russia anymore. And he would stop. Same thing with Iran. He can back them off in a phone call. But she. I'm telling you, I've seen the classified and unclassified information behind a lot of this. And it started. It started when President Obama drew a red line in Syria. Yeah. And Assad crossed it. It started when President Obama let Russia take Crimea. You think Russia didn't check President Xi and China before he did that? And then. And then it. It. It accelerated under President Biden and under.

[Miranda Devine]

Donald Trump, there was no incursions. Well, they're scared of invasion. They're scared of Iran was broke.

[Senator John Kennedy]

They're scared of Trump. Right. And you ask why? I'll tell you why. So, best example I can think of, no One run, great pitch, unbelievable fastball. Strikeout king. Still, major league strikeout record.

[Miranda Devine]

What's his name?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Nolan Ryan. Nolan Ryan. Okay. He. Most people know him because he has the most strikeouts in history, but what people also don't know is he hit 178 batters. Right. So what was his edge? The batters thought he was crazy. They didn't know whether he was going to throw a strike or throw a throw at their head. And he gave him a little bit of it. Yeah. And that's what President Trump is like. They. He's unpredictable. And when he backed Israel and he went in and they took out those nuclear facilities in Iran, that alone made the world a much safer place be. Because our enemies thought, whoa, this man. This man will kill you and hurt you the entire time you're dying if you push him too far. If. If Biden had done that, we could have had peace a lot sooner. But it was never going to happen.

[Miranda Devine]

And within the Republican Party, there is.

[Senator John Kennedy]

This New York Post right here.

[Miranda Devine]

New York Post.

[Senator John Kennedy]

To the New York Post. Cheers. Cheers.

[Miranda Devine]

Water in there? Of course not. Good old Louisiana potion.

[Senator John Kennedy]

What. What.

[Miranda Devine]

What is your potion there?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Well, I'm a Scotchman myself, but. But we will drink just about anything. And we in Louisiana, I'm very proud of this. We will. We eat things that you would call an exterminator for to get out of Your backyard. We know how to cook it.

[Miranda Devine]

You eat alligator?

[Senator John Kennedy]

We eat alligator. We, we, we'll eat anything that won't eat us first. And Australia. And sometimes we can kill it. We'll eat it.

[Miranda Devine]

I back to the collegiate form of the Senate. I believe you said in your book that every week, three days a week, you have lunch together, you and your Republican colleagues. And every Thursday it's the chance of somebody to be the host. And you ship in all these delicacies from Louisiana. So what do you ship in?

[Senator John Kennedy]

I should be an alligator.

[Miranda Devine]

Rice Tastes like it.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Well, it tastes like chicken. No, it really does rub it, but you can. I have it fried. I have a good friend back home who runs a runs of restaurant. We ship in jambalai jumbo.

[Miranda Devine]

What's that, like a rice dish?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Rice, yeah. Yeah. But it's very seasoned. You have season. It's just. It's not just rice and food color. We ship in gumbo. People love gumbo. Stuffed bell peppers. Yum. Shrimp. Shrimp. A lot of shrimp. Oysters. If I can get them fresh and keep them fresh. They love it. My colleagues love it. Next time I do it, I'm probably going to give away the joke, but I was thinking about. Because they don't believe anything. They. Most of them have been Louisiana. I was thinking about taking a few Tic Tacs, you know, the little white breath mints.

[Miranda Devine]

Oh yeah.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And put them in a little cellophane bag and tell them they're alligator eggs. They would believe it. But anyway, it's, it's. We meet three times a week to talk policy because we're all busy. We're in committee, we're voting. It's a chance to get together and talk policy, but it's also a chance to let off a little steam.

[Miranda Devine]

Yes.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And speak. There are no cameras there because there.

[Miranda Devine]

Is a bit of an internal friction growing, isn't there? And especially over the sort of non interventionist wing and then the Lindsey Graham sort of Mitch McConnell wing of, you know, bomb any country you like.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yep.

[Miranda Devine]

So how do you resolve that?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Now I tell a story in the book, if you want. If you want to stump Lindsay, ask him to name a country with bomb. Lindsay and I agree more than we disagree.

[Miranda Devine]

But you tell a hilarious story about. You say with Lindsay, you never know when you invite him to dinner, if you can have pleasant conversation or he's going to get drunk and vomit in the fish tank.

[Senator John Kennedy]

That's exactly right.

[Miranda Devine]

Has he done that?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Well, not. Not to my knowledge, but. All right, but. But I'm Sure. If you ask him, he'd look in the eye and say, yeah, that happened once, you know, but you've never seen him vomiting. I love Lindsay. I've seen him have a few cocktails. I love Lindsay and I respect.

[Miranda Devine]

What's he like when he's had a few cocktails?

[Senator John Kennedy]

He's. Because he's just like, he's sort of like Lindsay on steroids.

[Miranda Devine]

You know, he's already on steroids.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Lindsay's very smart. He's, he, he's sometimes wrong, but he's never in doubt. He's, he's close to the President. But he and the president don't agree on everything. No. Really, don't. They argue a lot. President Trump is very accessible and I don't abuse that privilege. I might talk to the President once a week. If I called him right now and he was free, he'd pick up Lindsey. Talks to him all the time.

[Miranda Devine]

Right. Always abuses the privilege.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Oh, yeah, of course. And keeps the President trying to convince the President to see it his way. Yeah, but I respect that about Nancy. He's one of the characters on the Republican side you've got on the Senate side. You know, I talk about Senator Schumer in the book. You know, somebody asked me one time to describe Chuck and I said, well, imagine a five year old in a Batman costume after Halloween with a bunch of sugar. I mean, Chuck is very manic. He's, he's, he's very animated. But look, I don't hate, I don't hate any of my colleagues. I don't, I don't hate anybody. When I, when I say my prayers, I ask God, don't let me hate. Because, yes, if you start hating, it's time to stop serving.

[Miranda Devine]

Right, True. And who of your colleagues do you think is the weirdest or the dumbest?

[Senator John Kennedy]

And who do you, who, who do.

[Miranda Devine]

You think surprised you and was smart?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Here's, this is the honest God's truth. I haven't met a dummy yet. Really? United States Senate. Really? No, I really haven't.

[Miranda Devine]

Could you say the same thing for the House?

[Senator John Kennedy]

I don't know many of the House.

[Miranda Devine]

Right.

[Senator John Kennedy]

I just didn't serve in the House and I didn't go there Right now. There are some senators who work very, very hard. And to do the job correctly, to make a correct decision on policy and to shape policy, you have to spend an enormous time studying policy. There are some senators on both sides of the aisle that don't spend a lot of time doing. If you want to, you can skate, you can get by on a two page memo from your state death.

[Miranda Devine]

But you don't do that.

[Senator John Kennedy]

That's not my. That's not my way. Look, I ran three times to get to the United States Senate. I got the living hell beat out of me twice. It was close, but I got beat.

[Miranda Devine]

Why did you want to do that?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Because. Because. This is going to sound weird. I made a good living practicing law and teaching law school. But I had to. And I had to study things and learn things when I practice law that my clients wanted me to study.

[Miranda Devine]

Right.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Whether I liked it or not in the Senate, I'm a free man. Right. I love policy. If I want to learn about the chronic disease management program in Medicaid in Florida, I can do it.

[Miranda Devine]

So what interests you then in policy? Foreign policy.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Foreign. Foreign policy. I read the Economist, for example, cover to cover every week. It's a plot sometimes.

[Miranda Devine]

And you're on the Appropriations?

[Senator John Kennedy]

I'm on the Appropriations Committee. Health care, obviously, I'm fascinated by monetary and fiscal policy, not just at the macro level, but the micro level.

[Miranda Devine]

So we ever going to balance the budget? Are we ever going to pay down the debt?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Well, as soon as there's the will.

[Miranda Devine]

Donald Trump seems to think he can do it with tariffs.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Well, right now there's not the political will. And the President, even though the President is stretching his powers, it's still ultimately up to Congress. And I can tell you because I sit on Appropriations Congress and this includes Democrats and more Republicans than you think their favorite type of spending is. More. Right. Okay.

[Miranda Devine]

Pork barreling in there.

[Senator John Kennedy]

I have heard Republican senators, I'm not going to give you their name because I still serve with stand up and say nobody ever got beaten election by spending money. I've heard Republicans say that.

[Miranda Devine]

I guess that's true.

[Senator John Kennedy]

That's how we ended up though. Yeah. With $37 trillion in debt. And you want to know why inflation has not gone back to 2%? It's because Congress keeps spending money which stimulates. It's a fiscal stimulus for the economy. You don't want to know why long term rates have not come down. Short term rates have. But long term rates, 10 years or more, what really counts. You know why? Because the bond market thinks there's going to be more inflation. You know why? Because it's, it's Congress they think will never ever stop deficit spending. And it's not going to stop until members of Congress learn the magical healing power of the word no. Right. And I'm there. I'm not saying it's everybody. I can think of 10 or 15 Republicans and maybe one or two Democrats who, if you gave them truth serum and said, please, you know, what do you think they would say? You know what I just said is right. Yeah, yeah. And they would be willing to do it. Yeah. But the rest, no. And that, that's frustrating.

[Miranda Devine]

They're addicted to the money.

[Senator John Kennedy]

My first meeting on the preparations committee.

[Miranda Devine]

Are the MAGA people or the traditional conservatives more fiscally responsible? Which, because probably MAGA more MAGA's more fiscal.

[Senator John Kennedy]

But there's some people, there's some people who are fiscally responsible who are not big fans of President Trump who are.

[Miranda Devine]

Who are not fiscally responsible.

[Senator John Kennedy]

No, they're not necessarily fans of President Trump, but they're still physically responsible.

[Miranda Devine]

Yeah, but, but why is MAGA more fiscally responsible?

[Senator John Kennedy]

I think because the President's talked about. Right. I think because the American people who are maga, they understand they have to balance their budget. They understand you can't just keep charging more and more to the credit card and paying the minimum without getting in trouble.

[Miranda Devine]

Would you call yourself MAGA on some issues?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yeah, right. I talk about it in the book. I mean there, you know, ultra maga. Like I take it issue by issue.

[Miranda Devine]

Right.

[Senator John Kennedy]

I'm going to like President Trump. I, I play outside the pocket. Yeah, okay. I do. I mean I'm sometimes there are things I've disagreed with President Trump on and we've talked about. I've never presence never got mad at me if he has yet and told me we talk fairly frequently. He loves you. Until when I'm going to vote against him. I call him, I say Mr. President. He was, he was, he was. He had a bill one time, it was in his first term and I didn't like it. And the press asked me, how do you improve the President's bill? I said, the only way I know how to improve it is with a shot shredder. Well, he didn't like it. He called me and, and, and we talked about it. I said, here's why I'm against your bill, Mr. President. And he listened. He said, okay. He said, well, will you kind of hold it down a little bit? And I said, I'll do my best, Mr. President, but this is the one big beautiful bill. No, this, the bill was on his first step act.

[Miranda Devine]

Oh, right. First he.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Someone had talked him into passing a bill to let non violent federal prisoners go, let them go home. Well, I knew enough to Bureau of Prisons and the Democrats running the show to know they were not going to let non violence and I wanted to put a provision in the bill that said look, if you go and let somebody go without completing a sentence, you have to to notify the victim rise. And I couldn't get that wine on the bill so I voted against Tom Cotton and I. I think we're the only Republican nobody Good on you.

[Miranda Devine]

It's a very sensible.

[Senator John Kennedy]

But anyway, the president was for it. Yeah. And I think he would probably rethink things today. Yes but. But he didn't like my shredder was very effective.

[Miranda Devine]

What do you think makes the perfect snack?

[AMPM Advertiser]

It's got to be when I'm really craving it and it's convenient.

[Miranda Devine]

Could you be more specific?

[AMPM Advertiser]

When it's cray venient.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Okay.

[AMPM Advertiser]

Like a freshly baked cookie made with real butter, available right down the street at a.m. p.m. Or a savory breakfast sandwich I can grab in just a second at AM pm.

[Senator John Kennedy]

I'm seeing a pattern here.

[AMPM Advertiser]

Well, yeah, we're talking about what I.

[Miranda Devine]

Crave, which is anything from AM pm.

[AMPM Advertiser]

What more could you want? Stop by AMPM where the snacks and drinks are perfectly craveable and convenient. That's cravenience AM PM Too much. Good stuff.

[Isabelle Brown]

Hey, Mike Baker here, host of the President's Daily Brief podcast. If you want straight talk on national security, foreign policy and the biggest global stories going on of the day, this is the show for you. We publish twice a day, Monday through Friday, once in the morning, again in the afternoon and on the weekend we go longer with the PDB situation Report with excellent guests including national security insiders and foreign policy experts. Check us out on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts. Also on our YouTube channel at President's Daily Brief.

[Miranda Devine]

I wanted to ask you about your childhood and so what makes you tick about Louisiana and your father? You describe as a sort of a Grapes of Wrath character who left home at 15 and was a janitor and dragged himself up by the bootstraps, ended up going to university, becoming an engineer and met your mother, who was from a more upmarket family.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yeah.

[Miranda Devine]

Would you say?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yeah.

[Miranda Devine]

So. And. And then you had. They had a bunch of boys, so. And you're in the middle. So tell us, what was your childhood like?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Well, I was raised in a small town called Zachary.

[Miranda Devine]

How many people?

[Senator John Kennedy]

About 3,000.

[Miranda Devine]

Right. Everyone knew who you were?

[Senator John Kennedy]

We. We. Oh yeah. Everybody knew everybody. We didn't have a town drunk. Some people would have to take turns. We were so small. But I loved high school. I cared about. I'd go back in a second I cared about two things, basketball and cheerleader. And I wasn't very good at either one. But I had fun trying. Now, I also studied a lot. My parents insisted on it, right. But I got a great foundation. My parents pushed education. I have two brothers who are doctors. I have another brother who's in commercial and political advertiser. My dad was. Had eight brothers and sisters. Oklahoma, depression. Family left home when he was 15 to finish high school in another town. Worked his way through college at University of Oklahoma. Came to Louisiana. His degree was in petroleum engineer. Met my mother. We worked. I mean, dad worked. Dad was in rent state and small time contractor. We worked for him every summer.

[Miranda Devine]

Was he tough?

[Senator John Kennedy]

He was tough. You know, he. I don't know if I can tell the story. No, I'm not going to tell God. Well, I remember my first day working for Dad. I was maybe 13. He lined up his crew. There were six or eight Carpenters. And he made me stand in front of. And he said, son, these. Every one of these men is your boss. Every single one. And he said, whatever they tell you do, you do. He said, if one of these men tells you to go out in the middle of the road and take a crap, you go out in the middle road and do it. I'm usually embarrassed. Okay. But that kind of set the tone. Yeah. And like, this is. I may. He may be my son, but y' all work on it. And I learned how to work.

[Miranda Devine]

Do you do that to your son?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Well, my son's grown, but, yeah, he worked, right? He worked. He had his chores. Yes. But I'm. Becky and I, lucky, we. Preston is 29, and he's just a wonderful guy. I still think of him as a kid. Yeah. My dad always told me, said, son, you. You'll never know love until you have a child. So I like the love of a spouse or a sibling or parent. I never believed him, but, boy, he was right.

[Miranda Devine]

It's so true.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And Becky, my wife, she's not a political animal. She puts up with it. I wrote this book with a handheld Dictaphone sitting at my kitchen table at home. And it took Randy. It took a long time. Okay? I mean it. And she put up with listening to you, listening to me, trying to talk to me, you know, saying, you know, let's take a break. No, I got to finish this job. And so she puts up.

[Miranda Devine]

How did you meet her?

[Senator John Kennedy]

We met in New Orleans. I was practicing law. She was practicing law. We were at the same law firm. There was a nepotism rule at the firm. You couldn't date each other, so we had to keep it quiet.

[Miranda Devine]

Oh, and which would have made it more exciting.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And made it more exciting. Yeah. And I left to go to work in state government, and she took a job as a family court magistrate. And so then we could date freely. And we got married. We. I got her drunk. And she said yes. And we. Becky was. Was a Methodist. I was raised Presbyterian. My parents founded two Presbyterian churches. So Beck's Methodist, I'm Presbyterian. We compromised. I became a Methodist and good husband. And. Yes, ma'. Am. And we had Preston. And our world changed. Yes. And I remember my son. I didn't put these stories in the book, but I remember when Preston was about five, four or five, I came home one day and I said, preston, Daddy loves you. And he looked me right in the eye and he said, no. So what? And everything. Becky's heart. And every time I'd say something to him, he'd go, no shit. And Becky. And Becky said, what are we going to do? I said, stick more. And she said, what about church? I said, we're not going to church. And sure enough, after about five days, it wore off. But that was the sort of stuff. And I remember his soccer. Anyway. I love being in that.

[Miranda Devine]

Yeah, it is wonderful. It's the most important thing, isn't it?

[Senator John Kennedy]

I hope I can say shit on the radio. It's too late. I already did.

[Miranda Devine]

It's podcast. You can do whatever you like. So my last question is the secrets of success. You've been successful yourself, and you've been around a lot of successful people. What are the secrets?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Work. I've been around a lot of people, a lot of people a lot smarter than me. At Oxford, for example, probably everyone in my class was. Could spot me 10 to 50 IQ points.

[Miranda Devine]

Really?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yeah. Really smart people. It's the greatest university in the world. But they couldn't outwork me. And that was my secret in high school, college, law school in America and law school there, and nobody. I mean, I've been around smart people my whole life, but there's no better recipe. You've got to have a reasonable amount of. Of. Of firepower, intellectual firepower. But then it's all hard work.

[Miranda Devine]

And why could you do the hard work?

[Senator John Kennedy]

My parents raised me.

[Miranda Devine]

Discipline.

[Senator John Kennedy]

My dad was a heart. My mom and dad think raising four boys. I've got, you know, all. Sending them all to college and graduate school. We didn't have an extravagant lifestyle. I know there are a lot of times that they had to do without, but it's just. That's about 90% of life, you know, 20%, 80% or 20% inspiration, 80% perspiration.

[Miranda Devine]

Yes.

[Senator John Kennedy]

I mean, your job, you have to work, you have to prepare. Yeah. It's not. It just some people, it comes to naturally. But I think America is the greatest country in all of human history, and a lot of politicians think it's because of the government. It's not the government. It's ordinary people doing extraordinary things. And in just about every case, they did it because they worked hard. And, and, and, and also it's the American way. Every advancement, every single one, in art, in science and philosophy and technology, in cooking, in golf, came when someone said, there's got to be a better way.

[Miranda Devine]

Right.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And I've got some ideas about that and I'm willing to work hard to do it. That's why we're successful as a country. Yeah. And I mean it. I've got colleagues in the Senate that think, oh, federal government, government made America great. They don't understand the America I do. It's ordinary people working their ass off doing extraordinary things, and thank God for them.

[Miranda Devine]

Have to ask you one more question before I let you go. Was there anything at Oxford University, any quirk, English quirk, that you particularly didn't like or that you loved and picked up?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Well, for one thing, generally your classes are one person. It's you and a professor. They're called Don. One on one, one on one. So you can't not do the reading. It's embarrassing. The other thing, of course, when you take your final exams, in my course, you could get an A, you could get a B, or you got A fail. If there was no C, gentleman, C or D, and you had to show up in the exam room in a full black suit, a white shirt, a white tie, a graduation gown and a mortarboard. Really? Yeah. I mean, you're nervous to begin with. You're nervous as a pregnant nun and you have to put on all this regalia. Now, when you start the exam for each one of my courses, it was a three or four hour exam, you can take the gown off and you take the hat off. But you said, well, why do I have to do this? Well, Mr. Kennedy, because we've done it this way since 1400 and we're going to keep doing this way. And if you want to graduate and take this exam, this is the way you're going to do it. It's a, it's wonderful. It's a, it's a great university. But, but And I enjoyed it. We've got great universities in America.

[Miranda Devine]

But you did learn how to take a bath instead of a shower.

[Senator John Kennedy]

I did. The British, I don't know about today, but the British kids, they don't like to take showers, take baths.

[Miranda Devine]

They don't take them very often.

[Senator John Kennedy]

No, it's. Especially in cop. Well, I was. I had gone through law school in America. I took a shower.

[Miranda Devine]

You were clean.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yes. And. But to see you. So it would be cold outside, you'd have to get dressed, leave your room, walk across the quad, get undressed, take a bath, get dressed again, walk back, go to another bathroom. And it was cold, shave, and it was cold. Yeah. And I would sleep because Oxford, the place was built like 1300, which wasn't insulated. I would sleep in with four blankets and long underwear and a ski cap.

[Miranda Devine]

What a sight.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And I would wake up sometime in the morning with. Honestly, with. With ice in my water glass. Now, the dining rooms were heated and the libraries were heated, but that was just the way UK was in the. In the 1970s.

[Miranda Devine]

It still is in some ways.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yeah. And the food sucked. I mean, look, I love the British people, but. But the food was hard. Yes. I lived off Kit Kat bars.

[Miranda Devine]

Thank you very much, Randall.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Thank you.

[Miranda Devine]

Great to talk to you.

[Senator John Kennedy]

This is fun. Pay your taxes now. We need the money.

[Miranda Devine]

Oh, yes, of course.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Thank you.

[Miranda Devine]

That was a joke that used to take. Tell. Who did you tell that to? And they laughed. Oh, Mitch McConnell, I think I did. In the book. Someone very dual.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yeah. Mitch. Mitch's IQ, which you have to understand about Mitch. His IQ is 70 over 40. I mean, his blood pressure. 70, 40. Right. What does that mean? He's. That means up. He's all way. I saw him smile, like once in 2017. Yeah, okay. He just. He's just very right. And if you ask me something, I love Mitch, but if you ask me something and he doesn't want to answer it, he'll pretend to be deaf. Go, what? What? That's when. And I'm not saying his hearing is great. Right mind. He has gotten worse. But I earned early on. That's my college way of saying I don't want to answer that question.

[Miranda Devine]

Yes.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yeah. Mitch was a good leader. I liked it.

[Miranda Devine]

It was funny.

[Senator John Kennedy]

We didn't agree a lot. But you say in the book he.

[Miranda Devine]

Had the mansion down the street.

[Senator John Kennedy]

He does. I lived in a little cheap apartment. And he and Elaine, God bless them, they deserve it. They have a nice. Nice Laos. But you live on the street. I live on the street. So you have plenty of cops. Right. And when it snows, there's somebody out there at three in the morning making sure the bring the first one out. Yeah. That's hilarious.

[Miranda Devine]

Thank you, Senator Kennedy.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Thanks, Mary.

[Miranda Devine]

Thanks for watching Podforce One. We have new episodes every week. I'm Miranda Devine. And don't forget to hit the like and subscribe button so you don't miss any future episodes.