Verdict with Ted Cruz - November 03, 2025


The Wit & Wisdom of Sen John Kennedy One-on-One


Episode Stats


Length

41 minutes

Words per minute

178.68098

Word count

7,475

Sentence count

723

Harmful content

Misogyny

12

sentences flagged

Toxicity

38

sentences flagged

Hate speech

4

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Sen. John Kennedy (R-Massachusetts) joins me to talk about his time in the Senate, his love of the Unabomber Ted Cruz, and why Washington will never learn from John Kennedy's cross examination of Ted Cruz.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:00:02.620 Guaranteed human.
00:00:05.400 Welcome, it is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.
00:00:09.220 And this is going to be one of those shows that's just going to be an awful lot of fun.
00:00:14.180 A good friend of mine and a great friend in the Senate of Senator Cruz
00:00:18.600 has got a new book out with maybe one of the best titles for 2025, 0.99
00:00:23.500 How to Test Negative for Stupid. 0.97
00:00:26.320 David, Senator, you're in D.C., and this is just going to be one of those shows 0.99
00:00:30.800 which I hope everyone enjoys as much as you and I do hanging out with our next guest.
00:00:35.280 Well, I'm very glad to welcome to Verdict, John Kennedy.
00:00:38.720 John is one of my dearest friends in the Senate.
00:00:40.760 He is someone I am really glad came to be in the Senate.
00:00:44.620 He is someone with a wicked sense of humor.
00:00:48.400 He is the most dangerous cross-examiner in the entire United States Senate. 0.91
00:00:53.160 And in fact, entire generations of judicial nominees and nominees from administrations
00:01:04.620 have studied past John Kennedy cross-examinations.
00:01:09.140 They still have PTSD from the terror that he puts in them.
00:01:14.200 And this man, in addition to being brilliant as hell, is also as good a stand-up comedian
00:01:23.200 as I've ever known.
00:01:25.560 He's written a book. 0.99
00:01:27.060 The title of the book is How to Test Negative for Stupid and Why Washington Never Will. 0.99
00:01:34.840 John, welcome to Verdict. 1.00
00:01:36.000 I've got to say, your book sucks and it's not funny. 0.97
00:01:37.760 Well, number one, the publisher, Ted, wouldn't let me use the title I wanted. 1.00
00:01:45.540 I wanted the title to be Always Be Yourself Unless You Suck. 0.88
00:01:51.700 And they said, Harper and Collins said, no, that's not going to work. 0.98
00:01:55.020 I also got to tell one of my best Ted Cruz stories.
00:01:58.040 Uh-oh.
00:01:58.280 So, Ted's people invited me out.
00:02:02.680 You remember this.
00:02:03.320 Oh, yeah.
00:02:03.880 He had a huge fundraiser somewhere out.
00:02:06.480 It was some fancy place.
00:02:07.820 I don't remember.
00:02:08.800 I mean, it was the room.
00:02:09.980 I mean, it was really fancy.
00:02:11.240 Rich people don't go to Motel 6.
00:02:13.000 And I'm a Motel 6 guy.
00:02:15.460 And anyway, I go out there and Ted's people said, you remember, I said, what do you want
00:02:22.120 me to talk about?
00:02:22.900 They said, make fun of Ted.
00:02:24.560 I said, okay.
00:02:25.980 And I said, these are all of his friends.
00:02:27.940 And they said, yeah, he's a big heavyweight people.
00:02:31.040 Okay.
00:02:31.400 We're talking mega rich.
00:02:33.200 So, I started off and I said, y'all know Ted.
00:02:36.540 Y'all know Ted well.
00:02:37.500 I said, let me tell you what you have to understand about Ted Cruz.
00:02:40.700 He is really, really, really smart.
00:02:46.800 But so was the Unabomber.
00:02:49.580 And therein lies the problem.
00:02:52.120 You can't leave him unsupervised.
00:02:54.500 And all the Ted's contributors stood up and they're going, yeah, that's Ted.
00:02:58.680 That's our Ted.
00:03:00.300 It was great.
00:03:01.740 So, John is not kidding at all.
00:03:04.360 That's really happening.
00:03:05.480 No, he's not.
00:03:06.040 I was there.
00:03:06.680 I was a witness to this.
00:03:07.660 And his entire lunch remarks were basically a stand-up comedy routine.
00:03:13.560 We had a great time.
00:03:14.620 And one of the things he did is he just basically went through the SEC and made fun of everybody.
00:03:22.160 It's easy.
00:03:22.720 So, he started, he said, how do you get an Oklahoma, an OU grad off your front porch?
00:03:30.280 Pay the man for the pizza.
00:03:32.060 I remember that.
00:03:33.880 He said, what do you call a genius in Georgia?
00:03:37.660 A visitor.
00:03:39.700 And then, I'm sorry, Ben, he then said, what does an Ole Miss grad get on his ACT?
00:03:48.440 Drool.
00:03:49.560 We had a great time.
00:03:51.560 I got him on Alabama.
00:03:53.380 I said, why did Alabama raise the drinking age to 32?
00:03:58.600 To keep alcohol out of the high schools.
00:04:02.760 Ben, we had the best time.
00:04:04.440 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.
00:04:15.700 It cost me millions, man.
00:04:17.460 It cost me millions, but it was worth every penny.
00:04:20.820 Well, look, John is, what I said about his cross-examination, that is not an exaggeration.
00:04:27.000 I mean, it is a beautiful, look, and to be honest, he has done that.
00:04:33.740 He does that mostly to Democrat nominees, but he's done that to Republicans also.
00:04:39.180 And one of the things people don't necessarily know, before John was in the Senate, he was a trial lawyer, and he was a hell of a trial lawyer, and he knows how to talk to a jury.
00:04:47.820 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 analogize John to, like, you know, there's an old rule of never play poker with someone named after a state.
00:05:02.840 Yep, yep, yep.
00:05:03.840 And John, when the draw gets deep, and he'll be like, well, I don't know much about that, you are about to get robbed.
00:05:13.440 It's like at a poker table when someone says, now, remind me, does a straight beat a flush or a flush beat a straight?
00:05:21.200 Like, hold on to your wallet and run out of the door.
00:05:24.180 And so when John begins cross-examining, all right, is there a cross-examination you've done in the Senate that's your favorite?
00:05:30.480 Oh, gosh, that lady, I don't remember her name, Ted, you'll remember, because you beat the living hell out of her, too, that couldn't name any provision of the Constitution. 1.00
00:05:41.240 Oh, that, okay, she was the one that didn't know Article 5.
00:05:44.120 That's right, she's from Washington State, and she, after it was over, she quit.
00:05:48.740 The Jelkerin, something like that?
00:05:49.920 Yeah, she quit, which was smart, I mean.
00:05:52.580 And then the one, okay, Article 5 is the provision, it's the part of the Constitution that lays out how constitutional amendments happen,
00:05:58.600 and he asked about Article 5, and then, and this was cruel, but then he asked, well, how about Article 2?
00:06:05.200 Yeah.
00:06:06.080 And she couldn't answer, and look, if you're not a lawyer, that doesn't seem like a question that, look, the way the Constitution is set up,
00:06:15.000 Article 1 sets up the Congress, Article 2 sets up the executive and the president, and Article 3 sets up the judiciary.
00:06:22.000 If you cannot answer what is Article 2, you will flunk first-year civil procedure, constitutional law, like, you—
00:06:32.200 You're done with.
00:06:33.300 You know, this is— 0.93
00:06:34.420 You're a smoked turkey, man. 0.99
00:06:36.220 You're dead as fried chicken. 0.99
00:06:37.520 And she had no idea. 0.85
00:06:39.120 I'm pretty sure we played that cross-examination on this podcast.
00:06:42.740 We played a bunch of yours.
00:06:44.640 We did.
00:06:44.960 And that really was—by the way, this woman was nominated to be what's called an Article 3 judge. 1.00
00:06:51.940 Right.
00:06:52.560 And I'm pretty certain she has no idea what Article 3 is either, but it was devastating.
00:06:58.680 But to be clear, look, John doesn't just do that to Democrats.
00:07:02.140 There was a poor fellow who Trump nominated in the Court of Appeals.
00:07:06.980 I remember.
00:07:08.200 And—
00:07:09.480 District Court.
00:07:11.240 Federal District Court.
00:07:11.780 Oh, District Court, you're right, you're right.
00:07:12.920 He had been on the Federal Election Commission.
00:07:14.720 That's exactly right.
00:07:15.840 Nice guy.
00:07:16.640 Nice guy, smart guy, but had no trial experience whatsoever.
00:07:21.800 And I will say John's cross-examination was so devastating that they withdrew the nomination.
00:07:29.340 Like, literally, at the end of that cross, they're like, okay, yeah, he's not going to be a judge.
00:07:33.160 Well, he's a nice guy, but he just wasn't ready to be a federal judge.
00:07:37.580 And after it was over, the president called me.
00:07:40.420 The president called me.
00:07:41.520 I was—I had flown back home.
00:07:43.160 I was in New Orleans.
00:07:43.900 And his phone rings.
00:07:44.740 You know the way it works.
00:07:45.840 Unknown number.
00:07:46.840 You go, okay, it's the White House.
00:07:48.420 I'm ready to take my whip in here. 0.98
00:07:51.240 So I pick up the phone, and Trump says, who—Kennedy, I watched your examination, this guy.
00:07:58.060 He said, who was this guy?
00:08:00.580 I said, well, he's your nominee.
00:08:01.860 And he said, he doesn't sound too—did I interview him?
00:08:07.240 And I said, no, Mr. President, your staff did.
00:08:09.820 And he said, you know, he doesn't seem very qualified.
00:08:13.240 He said, what do you think?
00:08:14.140 I said, well, Mr. President, just because you've seen my cousin Vinny doesn't qualify you to be on the federal bench.
00:08:21.720 And he said, yeah, you're right.
00:08:23.320 He said, what do you think we ought to do? 0.89
00:08:24.840 And I said, well, let's put him out of his misery.
00:08:27.260 I don't want to embarrass him.
00:08:28.320 And the president withdrew the appointment.
00:08:31.060 Yeah, no, it was—I have never seen a cross-examination take out a nominee, although—what was it?
00:08:38.960 It was the Biden nominee who was the Russian, who graduated from a Russian university, and your line was, should I call you comrade?
00:08:47.040 She was nominated for a controller of the currency.
00:08:51.280 She was a former member of the Communist Party of Russia.
00:08:55.440 She had graduated from Moscow State University.
00:08:59.020 And her dissertation, a copy of which she wouldn't give us, was on Karl Marx.
00:09:04.980 So—
00:09:05.700 Real.
00:09:06.680 Yeah, Ben, it was—and she was—her main argument for being controller of the currency, which, of course, is responsible for all the state banks, was to get rid of all the banks and have everybody nominate—or a bank, rather, from the Federal Reserve.
00:09:24.120 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.
00:09:34.740 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.
00:09:41.500 And he talked about meeting with Charlie early on and how he said, 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.
00:09:53.000 And he talked about all of the classes that Charlie ended up taking at Hillsdale.
00:09:58.860 I immediately said, I want the listeners of this show to be able to have the same opportunity to do that.
00:10:05.340 There are amazing classes, history, economics, the great works of literature, the meaning of the U.S. Constitution.
00:10:12.320 And if you didn't study 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 20, now is a great time for you to go back and learn so much more.
00:10:23.140 Hillsdale College is offering more than 40 free—I want to say that again—40 free online courses.
00:10:30.760 That's right, more than 40 free online courses.
00:10:34.200 You can learn about the works of C.S. Lewis, the stories in the book of Genesis, the meaning of the U.S. Constitution.
00:10:40.680 I'm doing that one. It's incredible.
00:10:42.940 The Rise and Fall of the Roman Republic or the History of the Ancient Christian Church with Hillsdale College's free online courses.
00:10:49.840 Now, I'm also looking at the Constitution 101.
00:10:52.340 It's amazing, a refresher course.
00:10:54.520 And you can see 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.
00:11:06.420 This 12 lecture course is self-paced, so you start whenever you want to, and it is truly amazing.
00:11:15.100 So, how do you do this?
00:11:16.580 You can go right now to hillsdale.edu slash verdict to enroll.
00:11:23.520 There is no cost, and it's easy to get started.
00:11:27.600 That's hillsdale.edu slash verdict, V-E-R-D-I-C-T, to enroll for free and take any one of these classes.
00:11:38.160 Take advantage of it. It's free.
00:11:40.280 Hillsdale.edu slash V-E-R-D-I-C-T, verdict, and go check out the amazing classes they have there.
00:11:47.520 All right, I got a question for both of you on this.
00:11:50.120 Shoot, man.
00:11:50.320 Has there ever been a time that you guys are both sitting there beating the hell out of someone? 0.97
00:11:55.980 And do you ever look at each other and grin?
00:11:57.660 Like, how does it work?
00:11:58.760 Is it like you go, then I go?
00:12:00.080 Ted goes first, and he knocks them to Pluto and softens them up.
00:12:08.520 And I talk about it in my book.
00:12:11.120 You know, I think, what did I say about Ted?
00:12:13.560 I said, I didn't call him articulate, though he is.
00:12:17.900 I said, Ted could talk a dog off a meatwack.
00:12:21.280 And he could talk the hide off a cow.
00:12:24.460 And he knocks these witnesses to Pluto.
00:12:28.720 And then Josh Hawley, I think, is ahead of me, goes next.
00:12:33.060 And then I bat clean up.
00:12:34.720 There's a murderer's rug.
00:12:36.120 We have fun.
00:12:36.920 And it actually starts with Mike Lee.
00:12:38.660 And from Mike Lee to John Kennedy.
00:12:40.440 That's right.
00:12:40.960 I mean, those are four questioners I actually feel for a witness because that's – and they're also different styles.
00:12:48.160 So I will say, Ben, one thing that you may not appreciate not being a lawyer, but John's and my legal careers are very, very different.
00:12:55.420 So I'm an appellate lawyer, and the vast majority of what I've done is argue in a court of appeals.
00:13:01.240 And a court of appeals is totally different.
00:13:03.620 Very different.
00:13:04.320 So there's trial courts and courts of appeals.
00:13:06.200 A court of appeals is you're standing in front of judges, typically three judges.
00:13:11.620 If it's the Supreme Court, nine judges.
00:13:14.360 And you write a brief that is in the Supreme Court.
00:13:18.340 It's a 50-page written argument.
00:13:19.900 And then your argument would usually be 30 minutes, and most of it is questioning from judges.
00:13:25.600 So it's questioning about the law.
00:13:28.180 You've got to be quick.
00:13:28.980 You've got to be able to dance.
00:13:29.960 I mean, being an appellate lawyer is a very precise – it's a more academic skill.
00:13:37.620 It is –
00:13:38.460 Very academic.
00:13:39.340 A lot of law professors –
00:13:40.580 It's an intellectual discussion.
00:13:42.240 It's what it is.
00:13:43.020 So a trial lawyer is what most people think of when you turn on the TV, when you think of L.A. Law or Perry Mason.
00:13:49.020 Like a trial lawyer, you're in a courtroom.
00:13:52.800 You're talking to a jury in a room of people.
00:13:53.900 You're talking to a jury.
00:13:54.680 You have witnesses.
00:13:55.660 Like appellate lawyers don't have witnesses.
00:13:57.160 You have witnesses.
00:13:58.140 You either have direct examination or cross – and so trial lawyers tend to be better storytellers.
00:14:04.900 They tend to be more relatable.
00:14:06.760 They're talking to Aunt Bertha in the jury pool instead of Antonin Scalia.
00:14:12.460 I mean, those are different – you have different arguments to Aunt Bertha.
00:14:15.000 It's an appellate scenario.
00:14:15.520 And so the two best trial lawyers on judiciary are John Kennedy and Lindsey Graham.
00:14:21.680 Lindsey Graham is also a very talented trial lawyer. 0.95
00:14:23.580 Lindsey is very good.
00:14:24.940 He has a little trouble staying on topic sometimes.
00:14:29.980 I talk about Lindsey in the book.
00:14:32.120 I love Lindsey.
00:14:33.040 He's one of my favorites.
00:14:35.540 I said one of the reasons I like Lindsey – how did I put it?
00:14:38.740 He's like Ted and I.
00:14:41.680 He plays out of the pocket, and you don't know what you're going to get.
00:14:45.180 If you invite Lindsey to dinner, you may –
00:14:48.120 He's a great dinner companion.
00:14:49.540 I mean, you will laugh.
00:14:50.700 Well, you say – so if you invite Lindsey to dinner in your home, you may get an intellectual conversation.
00:14:57.140 On the other hand, he could get drunk and vomit in the fish tank.
00:15:00.580 And you don't know which – you have no idea – or both in the same evening.
00:15:05.900 When made you want to write this book?
00:15:08.260 I mean, the title's hysterical, but when did you decide you wanted to do this, and what is it that people are going to get if they go buy this?
00:15:15.540 Well, it was about a year ago.
00:15:19.140 Look, Ted's written four or five – Ben, it's a lot of work, as you well know.
00:15:23.560 So this book is not about policy per se.
00:15:28.340 It's a storybook.
00:15:30.160 I use stories to make my points about policy.
00:15:34.280 And by the way, all good trial lawyers and all good politicians are storytellers.
00:15:39.320 I mean, if you can't tell a story, you don't belong in this business.
00:15:41.980 That's right.
00:15:43.840 Some of the stories, I think more than some, frankly, are funny.
00:15:48.800 Some of them are bizarre.
00:15:50.200 They're all true.
00:15:51.040 And I use the stories to make three points.
00:15:55.340 Number one, I want people to understand through the stories what the Senate is really like behind the scenes.
00:16:02.460 And basically think mean girls. 0.70
00:16:04.860 It's not even high school.
00:16:06.460 It's a junior high.
00:16:07.420 It's catty.
00:16:08.580 They're cliques.
00:16:09.320 They're popular kids.
00:16:10.540 They're the geeks, the jocks.
00:16:12.040 Like it.
00:16:12.400 Ted Dale.
00:16:13.080 It's like high school, but nobody ever gets out of the sophomore year.
00:16:16.020 And the second reason I wrote the book, I wanted to help people understand in real time why in Washington, normal is just a setting on the clothes dryer.
00:16:31.120 This place is a different world.
00:16:32.640 And the third reason I wrote it was to try to make people understand that it doesn't have to be this way if we have a return to common sense.
00:16:41.500 But I also don't bubble wrap it.
00:16:43.800 The water in Washington, D.C. is not going to clear up until you get the pigs out of the creek.
00:16:50.440 That's just the way it is.
00:16:52.140 And look, some people like the book.
00:16:55.260 Some don't.
00:16:56.160 I'm really proud.
00:16:57.580 It's doing well.
00:16:59.460 All right.
00:17:00.020 And so I gave him some grief, but it is a terrific book.
00:17:03.840 It is funny.
00:17:05.040 He's telling very real stories.
00:17:07.060 You look at the front.
00:17:07.840 He looks grumpy on the front.
00:17:09.000 That picture you picked.
00:17:10.380 I didn't pick it.
00:17:11.400 The publisher picked it.
00:17:13.560 You know, you look kind of like your stomach's upset.
00:17:17.400 But you look like you're getting ready to rip someone a new one is what it looks like.
00:17:21.440 And so let me encourage everyone who's listening to this or watching this, go to Amazon, go to Barnes & Noble, buy the book, buy one.
00:17:30.360 So, look, it's fixing to be November.
00:17:32.100 It's Christmas season.
00:17:33.300 Buy two or three books.
00:17:34.460 Buy a book to give it.
00:17:35.280 I love this guy.
00:17:36.180 Give it to your mom. 0.92
00:17:37.720 This is a great present.
00:17:38.820 You know, and actually, you can give your family members an autographed copy.
00:17:43.980 Because, see, John's from Louisiana, so he can't actually sign his signatures or just put an X in it.
00:17:49.300 It'll look real.
00:17:50.240 I rip through him.
00:17:51.360 Just put that X and it's my X.
00:17:53.520 And, by the way, if you have a liberal uncle, buy this for him.
00:17:57.620 It'll piss him off.
00:17:58.660 It'll be the best present you can put under the tree.
00:18:02.140 Well, I hope the book, I spent a lot of time on it.
00:18:05.280 I hope it'll make people think.
00:18:08.880 It may make you laugh.
00:18:11.100 It's the truth.
00:18:12.100 It may make you day drink.
00:18:13.960 Because I don't sugarcoat it.
00:18:15.880 And I talk about a lot of different senators.
00:18:18.140 I don't try to be mean.
00:18:19.340 But I talk about Thune.
00:18:22.340 I talk about President Trump.
00:18:23.780 I talk about President Biden.
00:18:25.500 I talk about Senator Grassley.
00:18:27.080 I talk about Chuck Schumer.
00:18:28.860 I think Chuck got a little mad at me.
00:18:31.380 Because I described him as, imagine a five-year-old in a Batman costume.
00:18:38.240 I said, that's on a sugar high.
00:18:40.620 That's how Chuck is when he gets excited.
00:18:43.100 And I talked to someone about Mitch.
00:18:46.460 I explained that Ted and I, I think we were together.
00:18:50.600 We saw Mitch smile once back in 2017.
00:18:57.200 Once.
00:18:57.760 Once.
00:18:58.200 Just one time.
00:18:59.100 Broke news.
00:18:59.660 I talk about the time I really almost got in trouble on this.
00:19:06.640 Mitch was not amused.
00:19:08.120 But I was, I was asked to, to compare Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer.
00:19:14.220 And I told the truth.
00:19:15.520 I said, they have a lot in common.
00:19:18.420 Each is very smart.
00:19:20.900 Each is very tenacious. 0.59
00:19:22.680 And each of them could lose his place during sex.
00:19:27.940 Well.
00:19:31.900 My office, Mitch was a majority leader then.
00:19:36.080 How'd that go, by the way, after?
00:19:37.760 I'd love to see that phone call.
00:19:39.280 It was a wonder.
00:19:40.100 I was pretty sure my office was going to be moved to Richmond, as I recall.
00:19:45.380 But anyway, I had fun writing it.
00:19:47.520 But it was.
00:19:48.120 And to be clear, that's not the only joke. 0.90
00:19:51.200 John Kennedy is told about his colleagues having sex.
00:19:55.560 So at my donor retreat, Ben, you will remember this.
00:20:00.660 John stood up in front of everyone and he said,
00:20:04.260 You know, Ted told me about his first sexual experience.
00:20:08.780 Oh, I remember this one.
00:20:10.060 And everyone starts looking and going, wait, where is this going?
00:20:13.080 And he said, he was young.
00:20:16.440 It was dark.
00:20:18.500 He was scared.
00:20:19.580 He was alone.
00:20:23.300 You have to think about that.
00:20:25.700 The folks in the audience, it took them about five seconds.
00:20:28.580 They said, OK, we get it.
00:20:30.380 We get it.
00:20:31.040 Yeah, we get it.
00:20:31.760 We're all there now.
00:20:32.440 And I have to admit, I turned to Heidi and I said, wait a second. 0.55
00:20:36.020 I paid to fly John here.
00:20:38.260 Like, out of my campaign money, I paid his airline travel.
00:20:41.020 Oh, we had a good time.
00:20:42.340 We had a good time.
00:20:43.220 This is what happens when you bring a small-town Louisiana boy back to the big leagues, you know, with all the highfalutin donors out there.
00:20:49.500 We had a good time.
00:20:50.360 Canadian women are looking for more. 1.00
00:20:52.960 More out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around them.
00:20:57.420 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.
00:21:01.060 I'm Jennifer Stewart.
00:21:02.320 And I'm Catherine Clark.
00:21:03.540 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.
00:21:07.300 Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey.
00:21:12.740 So, if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.
00:21:16.240 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
00:21:22.000 I got to ask you, in your book, one of the cool things is you talk about being a small-town guy.
00:21:28.800 Is it Jeffrey?
00:21:29.600 Is that right, Louisiana?
00:21:30.600 No, Zachary.
00:21:31.900 Okay, gotcha.
00:21:32.880 All right, so I actually think there's something interesting that's happening in the country right now.
00:21:37.320 And I want to get your take on it.
00:21:38.460 I think small-town America had been overlooked for so long, forgotten, referred to to flyover country.
00:21:46.040 I think there's a huge pendulum swinging right now in this country where rural America is mattering now a lot more than it has in my lifetime.
00:21:55.160 Small-town America is being listened to now and has a voice that they haven't had in a long time.
00:21:59.780 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.
00:22:07.840 But are you seeing the same thing?
00:22:10.220 And as you look back at your career, your life, where you came from, 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.?
00:22:22.560 Well, small-town America is America.
00:22:26.780 When I grew up in Zachary, there was about 3,000 people.
00:22:30.600 Now, what part of the state is Zachary?
00:22:32.220 Zachary's sort of just north of Baton Rouge.
00:22:35.040 Okay.
00:22:36.680 The people, Zachary, when I grew up there, and it's still the case.
00:22:41.580 Ted, you know these folks.
00:22:43.200 They get up every day.
00:22:44.500 They go to work.
00:22:45.400 They obey the law.
00:22:46.440 They pay the taxes, try to save a little money for retirement, try to do the right thing by their kids.
00:22:52.420 They don't read Aristotle every day.
00:22:54.600 They don't have time.
00:22:55.560 They're earning a living.
00:22:56.180 Now, is Zachary a pretty rural town?
00:22:57.620 There's a lot of farm and ag, or what do people do for a living there?
00:23:00.420 Some farm, some ag, but it's about 30 miles north of Baton Rouge, so you could call it a suburb, but that sounds too affluent.
00:23:10.100 But these are real folks, and they don't read Aristotle every day, but they get it.
00:23:16.240 And I remember thinking during the Biden administration, had these people ever been any place but California, Washington, and New York?
00:23:29.600 Yep.
00:23:29.680 But they all in Washington, President Biden's people, they all thought they were smarter and more virtuous than everybody else.
00:23:39.480 And their attitude toward rural America was, we're smarter than you.
00:23:43.700 We're more virtuous than you. 0.97
00:23:45.300 Shut up and send us your money and all your freedom, and we'll tell you how to live your life. 0.70
00:23:52.160 And I think that's the genesis of part of President Trump's support. 0.97
00:23:56.880 Yeah, absolutely.
00:23:57.860 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.
00:24:09.000 Yeah, yeah.
00:24:09.840 He doesn't talk down to them.
00:24:10.420 Yeah, no, he's very real.
00:24:11.640 He communicates.
00:24:13.040 Yeah.
00:24:13.280 He tells you exactly what he thinks.
00:24:14.840 You never know what he's going to say because he's liable to say anything.
00:24:17.540 He is funny as hell.
00:24:18.760 He actually doesn't get credit for the sense of humor he has, but he can say things that will just be side-splittingly funny.
00:24:25.640 I was with him about a week before his debate with President Biden and Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, and it was the two from CNN and Biden.
00:24:37.640 And I said, well, what do you think, Mr. President?
00:24:40.060 He said, Kennedy, I don't know.
00:24:42.600 I got Tapper, I got Bash, and I got Joe Biden.
00:24:47.500 It's going to be two and a half to one.
00:24:50.460 That's funny.
00:24:51.680 It was right off the cuff.
00:24:53.180 And I am laughing so hard.
00:24:56.920 He's just two and a half to one.
00:24:59.040 And then, of course, they had the infamous debate, and President Biden just crumpled.
00:25:04.760 But, you know, I talk about President Trump in the book.
00:25:08.300 I've got a different style than him.
00:25:10.500 Sure.
00:25:11.120 I told the president.
00:25:12.520 So does everybody else.
00:25:13.440 So does everybody else.
00:25:14.920 I mean, it's clear that the president's unfiltered.
00:25:17.140 He grows anxious when he has an unexpressed thought.
00:25:22.200 He just – he can't – I told him one time, he said, well, how do you like my tweets, Kennedy?
00:25:28.140 And I said, you know, Mr. President, I've got to be diplomatic here.
00:25:32.200 I said, tweeting a little bit less would not cause brain damage.
00:25:38.980 And he said, what?
00:25:40.480 You don't like my tweets?
00:25:42.140 I said, no.
00:25:43.320 Hold on.
00:25:43.980 What year did you tell him this?
00:25:45.500 Because this could have been profound.
00:25:47.660 It was in his first term.
00:25:49.740 And I will say, his second term, his tweets have gotten much more disciplined.
00:25:53.980 Yes.
00:25:54.360 There's a very different discipline from the first term.
00:25:56.640 In his first term, he let it rip.
00:25:58.560 And he –
00:25:59.340 And we added, thank you for your attention to this matter.
00:26:02.720 Like, it's a completely different man in four years.
00:26:05.320 But he didn't get it.
00:26:06.520 And he didn't know whether to be offended or – and he said, what do you mean?
00:26:10.480 I said, look, Mr. President, look at it this way.
00:26:12.420 I like steak, but I don't like to eat eight steaks at one time.
00:26:17.260 And he said, you don't like my tweets.
00:26:18.980 I said, no, I didn't say that.
00:26:20.780 And, of course, it made no difference.
00:26:22.480 He just –
00:26:23.260 All right.
00:26:23.420 Now, let me ask.
00:26:24.020 Growing up, you're growing up, little town in Louisiana.
00:26:26.480 Did you always know that you wanted to be a lawyer?
00:26:28.860 No.
00:26:29.520 No.
00:26:29.760 Did you have your parents' lawyers?
00:26:31.280 Any lawyers in the family?
00:26:32.060 I cared – my parents really emphasized education, Ted, just like yours.
00:26:38.120 But when I wasn't studying, I cared about two things.
00:26:41.620 I cared about basketball, and I cared about cheerleaders.
00:26:46.740 Are you a ball player?
00:26:47.720 Did you play hoops in high school?
00:26:49.080 I played hoops.
00:26:49.700 What position?
00:26:50.600 Forward.
00:26:51.520 All right.
00:26:51.820 How's your – jump shot, ball handling?
00:26:53.300 Jump shot.
00:26:53.860 Jump shot, man.
00:26:55.020 Well, you know, I still play twice a week.
00:26:56.260 I know you do.
00:26:57.200 I've seen you come in the cloakroom.
00:26:58.860 He comes in the cloakroom to vote, and he's all worked up and sweaty, and he's beaten
00:27:04.960 up on somebody.
00:27:06.360 But –
00:27:07.760 Cinder, I'm going to advise you right now, don't take the bait when he asks you to
00:27:12.020 play, because I've already had a broken bone from taking that break.
00:27:14.860 It is true.
00:27:15.540 We broke Ben's finger.
00:27:16.960 Cruz is a total bobber now. 0.94
00:27:18.520 It's still a crooked. 1.00
00:27:18.980 He's a total bobber.
00:27:19.980 What I've got to ask you, Ben, so you broke your pinky.
00:27:22.680 Where exactly did you have your pinky stuck? 1.00
00:27:26.240 Here's what I know.
00:27:27.180 When I broke my pinky, we were at one of them highfalutin houses, and I thought about
00:27:30.860 calling Kennedy to say, well, you represent me, because I thought you could have gotten
00:27:33.680 me a really good settlement.
00:27:35.040 Yeah, it was a tech millionaire's house that you broke your pinky and said, and you didn't
00:27:38.540 even get tape on it.
00:27:40.380 I wouldn't –
00:27:40.840 Nothing.
00:27:41.520 I got – I powered through like a real athlete does.
00:27:43.600 Dan, you should have called me.
00:27:44.620 We'd have gotten you a beach house out of this. 0.98
00:27:46.240 We could have.
00:27:46.720 I could have been just –
00:27:47.620 Ted would have handled the appeal.
00:27:48.880 I'd take it to trial court.
00:27:50.780 We might have gotten you two beach houses, man.
00:27:53.020 So, for the last several weeks, you've heard me talk with Josh Sherrod from Burna about
00:27:57.960 real stories of how people like you and I have used their Burna launcher to protect
00:28:02.920 themselves and their families.
00:28:04.760 Now, Burna is a handheld pistol that fires both kinetic rounds and chemical irritants to
00:28:10.040 separate you from an attacker.
00:28:12.160 Josh is back with me today to tell you a real story about a Burna launcher that was used
00:28:17.360 and how it helped a woman protect herself from a home intruder.
00:28:20.700 So, a Chicago woman was recently the victim of a home invasion that occurred in broad
00:28:25.620 daylight when several men broke into her home while she was inside in the middle of the
00:28:30.380 day, and it was all caught on video.
00:28:32.700 So, while sitting in her kitchen, the homeowner began hearing strange noises coming from the
00:28:36.760 front door.
00:28:37.360 So, she went to investigate and saw that intruders had made it inside her home, at which point
00:28:42.460 she yelled that she'd called police to try and scare them off. 0.99
00:28:45.360 Now, fortunately, in this case, it worked, and they promptly exited the house.
00:28:49.260 And the victim and a neighbor actually chased the intruders down the street while calling
00:28:53.480 911.
00:28:54.440 While on the phone with 911, dispatchers told the homeowner that police were on their way.
00:28:58.980 However, it ended up taking police over four hours to reach the scene due to an overwhelming
00:29:04.100 backlog of emergency calls.
00:29:05.840 It was only sheer luck in this case that she wasn't hurt or killed.
00:29:09.120 And this is where you ask the question, is Berna something that could have been used in that
00:29:13.800 situation for home defense?
00:29:15.600 And how could she have deployed it to keep herself safe and deter those attackers?
00:29:20.100 You know, absolutely.
00:29:21.120 In this case, she lucked out, and she was able to call their bluff, and they ran off.
00:29:25.440 But in many cases, that's not going to happen.
00:29:28.200 Any kind of resistance has to be used to get those attackers out and to get you to safety.
00:29:33.380 Berna Max or Kinetic Grounds both would have allowed her the time to get out and get somewhere 0.68
00:29:39.380 safe.
00:29:40.180 It is really an incredible option, and I have a Berna.
00:29:43.960 I have real handguns as well, but I always have a Berna.
00:29:47.120 And if you want to see what it can do to protect you and your family or a loved one that you
00:29:51.440 know needs this, go to Berna, B-Y-R-N-A dot com.
00:29:55.740 Again, that's Berna, B-Y-R-N-A dot com, Berna dot com right now. 0.63
00:30:00.940 I know you've got to run, Senator, soon, but I want to ask you one other question.
00:30:05.280 Sure, ask me anything you want.
00:30:07.280 And it goes back to the book.
00:30:10.520 When you write this book and you sit down to do it, who did you envision reading it?
00:30:14.640 Is there some bigger purpose where you're like, I want to write this for the future generation?
00:30:19.180 Was part of it just I want to just tell my story and how I got to where I am today?
00:30:22.780 What was it?
00:30:23.240 Here's what I did.
00:30:24.020 I sat down with a handheld dictaphone at my kitchen table, and I started dictating.
00:30:29.060 And I dictated, I dictated, I don't know how many hours, hundreds of hours.
00:30:34.600 And then I had it transcribed, and then I put it together.
00:30:38.340 And then I had an editor come in who looked at it and rearranged it.
00:30:42.360 And then I just started editing.
00:30:44.100 And I was speaking to the same person that Ted and I both speak to when we do interviews.
00:30:49.600 Yep.
00:30:49.980 The average American.
00:30:51.100 And I tried to speak plainly.
00:30:55.060 I don't try to muddy the water to make it look deep.
00:30:59.280 The American people don't have time for that.
00:31:01.980 And I wanted them to understand that if you get mad, I can't help it.
00:31:07.620 I have the right to remain silent, but God did not give me the ability.
00:31:12.220 And some people are going to like it and some don't.
00:31:14.840 But that's what the American people expect from their politicians today.
00:31:20.040 And it's one of the reasons that Senator Schumer, who Ted and I both know, he's right now, he's got 30% approval rating.
00:31:30.280 He's got a 60% disapproval rating.
00:31:33.360 The other 10% won't pause their video game to answer the pollster's call.
00:31:38.120 And Chuck is polling – he's polling right up there with clubbing baby seals.
00:31:45.380 That's – I mean –
00:31:46.580 But to be fair, he's still above chlamydia.
00:31:48.740 He's still above – he's still above – it's margin.
00:31:53.080 It's close.
00:31:54.140 But because Chuck's been here so long.
00:31:57.740 Ted, you know, he's been here so long.
00:32:00.280 He sounds like Washington.
00:32:02.280 So I will say it's interesting.
00:32:03.700 You and I have a very similar process, it sounds like, for writing a book because that's very much the books I've written.
00:32:10.100 And some of it is it may be being a lawyer and having written briefs, that that process of recording and telling stories.
00:32:17.100 In my books, I just try to tell stories because that's how people communicate.
00:32:20.140 I've read a couple of your books.
00:32:21.380 There's a difference between you and me, though.
00:32:23.060 I've written one book.
00:32:24.220 Ted's written about a squillion.
00:32:26.180 Okay.
00:32:27.000 But it's hard.
00:32:28.300 I mean, I'm not –
00:32:28.900 It is.
00:32:29.160 It is a painful process.
00:32:31.440 You know, all right, you're a kid.
00:32:33.880 When does the idea of being a lawyer – what was it that made you say, hey, I can do that.
00:32:38.460 I want to do that?
00:32:39.360 My dad was from a depression family in Oklahoma.
00:32:42.700 He got a degree, worked his way through college in petroleum engineering, came to Louisiana to work in the oil fields, married my mom.
00:32:50.120 I have three brothers.
00:32:52.020 From day one, they drilled into us.
00:32:54.360 Education, education, education.
00:32:56.080 Education, education.
00:32:56.680 And it wasn't where you're going to go to college.
00:33:00.960 It's – or when you're going to go to college.
00:33:02.520 It was where.
00:33:03.640 And that was drilled in from day one.
00:33:05.900 And I enjoyed college, but I started thinking about law school then.
00:33:10.880 But I stalled and restalled Ted as long as I could.
00:33:15.120 I mean, I spent four years in college, and then I went three years in law school, and then I clerked for a federal judge.
00:33:22.440 and I tried to get a Supreme Court clerkship.
00:33:25.320 I didn't.
00:33:26.260 You did.
00:33:28.440 And then I said, well, I'm not ready for the real world.
00:33:31.320 I'm going back to school.
00:33:32.280 I went back and got another law degree at Oxford.
00:33:34.600 And then finally I had to say, you know, I was out of money, you know,
00:33:38.820 and I wanted to eat and live indoors.
00:33:40.880 So I didn't want to live in a refrigerator box behind an Outback,
00:33:44.680 so I had to go to work for a living.
00:33:46.460 And, Ben, I know something that I know you don't know.
00:33:49.020 I know the name of his old law partner.
00:33:51.040 Who is that?
00:33:52.780 So he would practice.
00:33:54.200 His name, obviously, is John Kennedy, and his partner was Jose Canseco.
00:33:58.080 And he'd walk in, and it'd be John Kennedy and Jose Canseco here to see you.
00:34:01.220 I told Ben that story.
00:34:01.560 That's a true story.
00:34:02.500 And they would double take.
00:34:03.780 One of my best friends, I was in a, for Louisiana, a big law firm,
00:34:07.540 six to 80 lawyers, and one of my good friends was Jose Canseco.
00:34:11.140 And we'd go to meetings.
00:34:12.360 That's amazing.
00:34:12.800 I'd say, I'm John Kennedy.
00:34:13.960 This is Jose Canseco.
00:34:15.460 We're here to see so-and-so.
00:34:17.060 And they would say, you're here to see security, sir.
00:34:19.740 True story.
00:34:23.120 All right.
00:34:23.420 So when did you get the idea in your head you wanted to run for office?
00:34:27.600 Was this something like as a kid you always wanted to run for office?
00:34:29.660 Oh, I always thought about it.
00:34:31.920 But I was practicing law, earning a good living.
00:34:35.160 Again, Louisiana politics was rough.
00:34:38.620 I mean, it was rough.
00:34:39.480 It was under Governor Edwin Edwards.
00:34:42.920 I wasn't part of his clique.
00:34:44.800 Who has my favorite political bumper sticker ever.
00:34:48.340 Yep.
00:34:48.740 And you know exactly where I'm going.
00:34:50.360 Do you know this, Ben?
00:34:51.420 I don't know if you know this.
00:34:52.440 I do not.
00:34:53.680 So Edwin Edwards is running for governor against David Duke.
00:34:57.400 Now, David Duke was the former Grand Wizard of the KKK.
00:35:01.460 Yeah, Grand Wizard, right? 0.94
00:35:02.900 But Edwin Edwards was as corrupt. 1.00
00:35:05.400 He was as crooked as a dog's hind leg. 1.00
00:35:07.740 See, I'm trying to do this to keep up with John T. 0.93
00:35:09.160 That's pretty good, Ted. 0.91
00:35:10.620 And everyone knew he was corrupt. 1.00
00:35:12.820 And so Edwin Edwards' bumper sticker said, vote for the crook. 0.99
00:35:17.540 It matters. 0.94
00:35:18.480 That's right.
00:35:18.940 And if you're running against a Klansman, that was a winning slogan.
00:35:23.060 And then you know what?
00:35:23.940 He was indicted and convicted of embezzlement or fraud or something.
00:35:27.700 Well, when the economy was doing well in Louisiana, I mean, this was having a colorful governor was all fun and games.
00:35:33.980 He was a big – he was very promiscuous.
00:35:36.900 He used to say, I give – they make – how did he put it? 0.82
00:35:44.660 When I give blood, they use it to make Viagra.
00:35:47.820 That was a – I always thought that was a pretty good one.
00:35:52.600 There's a bumper sticker for you.
00:35:54.020 Well, that's a line they would have used about Strom Thurmond, too.
00:35:56.160 You and I didn't serve with Strom Thurmond, but by all accounts, that would have described him accurately.
00:36:00.320 And he was running for governor, I think his third time, and he was way ahead in the polls.
00:36:04.900 He was running against the incumbent, and the press asked him, they said, are you going to win this race?
00:36:10.220 And he said, well, let me put it this way.
00:36:11.880 The only way I can lose this race in the last week is if I'm caught in bed with a live girl or a dead boy.
00:36:21.460 And I thought that was pretty clever.
00:36:23.220 But eventually his past caught up to him, and we elected a reformed governor named Buddy Romer.
00:36:29.660 I'd supported him.
00:36:31.440 He asked me to leave him a practice, come to Baton Rouge, and I liked it.
00:36:35.480 I was his legal counsel.
00:36:37.460 And I stayed, and then I ran for office and got elected.
00:36:41.660 And I ran for the Senate three times.
00:36:43.760 It took me three times to get here.
00:36:46.020 And I thought they left me for dead for a few times politically.
00:36:51.880 I switched parties because the Democrat, I couldn't, I just couldn't be a Democrat anymore.
00:36:56.620 And they all got mad at me, and they tried to hurt me.
00:36:59.600 But the mistake they made, they let me live.
00:37:03.660 They never should have let me live.
00:37:05.840 So I won it on the third time, and here we are.
00:37:08.540 We're having fun.
00:37:09.360 All right.
00:37:09.680 Biggest surprises when you get to the Senate.
00:37:11.540 Biggest surprise upside and biggest surprise downside.
00:37:16.140 Biggest surprise upside.
00:37:19.220 You probably saw this.
00:37:20.880 I came in wanting to gallop.
00:37:23.840 You can't gallop in the Senate.
00:37:26.140 You have to inch along.
00:37:27.500 And at first, that frustrated me.
00:37:30.640 It still does.
00:37:31.920 But it's not altogether bad because after a while, you realize the senator's job is not
00:37:37.460 just to advance good ideas.
00:37:40.080 It's to kill bad ideas.
00:37:43.380 And sometimes killing the bad ideas is more important than advancing the good ideas.
00:37:49.060 That has been my biggest transformation in the Senate.
00:37:54.740 But it's frustrating.
00:37:56.820 Senator McConnell is your friend and mine.
00:37:59.700 But Mitch was the majority leader.
00:38:02.500 And I wasn't used to taking orders from another politician.
00:38:08.120 And Mitch and I butted heads a few times.
00:38:10.800 He butted heads with you.
00:38:12.040 Oh, yeah.
00:38:12.760 Mitch liked to run it from the top down.
00:38:15.140 And I thought, I remember you and I talked when we passed President Trump's Tax Cuts and
00:38:21.600 Jobs Act.
00:38:22.860 We passed it through reconciliation.
00:38:25.720 And Ted was an advocate of doing a second bill.
00:38:29.320 Yep.
00:38:30.480 And it just took a majority vote, no Democrats.
00:38:34.360 And I backed him.
00:38:36.780 And Mitch wouldn't do it.
00:38:38.740 And we left so much good policy on the table.
00:38:42.100 It remains the most politically indefensible decision I've ever seen.
00:38:45.140 And I hope we don't do it under Trump's second term.
00:38:49.620 And actually, John brought that up at lunch today.
00:38:52.400 Yeah.
00:38:52.900 Made that argument.
00:38:54.100 And it's clearly, look, it is our best avenue to win victories.
00:38:59.180 And we should be focused on winning victories.
00:39:01.520 Now, that being said, we got a lot done in that one big bill.
00:39:04.600 Sure.
00:39:05.340 But we get a second bite at the apple.
00:39:07.100 Exactly.
00:39:07.680 And a third if we want it.
00:39:08.940 And why not take it?
00:39:10.260 Yep.
00:39:10.760 Why not take it?
00:39:11.620 And we don't have to get, we don't have to get Democratic votes.
00:39:15.660 Yep.
00:39:16.080 Because I'm, you know, I think, I want to thank the best of people.
00:39:21.180 But I just think it's going to be hard to negotiate anything with the Democrats from here on out.
00:39:26.380 They just hate Trump.
00:39:27.600 They're so extreme right now.
00:39:29.240 They're just blinded by their passion.
00:39:32.420 Yep.
00:39:32.580 Senator, I'm going to, I'm afraid of hit men from Louisiana.
00:39:35.920 Your staff's telling me we were supposed to rap with you a few minutes ago.
00:39:38.720 So I want to hold up the book again.
00:39:40.340 Oh, man, thanks.
00:39:41.360 All right.
00:39:41.760 All right.
00:39:41.960 So let me tell everyone again.
00:39:43.440 People know what to buy. 0.99
00:39:44.100 The book is How to Test Negative for Stupid and Why Washington Never Will. 0.99
00:39:48.720 It is by John Kennedy, not John F. Kennedy, but John Kennedy, the great United States Senator. 0.99
00:39:54.880 The book is funny.
00:39:55.860 It is interesting.
00:39:56.560 It gives you stories behind the scenes of what's going on in the U.S. Senate.
00:40:00.580 John Kennedy rats out all his colleagues.
00:40:03.560 He makes them embarrassed.
00:40:04.720 He makes them curl up, curl up.
00:40:07.380 Chuck Schumer curled up in a ball in the closet and cried like a little girl when John Kennedy
00:40:12.400 wrote this book.
00:40:13.420 So you need to go to Amazon and buy it.
00:40:16.300 And I will say, as I said before, John Kennedy is easily one of my favorite colleagues.
00:40:22.800 He is funny as hell.
00:40:25.920 And he is smart as hell.
00:40:27.200 A lot of people don't realize this man is dangerous and has, you know, he's an Oxford
00:40:31.500 educated lawyer.
00:40:33.280 And with a Southern accent, particularly Yankees underestimate and be like, all right, he's 0.53
00:40:37.520 got a Southern accent.
00:40:38.360 He can't be all that bright.
00:40:39.680 You can't accuse me of being self-aware, not being self-aware.
00:40:43.180 I'm fully aware that my voice scares small children and sets off car arms.
00:40:48.800 But it's my voice.
00:40:50.260 But thank you for having me, Ted.
00:40:51.780 Thank you, Ben.
00:40:52.500 And I'm going to close, I'm going to close with my favorite Kennedyism, which was in a
00:40:59.240 Judiciary Committee hearing, John Kennedy leaned forward into the microphone and he
00:41:04.900 said, Christmas tree ornaments and Jeffrey Epstein, two things, you know, didn't hang
00:41:12.340 themselves.
00:41:14.060 I love it.
00:41:15.140 I was sitting there going, wait, this is at an open hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
00:41:20.200 Did he really say that?
00:41:22.200 It was, I did.
00:41:23.480 It was true. 0.75
00:41:24.440 I'd read that joke somewhere.
00:41:26.320 It seemed like a good idea at the time.
00:41:29.340 Thank you, guys.
00:41:30.660 Buy the book wherever you can. 1.00
00:41:32.140 How to test negative for stupid. 1.00
00:41:34.300 Get it on Amazon. 1.00
00:41:35.420 Don't forget, you can get this podcast Monday, Wednesday, Friday, wherever you get your podcast.
00:41:40.160 Share it on social media.
00:41:41.340 Senator Cruz and I will see you back here in a couple of days and grab the book right after
00:41:44.740 this as well.
00:41:45.360 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:41:48.980 Guaranteed human.