Copyright Baton Rouge Advocate
U.S. Sen. John Kennedy had been thinking about writing a book when an agent approached him and secured a deal with a HarperCollins imprint. Kennedy took a year to write “How to Test Negative for Stupid: And Why Washington Never Will.” Thanks to his home-spun phrases during frequent appearances on Fox News and other conservative TV networks, Kennedy’s book shot to number one on Amazon.com and has been a New York Times bestseller since being published in early October. Kennedy grew up in Zachary, graduated from Vanderbilt and the University of Virginia Law School and obtained a First-Class Honors degree from Oxford University in England. He was elected state treasurer five times before being elected to the Senate in 2016 and winning reelection in 2022. He is 73 years old. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. What was your approach in writing the book? I talk about policy. But I do it through stories. Some of the stories are funny, I think. Some are bizarre. But they’re all true. I try to use stories to explain to readers what the Senate and Washington are really like from the inside. I try to use stories to explain to them why in Washington, normal is a setting on a clothes dryer, and I tried to explain why it doesn’t have to be like that if we just use a bit of common sense. I have stories about President (Donald) Trump, President (Joe) Biden, Sen. (Chuck) Grassley, Sen. (Ted) Cruz, Sen. (Chuck) Schumer. I have stories about my meeting with (China's) President Xi. I have a lot of stories about my work in government in Louisiana. I have stories about growing up in Louisiana. I have stories about college and law school. You write that your colleague Sen. Lindsey Graham is “whip-smart and can talk intelligently on almost anything.” You also wrote, “If you want to stump Lindsey, just ask him to name a country he wouldn’t bomb.” You’re a fan, right? I admire him because he’s very, very bright. He’s also unfiltered. He’s kind of like me — he plays outside of the pocket. He’ll just let it rip. I was visiting with Lindsey in the cloakroom off the Senate floor before the book came out. He said, “Kennedy, what did you write about me”? I told him, “I love you because you’re unique. If I invite you to dinner, I don’t know if we’ll have an intellectual conversation or you’ll vomit in the fish tank.” He thought that was funny. Your book is full of clever one-liners. Like: “I believe this country was founded by geniuses, but it’s being run by idiots.” I think a lot of people wonder: Where do you get these lines? Some of them are organic. There are expressions that were commonly used when I was growing up. Most of them are my own. I’ve always admired people who have a clever turn of phrase. If someone writes something in an especially attractive way, I have a file on my iPad, and I’ll make a note about the article and the way somebody expressed something. Nobody writes stuff for me. The responsibility, the blame, the credit, whatever you want to call it, is all mine. In your book, you note that your approach as a senator has generated criticism. What goes through your mind when you hear or read someone calling you “Senator Foghorn Leghorn”? It’s just part of the process. I’ve been called much worse than that on social media. I’ve been in politics for a while. It doesn’t take long to learn that to survive, you need to have a big heart, a lot of wind and very thick skin. When the Foghorn Leghorn characterization was first used, I didn’t know what Foghorn Leghorn was. I had to go look it up. People have accused me of faking an accent, which isn’t true. Looking back, how do you view the Jan. 6, 2021, attack by the Trump supporters and the ransacking of the Capitol? It was a dark day for America. I was there. I’ve never thought it was an insurrection. It didn’t appear to be organized to me. But it was clearly a riot. I condemned it very loudly at the time. I still condemn it. And President Trump’s role in it? I don’t really know what the facts were. I wasn’t at the White House that day. I don’t know what went into this thinking. I don’t know much about the rally that was organized to march on the Capitol. I don’t even know who organized it. I tried to stick to the facts in the book that I know. You noted that Biden pardoned his son and uncle and wrote: “I personally don’t believe that the Trump administration would have prosecuted any of the Bidens.” Do you still believe that after Trump called on the Justice Department to indict former FBI director James Comey, and they did so, and after he called on the Justice Department to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James, and they did so? I still believe that. Sooner or later, the sufficiency of the indictment is tested before a federal judge. I don’t know what supporting facts the Justice Department has. I do know Mr. Comey. In my opinion, he did more to undermine the legitimacy of the FBI and the Department of Justice than anyone in my lifetime. I do not know Ms. James. I never thought it was appropriate for her to run for office on a claim that if she were elected, she would indict someone and prosecute them, specifically President Trump. In fact, in Louisiana, that would be illegal. Do you have any concerns that Trump is going too far in calling for these indictments? A lot of people think he is being very vindictive in using his power to seek retribution. I remember when the so-called lawfare began under President Biden. It’s a term often used up here to refer to the weaponization of the Justice Department. I remember when Attorney General (Merrick) Garland decided to prosecute a former president, who happened to be his boss’ chief political opponent in the next election. I thought it was a huge mistake. Then you had the prosecutions in Georgia and New York. You had Jack Smith. I remember thinking at the time that President Biden and his people have unleashed spirits that they won’t be able to control. I talked about that at the confirmation of Ms. (Pam) Bondi and Mr. (Kash) Patel. I strongly encouraged them to reject the adage that is popular in Washington, which I don’t agree with, that two wrongs don’t make a right. They make it even. My request to them was to go over to the FBI and the DOJ and get rid of the bad people and lift up the good people. They are doing that. You write: “Trump can be cruel, sometimes he is wrong.” Can you give a couple of examples of either? I disagreed with what the president did when he put pressure on a lot of private law firms. It’s true that those private law firms are Democratic firms, and they have been very critical of the president, and they had represented a lot of his opponents, in some cases for free. But that is their right. Is there an example where you think Trump has been cruel? The president is clearly not a forgiving person. He believes that if you turn the other cheek, you just get it in the neck. I agree with that, particularly in Washington, but not to the extent the president does. I talk about it in the book. I don’t hate anybody. I look for grace in Washington. Up here, you really have to work at it. Once I start hating, that’ll be a pretty good signal for me to come home. You talk about your candor in the book, but are you like many Republicans in Washington who are very careful in what you say about Trump? Well, yes. He is my president. I have private conversations with President Trump. We have very frank, honest discussions. But up here, if you try to be fair and balanced, the other side will try to make you eat it. So you do have to be careful in what you have to say. An issue you don’t address in your book is the state of democracy. A lot of people think Trump is acting in a heavy-handed, authoritarian manner. Do you share any of those concerns? No. The people who are pushing back against President Trump are Democrats. When Biden was president, they supported his attacks on democracy. They supported his abuse of the FBI and the Department of Justice. They supported his student loan efforts that were struck down by the Supreme Court. As soon as he got the opinion, he said, “I don’t agree with it. Instead of going through the front door, I’m going to go through the side door.” The people who are complaining now never complained when the Biden administration overreached. I think it’s all politics.
