Dive into a riveting conversation with Senator John Kennedy as he discusses his new book, ‘How to Test Negative for Stupid and Why Washington Never Will.’ In this insightful interview, discover what drives this outspoken senator and why his stories resonate with clarity and humor in today’s political landscape. Senator Kennedy shares his experiences in the U.S. Senate, offering behind-the-scenes insights into the dynamics of Washington, D.C., and the surprising anecdotes that make up his compelling narrative.
00:00:00 Interview Introduction with Senator John Kennedy
00:00:48 Discussion on the Book ‘How to Test Negative for Stupid’
I feel a little bit like Captain Ahab and I snagged Moby Dick because I’ve wanted to interview Senator John Kennedy for a very, very long time. I have to say of all the great quotes from Senator John Kennedy, the junior senator from Louisiana, my favorite is when he said, I say this gently, this is why the aliens won’t talk to us. I mean, this guy’s a classic. He’s smart. He’s got clarity coming out of his pores. And he’s got a brand new book out called How to Test Negative for Stupid and Why Washington Never Will. Senator Kennedy, I hope you can hear my voice, how excited I am to get to spend a few minutes with perhaps one of my favorite senators of all time. Thanks for joining us, sir.
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, thank you, Mike, for having me. I love your show, man.
SPEAKER 01 :
It’s great to have you on as well. And I’m so grateful. I thought the book might have just been all of your one-liners, all of your favorite expressions, because they always ring true. This is what I love about the kind of leadership that you’ve given to the U.S. Senate and to the American people. your constituents in Louisiana. So let’s, we got a lot to cover in the few minutes we have together, but let’s talk about the book and the evolution of it, how to test negative for stupid. What are, what are readers going to find in your new book, Senator?
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, it’s a, it’s not a policy book per se, Mike. It’s a storybook. I use stories to try to make my points about policy. Um, Some of those stories are funny. Some of them are bizarre. All of them are true. I use stories to explain what the United States Senate is really like behind the scenes to try to explain to people why in Washington, D.C., normal is just a setting on the dryer. The clothes dryer. And I try to, I think, I hope, successfully use the stories to explain why it doesn’t have to be that way if we return to common sense. I talk about what it’s like to work with President Trump, what he’s really like in person. I talk about the one and only meeting that I was very, very few senators had this opportunity. the one and only meeting I had with President Biden. I’ve got stories about, I don’t know, Chuck Schumer, Chuck Grassley, Mitch McConnell, Ted Cruz, John Fetterman, Marco Rubio. I hope the book will make people think. I think it’ll maybe make you laugh. It may even make you daydream, but it’s all true.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, and what is important to know, and I’ve got people in Washington who know you and work with you and say, you’re like the E.F. Hutton back in the day. When John Kennedy speaks, you’ve got to listen because you do provide clarity and honesty in a way that – Very few politicians do these days, and you truly are a breath of fresh air. I’m told that the book is just rip-roaring funny and also very insightful. So Senator Kennedy’s book, How to Test Negative for Stupid and Why Washington Never Will, is now available where books are sold. And Senator Kennedy, I have to say, the theme of how they never will… test negative for stupid seems truer now than ever before. As a talk show host, every day we get treated to one crazy story after another. If they’re not rejecting the federal help to lower crime rates, They’re rejecting out of hand a secure border. They don’t want apparently a better economy. I guess they object to peace in the Middle East. Every single day they seem to get crazier and crazier. And, Senator, yesterday Jim Jordan said – Look, not all Democrats are crazy, but the leadership is. Is that the problem, do you think, right now with the Democrat Party, that the leadership has just become so far left that they’ll never come back to normal again?
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, here’s what I think most Americans say, Mike. It’s a great question. Republicans aren’t perfect. God knows we’re not. But the other side is now crazy. If you want to understand the shutdown, you can read my book. Here’s what’s going on. About Tuesday, a couple of weeks ago, two weeks ago, yesterday, or whatever day it is, Our country was rocking along. We were minding our own business. Our federal budget expired at midnight, but we weren’t worried. We’d been talking to the Democrats about just extending it and continuing to negotiate. And then all of a sudden, Senator Schumer comes forward at the last minute and says… I’m not going to vote to keep government open, and I’m not going to let my people vote to keep government open unless you give the Democrats $1.5 trillion, and we’re going to tell you how it has to be spent. well you can imagine our reaction my mother didn’t raise a fool and as i say if she did it was one of my brothers and my colleagues felt the same way and president trump felt the same way and that’s what this shutdown is all about uh the democrats have tried to muddy the waters to make them look deep but that’s all this this thing is about now why is senator schumer being like that um Well, first, it takes 60 votes to get anything done in the Senate, which is why Senator Schumer has leverage over us. But number two, Senator Schumer is in trouble politically with his party. The Democratic Party is now run by the Hamas wing, the Moon wing, the socialist wing, whatever you want to call it, of the Democratic Party. And they’re mad at Schumer, and he wants them to love him. And the leader of the party is Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez. And Senator Schumer wants to ingratiate himself to her. And really, that’s why we’re shut down. It’s not a policy shutdown. It’s a politics shutdown.
SPEAKER 01 :
Of course it is. And Senator, we’re seeing the Democrats implode. And I know as a conservative talk show host, this might seem too good to be true. But It does feel like the Democrats are cratering. This week, you saw Nancy Pelosi blow up at a young reporter and scream shut up to her and stick her finger in her face when the reporter dared asked about the then speaker’s actions during January 6th. You’ve got this communist who possibly is going to become the next mayor of New York. They’re like a drift at sea. It feels like they’re a cork bobbing around in the ocean right now. Or am I overstating that? Do you think they’re in as bad a shape as I think they are?
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, they’re clearly in disarray, Mike. I mean, and clearly the socialist wing of the party is in ascendancy. They’re in control. And again, the leader is Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez.
SPEAKER 03 :
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SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, it’s not Nancy Pelosi anymore. It’s not, though I think she’d like to be. It’s not really Senator Schumer. And these people, they’re crazy. They hate George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln and Dr. Seuss and Mr. Potato Head. They think they’re all racist. They think our children should be able to change genders at recess. They believe in open borders. They believe that cops are a bigger problem than criminals. I could go down the list. And that’s why the American people, that’s why they lost the last election and why the American people are just scratching their heads. And I think they’re as exasperated as I am. I don’t want us to be in a shutdown. But I’m not going to agree to give them $1.5 trillion.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, and we’re not going to agree. I mean, health care for illegal immigrants, Senator Kennedy, is a bridge too far. And of course, they’re gaslighting us. They’re pretending, well, they don’t want health care for illegals. Of course they do. They want illegals to be able to vote. They want to provide more benefits to illegals than they do many poor Americans who are desperate for assistance. This is the craziness that you’re talking about with today’s Democrat Party.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, they do support free health care for foreign nationals in our country illegally. In fact, one of their demands is that we repeal the portion of the one big, beautiful bill that would crack down on the provision in the blue states of free health care to illegal immigrants. And the truth is that if you’re a… If you’re in our country illegally and you want free health care, all you have to do is claim asylum. And we tried to, and a lot of people who claim asylum are not telling the truth. They’re not here because they’re being politically persecuted. They’re economic migrants, which is fine. We have a legal immigration system. You’re supposed to get in line and allow yourself to be vetted. So my Democratic colleagues are just not telling the truth when they say they don’t want health care for people in our country at least.
SPEAKER 01 :
I’ve wanted to ask you this question for a long time, and it’s probably why I’m so excited about getting a chance to visit with you one-on-one. Of course, we’re visiting with Senator John Kennedy, his new book, How to Test Negative for Stupid and Why Washington Never Will, now out wherever books are sold. And I want to end in a moment or two with some clarity about your role with the American people, if I may. But Senator, you’re the kind of guy that I’ve wanted to ask about the Democrats’ true intention. I’ve said as just a big mouth talk show host that when you see the intentional, the willful way Democrats oppose law enforcement, oppose border security, oppose things that make communities better, safer, cleaner. It feels to me and to many people in my audience that this destruction is intentional, that they either hate America so much that they want to tear it down or they want to destroy our cities and our states because they want to take control. But do you agree, Senator Kennedy, that this feels like this is deliberate, that it’s intentional, that they are absolutely with purpose trying to destroy our country state by state, city by city? Is that fair or not?
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, that’s fair. I mean, just look at the facts. Now, I want to add this caveat. Not every Democrat agrees with the socialist wing of their party, but the socialist wing of their party has taken control. I call them the loon wing of the party. And the more moderate Democrats are scared. They’re sitting back and watching the socialists about to elect a new mayor, a socialist mayor of New York. If the reasonable Democrats, the moderate Democrats, the non-crazy Democrats would stand up to the loon wing of their party, I think they would have the votes to throw them out. But they’re scared of them. And frankly, I tell this to my Democratic colleagues who aren’t crazy all the time you need to go to amazon and buy a spine online why do you want to allow these these folks the loon wing of the party who do hate america they they feel they feel animosity for america when they should feel gratitude and i don’t understand why the other democrats allow them to to run things but they do and that’s you know from a from a selfish political standpoint, that’s probably good for Republicans, but it’s horrible for our country.
SPEAKER 01 :
Oh, I mean, I feel that way about as a longtime New Yorker. Finally, I fled to Florida a few years ago like our mutual friend Sean Hannity did and so many others. I hate what New York might be experiencing if they get this guy elected. But from a – like you said, a selfish political point of view, this will be great for the GOP. This will be great nationally if the country sees – what a failed experiment this is going to be like. It’s good for us politically. And by the way, quickly, can I ask you, when you talk to your normal Democrat friends, and I have normal Democrat friends too, and they quietly and sort of secretly say to me that they are appalled at the Zoran Mondami and Ayanna Pressley wing of the Democrat Party, is that what you get too from your colleagues, Senator on the Hill? Do your colleagues who are normal Democrats, do they express the same feelings Yes, but they’re scared.
SPEAKER 02 :
And they see that the socialist wing, the loon wing is taking control. And they don’t want to be necessarily supportive, but they don’t want the loon wing to be mad at them. So they just do nothing and go along. That’s why Senator Schumer is behaving this way. Senator Schumer, I know Chuck very well. Chuck’s a very smart man. He knows this is nonsense. He knows this is foolishness. He knows that the loon wing of his party is going to lead his party to destruction. But he’s scared of it. He’s up for reelection in a few years. And you have to understand this about many politicians, not all, but many politicians, the first thing they want more than anything else is to be reelected. That’s part of the problem. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 01 :
I’ll say this about many politicians, and I know you’ve got a time crunch and you’re on this book tour, and I’m so thankful to get to visit with you for a few minutes, because I’ll say this about many politicians. The old joke is, how do you know a politician is lying while their lips are moving? But I’ll say this about Senator John Kennedy. Nobody ever says that about you. You know, whatever criticism you get, nobody ever accuses you of pulling punches or not telling the truth or not being completely and utterly transparent about and truthful to your constituents in Louisiana and to the American public. I admire you greatly, and honestly, I’ve been wanting to talk to you for a long time. You’re truly one of my political heroes. And listen, your clarity, your truthfulness is why your book, How to Test Negative for Stupid, is going to be a big bestseller, because people are yearning for your kind of clarity, Senator Kennedy. And I’m just grateful that you’re able to take time out of your busy day to visit with us here on The Mike Gallagher Show.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, Mike, thank you for your kind words about the book. We’re number one on Amazon, so I’m pleased with that. Look, I have the right to remain silent, but not the ability. That’s just the way my God made me. And some people like what I have to say. Some people don’t. I try not to worry what anybody thinks about me, except dogs. I really like dogs. I want dogs to like me. But otherwise, you know, if you could disagree with me, that’s cool. I don’t hate anybody. But I am going to say what I think. And I love your show. I thank you for having me, Mike. You’re a rock star, man.
SPEAKER 01 :
Listen, like dogs, we all love you. Thank you, Senator Kennedy. Congratulations on the book. Keep fighting the good fight. We appreciate you joining us, sir.
