Voting Integrity and the SAVE Act

Heat up your fourourth of July at the Home Depot with our wide variety of grills under three hundred dollars and make every gathering one to remember. Give your outdoor space a glow up. Whatever your budget is, with savings on seasonal plants starting at five dollars. With the grill fired up and your backyard set to perfection, you'll be able to invite friends and family over to kick off the party Start celebrating with low prices guaranteed at the Home Depot. Prices may vary h stor exisions the price see Home Depot com priceash for details Today's guest is a United States Senator representing the great state of Louisiana He currently resides in St. Tammany Parish, which is place that I'm from This is episode six sixty six of this podcast But we stand with the Lord He's got a book out called How to Test Negative for Stupid. and why Washington never will. It's an honor to spend time with one of the most humorous Senators in our history Mr. John. Kennedy But man, it's awesome, dude. What an honor just to see you. Honors man Thank you, man You're quite welcome. Thank you, John for representing our state And Yeah. and I appreciate that. We've had a lot of good Louisianians on here. We've had Laney Wilson on here.. Mark Norman is a famous comedian, Dustin Porier or UFC leegend, Kevin Gates, Booucy Um, who's a rapper of Baton Rouge. the suuicide boys, for sure, Scrim and Ruby Um, and you So it's an honor, man What brings you over to Nashville, actually? I know you went to Vanderbilt, right? I did go to Vanderbilt. I'm Bill Hagrerty is one of Tennessee senators and they're having a big function tonight and he asked me to speak. And, uh I said, sure, I'll come. I'll just fly in. and it just so happened we were doing your show. So it all worked out perfectly. Oh, that's awesome, man. Yeah. So I'll go wherever we're going guys I'll change into a suit and go over there and speak and You know, cutdle up. Nashillational's gotten so big the. Has it Yeahah, has it changed it? I mean Is It's turned into a real, I'll say this, a tourist destination. I feel like even more probably than it was when you were here Well, it's saw Nashville even when I was here was a banking and insurance center Now it's so much more. It's healthcare, it's tech It's for the wild Nationalals of the fastest growing city for young people in the country and now it's probably still in the top ten. I think it's yeah, it's still a good place to bumb a can of skull off of somebody too. got it, man. You know, it that's never lastost. It's a very diverse city Yeah Um and and it's, you know, Knoxville used to be the big city and Knoxville is still pretty big, but Now Nashville iss kind of where of the action. It's always been Cry music. Yeah. A lot of good comedians came out of Nashville. Yeah, that's a good point. Peoplet even think about that Nate Bargatzi's one. Y. Oh, I know that you grew up near where Jerry Clower is from and he's my favorite comedian. I grew up in an old town called Zachary. Yeah. D you ever get to see Jerry? saaw him on TV. That's it. Never met him. Yeah Yeah, he was like an idol of mine growing up Funny Oh yeah, dude. He was one of the best. He still is. I just saw an auction actually over there auctioning off his suit that he woren. I think I'm gonna get that I don't know if I'll ever wear but I think I'm gonna get it. Do you just still do comedy shows? Oh yeah, for sure. I just finished a tour and then I'm just taking a break right now and it's been kind of an adjustment. You know, just adjusting to something new. Um When did you know you you you were funny When you were young, did you know it when you were young? I think, you know, I was over at LSU when I was sitting. I lived in a place called the Commons over there and it's like an apartment complex over there And it's just walls. Really in college, you just get walls. There's not. You know, they have faucets and walls. you don't get a lot when you get an apartment and u And I remember sitting out there one day with the neighbors and this I was just cutting up and and this one guy Kevin he's like, M you should be a comedian and I don't know if I'd ever really thought about it. And then my buddy's daddy played u play Jerry Cler for me we go on drives. and I think I just kind of put it together for me at some point You know And I wanted a job where you could like comedy was nice because you always got to get away. I was like, you got to perform here, you got to perform there. You do a lot of quips, man, you have a lot of you have a huge sense of humor. Did you ever think about it or try it I just I just try to be myself th. Yeah. you know. I have this saying I don't remember who first told me, but When I was growing up, somebody told me, said, Kennedy, you always be yourself unless you suck Yeah. and if you suck there notuff we can do to help you. And I've never forgotten that You know? That's a good li, man. And and the a lot of a lot of folks in Washington I think they need to pretend to be somebody else and be very arerudite and sound like a senator and That's okay for them, but it just doesn't work for me. Yeah Yeah, I'd find it too hard. I think I don't know. I don't It's hard for me to find something that's too fake. It just hurts me kind of or something. Well people the American people can smell phony, man. Yeah. They can smell A phony a mile away. Yeah. But being off a comedy has been nice because I've had more time to watch. I've been watching some of the soccer you've been watching the World Cup? A little bit. Yeah Did Louisiana have a chance to get a game at all? do you know? No. I don't think we did. the competition They was so it was so intense because they just felt like big money And and I don't know that we even bid. We might have put in a bid from New Orleans. Yeah. But it was expensive and you had to offer incentives the World Cups' a big deal. you know, we're not We're not big that kind of football. we don't follow it much in a in America, but in the rest of the world it is the thing, man. Oh yeah So It's been nice to see. I actually I went to a game down in Guadalajara the other night I under lotock. Dude, it was so cool, man. Yeah. And they treated us like so nice down there and just like Yeah, it was the first World Cup game that they'd ever had in Guadaljara that Mexico had played in. And man, I got to go with my friend Gianny and Samantha and it was just. These guys are incredible athletes. Oh, unbelievable athletes. It makes me feel so lazy. Even just sitting there in the stands. It's like they're running for so long. They're running for so long, it start, it stops. Yeah. It's contact, Sot They can eat whatever they want. That's what I think the whole time. I'm like Th these bastards can go after this. They can eat whatever and they can eat whatever they want probably forever. Like they've done enough exercise Like they're kind of grandfathered in have to have an abs. I think Tennis is another sport that demands incredible endndurance U Tennis is for the rich, though, I think, John. Well, I remember when I was in school in England, I went over bought standing room only tickets at Wimbledton And I watch I got to watch Arthur Ash on one of the outer courts. who's as close as you and me And this guy was in such incredible. He wasn't muscular You know, John Mconay, if you met I saw Jimmy Connors one time, wasn't muscular Yeah. And they were from from lower class Backgrounds they just started early. Yeah, I' get look, any any Urban Ket them to put a racket in their hand. these That is one, that's a sport. they take over fast. But it's discipline, man. It's just repetition every day, every day and you've got to be able to handle pressure Yeah I don't think I'd be good at it. You got to be able to handle the pressure You're playing people that are as good as you are and it's it becomes a mental game. Yeah Especially at that high level, man I guess what people't realize about a lot of these sports, like these in like when you get to a high level, it's a matter of inches. It it's a little bit of a moment. Inches and it's mental If you even see these soccer games, you'll see the ball go through and it's like there's like an arm, a leg, a shouldl, a head, so many things that are just, I mean, half a millimeter away from it you know, every single shot. Um Yeah, I've enjoyed watching the World Cup. It's been good. It's been it's it's been a nice time to to have extra free time because that's going on Um You live in Madisonville? Yeah Nice.ar near Mandaville? Yeah. I live right on the line between Madisonville and Mandeville. Okay. Of course it's It's grown a lot since she grew up there. Oh yeah. I'll go back a good bit. It's it's just well, you know. I mean, it's just you all you can't really tell the difference now between Mand deville, Madisonville. And Covington. Yeah Yeah, my stepdad goes over there to a coffee house over there by friends right there on the lake. I know what you' talk about. Y in an old house. Y, beautiful. Um Cole cottage. Yeah, something like that. I can't think of that. I've had meetings there before Yeah, it's nice, man. I used to live right over a buddy of mine. His family let me live in their basement over there whichich living in a basin in Louisiana. It's dangerous. Its can flood. It can flood. And you can find varments in there. Oh, definitely man. You know. Your hair's clean in the morning, I know that. S will run up and eat everything out of. And snakes will crawl in there with you. Oh yeah. My wife called me, I got me out of a. Let'st go from snakes to your wife.. Yes good. you're right about that. but she called me the other day. I was in the middle of a hearing It was she was hysterical and she showed me a picture that there was this six foot rat snake. and my and my o my debt And I said, just leave him my own. Yeah. You won't eat You know Don't hurt him. S I call the neighbor and they'll kill him. I said, Don't do that. Yeah. He's a rat snake. Even if even if you could pick him up, he might bite you, but it won't hurt. Yeah. Now if you're a r If you're a rat, he'll eat you. Yeah, you got a problem, man. You know, he will eat you and spit out the bones but they always got something over there. I used to work over at friends on the lake. You know where friends well. Yeah. So before they remodeled it was just one story right there It's high fluting now. No, it's yeah. it's high in now. It's fancy. But I like it when I liked it the old way There was another place called Coffee's Biling Pot. Yeah I used to start they've under new ownership and it's gotten a little more expensive Yeah, U but it's just grown so much. Oh yeah. And Badows, I used to go badows, G me Bad I still Bads are still there. Give me a chocolate mold over there. You still got it? Oh, so much sugar in my face. I couldn't blink my damn eyes for an hour But I, you know, but it was worth it, man. But I worked at friends and I will tell you this, they you were a waiter Oh, now I was a bus boy for it. Were you? Yeah, I was never, I was never promoted. That was my And then I got to a point where I was like, I'm not being a waiter even if y'all want me to. You know, that was some of my energy. B Nam But it was a good time over there and when they would cook duck, when the chef would cook duck, every now and then they had duck on the menu And back in the busboy section where the ice machine was, they had these u these they had some missing baseboards down there and these raccoons would come out of the wall. So one of the bus boys would have to sit back there with a broomstick and just beat them back in literally just beat them back into the wall while they were c we had raccoons love Dg. We had an outdoor cat for a while. Oh yeah. Wild, but but I would would bring cat food out there And it was always gone so quick. and finally I went out there one night and just kind of h it I reckon was coming out of the woods Just snarfing that stuff up. Just pretending to be a kid We've got raccoons I back up to woods. We've got raccoons, deer Um I went out one night to take out the garbage, open up the top Possum. Yo yeah. Yeah, they act like it's theirs. Yeah, exactly. And our raccoons are kind of cute possums, huh? Yeah. thoseose things. You'll see a crossbeed of a catcoon every now and then you'll see ' them. a couple of them start cross pollinating out there If the if the u if the humidity gets high enough, you'll see some of the animals start mixing We as you well know, we've got everything in. Oh yeah. We've got alligator. We've got more alligators then we've got people now. Is that true? Yeah yeah. You're ling. No, I'm not It's just twenty five years ago, they were getting and watch and watch the Democrats try to get them to register to vote. Yep Wouldn't surprise me. Wouldn't surprise me, sorry to interrupt you, but I was going forget that joke if I didn't say it. Yes, Louisiana is more alligators than people, dear God kids away from the river. But tourists love them because they will these boats where go go out and they feed them. And so when when they see the The the boat, they come immediately and the tourists just eat it up They think they're tame. They're not. That's perversion to me, brother. I don't mess with the devil and I don't mess with his pets That's one way that's how I operate. I don't mess with those types of things. That's for sure Um But ye, it's nice for you it's nice to be here nice to just have a taste of home in the building, man. U You started working in politics and you were tr taping now? Yeah,? Yeah, fine. I just didn't know. Oh, yes, sir, sorry Yes, sir, we are. Senator John Kennedy, thank you. And you're not related to Bobby Kennedy or any of those Kennedys, right? If I am, I'm the poor side of the family.. Okay. I don't think I am my dad was from Oklahoma and my mom was from central Louisiana. How did they meet? How your parents meet? Well, my dad, Phil was from a depression family Eight brothers and sisters he left home Hard for me to believe today, but when he was fourteen to go to another town that had a high school He lived with relatives. He worked as a janitor at night Pay his way U he went to University of Oklahoma We just won the Nady Championship That's right. Let's go. He worked his way through school, got a degree in petroleum and engineering. came to Louisiana to work in the oil fields and met my mom And he he went away for four years. He was in World War two Um, but I I My dad was my hero, manate. Was he? Yeah, he really was. What was his name Preston Kennedy. Preston Kennedy. willill I named my son after My dad used to tell me Theo, He he would say, son, when I was growing up I have three brothers. He'd say Son, you'll never understand love to you have a child. And I'd say I come on Dad, you know Hed say no, it's not like the love of a spouse or a sibling or a girlfriend And until you have children, you don't know that, but he was right. I named my son after Preston. And he's a good kid. There was a time growing up When I was I figured my son was either going to go into concert promotion or a minimum security prison. I wasn't sure which. But but he he he he he's a he's a good kid. There's a picture of him right there, huh Oh, that's awesome That's my late dad There you go, Preston and and the other Preston, huh? Y Amen That's a great picture. I've got that somewhere. was that was my younger d. This when My dad was still alive. Oh, bless him, man. We were he was we were raised in Zachary Oh yeah three thousand people And that's close to Liberty It's it's sort of close to liberty. It's close. Liberty is about forty miles away. It's close to Baton Rouge. Okay, yeah. Now yeah, I know where it is now. Now when I grew up, Zachary's big now, it's like fifteen, twenty thousand There were like three thousand people. Oh yeah. And it was really a small town and I like that people say, well, what's a small town like? and I tell them the truth. it's Everybody knows your business, everybody knows whose check is good and whose husband isn't. Everybody knows your b But I would go back Some people hated high school. I loved it Yeah, Happiest day. O H school? Yeah. Oh yeah, because I don' I don't think people you don't realize at that age that you will never be in a place where you're kind of as protected like in in an incubator and have all of everyone you know will be around Every day they show up, even though they're tired or whatever and they're miserable and they didn't do their homework or whatever And they all like the same girl. It doesn't matter. Everybody you know will show up and that never happens again.ope It I had a hundred people in my graduating class A we were the king that's be Bucking Broncos. Okay. And I cared about two things. I cared about My studies because of my parents, but I cared more about basketball and I cared about cherair leaders.. And I wasn't worth the damn at either one. But I had a lot of fun trying and you don't But I talk to people all the time. they, oh, I didn't like CSco Man, I'd go back and shck, Oh God. Well, they busted some guy. they had some guy had a growth deficiency And herest the Lord didn't really let him grow up. He was just a Simon Birch of a man, you know. And And they bususted and he was like thirty one and he went back to middle school or something. And he was they called him on like two weeks into school. when school. One of the teachers saw him cashing a check over the weekend at a bank And they busted him. This is a few years ago in Indiana. they caught a guy. But and people were like, that's messed up. I said, Look, I don't blame the guy. Well, you grew up in Mandeville in Covington, It was probably small then. Oh man It's big now, but Covington was perfect, man. I remember we get paddled by the principal Oh yeah. Bill Brady, Bill Brady was our principal and he's the best. I saw him a couple years ago at a buddy's funeraloy. You can't do that anymore. No we had it. Did you have like a milk delivery person and stuff like that? No. I remember correct. I remember I'll never forget I had a civics class in my basketball Coach was my teacher. There was this one guy. I won't use his name because he's a friend of mine, He was a great football player and, uh, He was having trouble with the exam So He said, Kennedy, help me with this exam. We're sitting next to each other. And I'll never guess, well, okay, you know, point to an answer was multiple chousts I go Pint to another I go And the coach called me and you just you you Cool, bend over And he hits you with that paddle with holes in it. And you don't want to you don't want to cry. It hurts like hell We don't wantan to make any noise. E just yeah like any noise you make is. then then you're on cool Now I didn't belie that anymore, but it worked for me. Next time Next time my friend got in trouble, he said, Will you help? I said, No. No. You know, I learn my lesson. Yeah I learned my lesson our way, man. Here we go right here. It said Perrysburg police arrested a Labrador arrested Labrador Sierra on Monday. That's a man U A twenty four year old suspect was enrolled in high school allegedly posing as a teenage boy for more than a year and a half. Really? That's pretty wild atttended Parrysburg High School between january eleventh, twenty twenty four and may fourteenth, twenty twenty five. Shout out to that young fella trying to get an education Good for him. I guess Yeah I guess we don't know, we don't know. We don't know why went back Yeah. We don't know why I went back. Now if you went back to finish up a couple of courses. Yeah if that's one thing, but you didn't you just might be want to delve in the background. Yeah, yeah. Yeahah, you might want to do a little recon on that fellow. And also I will notice in that photo, I think he was in a prison outfit. so So that may been more to the story. You started as treasure in Louisiana My first job Political career, sorry. Yep. My first job, I worked for a governor a reformed governor named buddy Romer Oh, did you really? work for Buddy? and u then, um, um Buddy beat and I had left him to run for atttorney general. I lost. I came in third My next job was another reform governor named Mike Foster. I had become friends with him and he won and he asked me to come run basically the tax department. And I did that for a while and then I ran for treasure and I was treasured for seventeen years before I came to the Senate Wow. U enjoyed it. learearned a lot about Um, um finance, a lot about bond issues. underwriting U I managed all the state money U It was about four billion then. That's not a lot of money to a lot of people, but from Louisiana, it's a lot. Yeah, it's a chunge. I enjoyed it I like being a senator. But I enjoyed being state treasure. What does a treasurer do? so just so we know. so we're clear on it. Well, when you're in the state treasure, just as you'd expect, you're in charge of the state's money States borrow money to build roads or to build prisons or build schools and you issue bonds And you hire investment bankers usually out of New York, not always and bond lawyers I was in charge of that. You have to be very careful. the rules seecurity rules have to disclose everything We had idle cash U Oh not That ain't good in Louisiana, Brian. No. That go missing quick. But cash comes in and goes out quickly. I was in charge of investing it in short term instruments, sometimes just a day or two. Okay. But when you got when you've got a cash flow that's in the billions of dollars, youre just investing it overnight. You can pick up a lot of money if you do it repeatedly We had a lot of trust funds. I invested I invested those I spent a lot of time working with the legislature on ideas about how to make government more efficient, save money U I was in charge of the state's unclaimed property program. Were you really do? Yeah. Yeah. Dude, I think y'all sent me a thing one time I left. I think I had two hundred bucks on something. Yeah Thank you Y We u Thank you, Dude. When a business has your money and can't find you, they can't keep it. They've got to turn it over to the state And I was in charge of unless it's the federal government they' alled do No, the federal goverment iss different. Yeah allowed to keep I was in charge of getting the money back to people Okay And the most money I ever gave back to to a lady. man, it was great. She was a retired school teacher New Orleans. It was from her late husband. It's long story, but she didn't know about the money. They were invested in stocks and they grew and gre and grew I gave her a check for one million twenty six thousand Yeah, man. It was cool. And did you walk over there and do what you make? I called her and told her how we got it. She didn't have any children and she said, well, I want to come to Baton Rouge and get it And so what's where Ma office was. So she came in And she cried talked about her late husband. I gave her the money. She said, I'm going use it to help people. I don't have any children. But when I on walked her outside to escort her out She had like Ten nieces and nepws there J just waiting. And I knew that money was going to get spent. Get that check, boy. Oh, when that check comes in Louisiana, when that check comes, man, it's getting spent But I'm glad we got some of your money. Yeah. Oh yeah, thank you, man. I need it at the time too You know, so I appreciate that. Um When when you got a job and then Senator, how long have you been working as a senator for? Ten years It's a Some of the most interesting people I've ever been around. Yeah Um, right now U It's not pretty to watch Um Yeah Right now, Congress kind of looks like a breach birth You know, What do you mean that? Well, three wheel stock shopping cart. We're not getting them along. Yeah. It's hard to reach consensus We'll get through it Um, but as we get closer to the midterm elections, there. It just gets more and more and more political I think we're going to have another shutdown. I sent on their preparations commommittee and we're trying to put together a budget But we're not getting any cooperation. What is the appropriations committee? what does that mean? That means I'm in charge of notot just me, but others. I'm in charge of drafting the the federal government's budget. And my part of it is what's called energy and water development. I'm in charge of the nuclear program I'm in charge well, my comm subcommittee is. Okay. I'm in charge of u U, the Department of Energy. I'm in charge of the Army Corps of Engineers U, and we put together the budget, but Ive You've got to get sixty votes to pass anything in the Senate. So I've got to work with my Democratic colleagues and that Sometimes it's easy, sometimes it's not the closer we Senator Schumer, I think is going to shut down He's going to refuse to let us do a budget. really's going to shut down government. That guy seems like a crok Well, look, let me. May that's un fair' f's fair. America fair. believe what you want. I don't hate anybody I don't And when I say my prayers One of the things I ask God for, don't let me hate And and it's easy to start hating and washingt. And I refuse to hate. And that's onene of the many things I ask God for And I know Chuck well. We went to China together, met with President Xi We don't agree on much Um And Chuck's entitled his opinion. But as I tell him all the time, You know, he he's He's he's, how can I explain it? He's He's very animated. Yeah. He's like a five year old in a batman costume, you know, You just won't tell him, chill out Yeah, but he hates President Trump doesn not like President Trump. He thinks creating chaos. It'll help his side in the midterm elections And I fully expect him to withhold the budget the votes on the budget and shut down government. And that would be hope I'm wrong. If I'm wrong, I'll apologize to him It's that time Przisee Picks is America's number one spports Picks app The app is really simple to use. To get started, just pick more or less on two plus players stat projections and lock your picks in You'd rather just pick teams Prizisee Picks has that now too Just pick the winner, spread in total on any major game or fight. the summer of soccer, there's no better time to get in on the action Make a soccer lineup or just pick the winner of the game and keep it simple Here's who I'm going with to win the cup. 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I don't know what I'm going to do Um, Carlson supported Trump in twenty twenty four Mm Did he say why They're making decisions on the basis of other criteria. What's What's best for this company? what's best for Israel? Oh, that's right. He said he felt like it was becoming Israel first party and not America first Um That's a big person to not have support from, you know, because he's been a big supporter of the Republican Party for a while I've been a consistent defender. He says for thirty five years of the Republican Party. I meanm very consistent defender, but there's no defending this. he said. So no, I'm out. U What do what do you what's what's your response? I know Tucker. He is very, very smart. He's very articulate um, he is fallen out with President Trump and with those of us in the in the Senate who support Israel He primarily fell out with President Trump over the conflict in Iran Now, I've been very supportive of the press on the conflict in Iran Um I don't want America to be the world's policeman. But I don't want Xi Jinping in China or the Ayato and Iran or Vladimir Putin in Russia to be the world's policemen either. And these are hard men Um, They understand one thing, Theo. Strength If if if If you If you turn the other cheek to these people, they'll just stab you in the neck proof of that is there? You just look at their actions. Iran is the world's Foremost exporter. terrorism Putin Wh now of course, runs Russia wants to dominate Eastern and central Europe. which is President Trump is has gotten Europe to start spending more money on defense, but we've always had to defend them I can tell you what President she Iven't met with President she Um He's he He is very clear. He thinks that China is ascending He thinks America's in decline He thinks, while they're building ships and nuclear weapons He thinks all we do in America is sit around and debate whether a man can breastfeed Um, And he is he and Putin and Natollah and Iran are working together and China's goal is to dominate the Indo Pacific. to be free to roam in S Saharan Africa. and South America He wants to dominate the Arctic. He wants to dominate space. But is he shown those things like Oh yes Absolutely. I mean, uh uh China is supporting Iran right now China is supporting Russia and war in Ukraine. There's no question. China bas all of Putin's oil. We sanctioned a lot of their oil when Putin invaded Ukraine. So he can't sell it because What was traded in dollars, He sells it to China. Um, look, I don't I don't hate anybody And the Chinese people U to the extent that the the Communist Party and Chinem let you interact with them are lovely people. but They They are determined they hate America And and deep down, the Iranians are worse down. They want to kill us and hurt us the entire time we're dying. That's my point of view. Tucker will have a different point of view. Yeah. He thinks and he thinks that we're too close to Israel I think a lot of people these from from people that I see all the time, that's the number one thing that people say, they think we're too close to a country that's that's that's created a genocide against Palestine and then is like in conflict with these other people around them that it seems like they're just like kind of the bullies of the area. you know, It's like it feels like they're the terrorist organization. That's what it seems like to a lot of people A lot of people believe that Um I'll give you another point of view Um The real problem in the Middle East Ss forever. Since God was a baby, the real problem in the Middle East is Iran. and Iran wants to dominate and Iram Iran funds Hezbollah and Hamas. Israel is surrounded by people that want to kill them Syria is different today, but Syria Hezbollah was in control of Lebanon Hamash An arm of Iran was in control of the Gaza Strip Um, Hamas attacked Israel And the Israelis fight back and They took they they took over the Gaza Strip And yes, a lot of Palestinians got hurt And not got hurt. I mean, got killed got killed and hurt and Hamash Hamas would Hold the the the the the the Gazans They would put them out front. But how do we even know that? They killed two hundred twenty have seen it. But they killed two hundred and twenty something journalists that went there to document what was going on. There's no question there what civilian deaths. They wouldn't let journalists in to even document what was happening. There have been civilian deaths It is primarily the fault. I'm not saying Israel is blameless Look War is a this war? but it is war You think it's working? It is. They just had an article yesterday that came out from the UN. If you could find that, it was about They done like a deep dive on killing of children Right? And some of the massacring and really massacring of children, Israel continues to commit genocide atrocity crimes by deliberately targeting Palestinian children, UN Independent Commission finds Even after the october twenty twenty fifth ceasefire, children continue to be killed and seriously injured with continued disregard by Israel for the ceasefire And for the protection, let me see whales here Here' some findings of the commission. Israel has killed twenty thousand children and injured forty four thousand more. October seventh, twenty twenty three U Palestinian children have been arrested and subjected to torture and other severe forms of mistreatment in Israeli prisons This is all part of, let me see, United Nations Well, first, I wouldn't believe it if it came from the UN Oh really, they're not do you feel like they're not liable? They're not they're not object reliable. They're not objective. Okay. They're not objective. Well number two it's number two And I know children got killed and it breaks your heart Hamas kills children too. So does his ba So does Iran. Do you think Do you think the Ayatollah doesn't care about the Iranian people? The Persians are some of the most talented people in history when they disagree with the eye toer. They hang. Is Shang And and I think I don't speak for Mister Carlson, but he says it's not our business And I guess to some extent, he's right But I'll tell you what is our business It's letting them get a nuclear weapon becausecause if they get a nuclear weapon, These people are like Charlie Manson They're crazy Um I mean, there there's Really crazy is rare. These people though are With the Iranian leadership, it's commonplace. If they get a nuclear weapon, they will use it. not just on Israel but on Europe and on us And even if they don't, once they get a nuclear weapon, you will have O countries Japan, South Korea other countries Saudi Arabia get nuclear weapons? as well and the more people that have nuclear weapons, more likely you are to have war. Yeah. But Tucker would probably have another point of view But I really like Tucker. I think he's really smart. Oh yeah, I think Tucker' a neat guy. I mean, from what I know about him, he seems like Um, I believe that he's earnest like in his search, you know, I believe that he Um I don't know. ye, my interactions with them have always been good, you know? It's just that they when they kill the reporters who are trying to get honest information, they're killing reporters. You know. I don't think they had think it was intentional They had one that they shot directly in the face and then at her funeral They, um attack the people who were carrying her. Can you find her name? We just talked about her last night? Sorry to go in all this. I' not. but At her funeral, they attacked they even attacked the people who were giving her funeral, Sharine Abu playay was a prominent Palestinian American journalist who worked as a reporter for twenty five years for Al Jazeera before she was killed by Israeli forces while wearing a blue press vest and covering a raid in the Jin on the Obviously that that's terrible Um, But here's what you have to understand The world Um And I don't know why this is. If I make it to heaven I'm going askcot But there's some people out there in the world. They're not sick They're not mixed up It's not that their mama and daddy didn't love them enough They just got buy cards. Yeah And some of them run countries North Korea Russia. China But what are those countries actively doing right now? like BibB Netanyahu and the Israeli government is actively Well from a lot of people believe and I believe a lot of voters believe that they're actively committing have committed a genocide in Palestine and then they've gone into Beirut to Lebanon. to Iran. You don't believe they are. I don't believe thatve Hamash dominate which is an arm of Iran. Hamas dominated Gaza um Hamas attacked Israel. Hamas was hiding behind the Palestinian civilians. All of them Oh All of them if you didn't obey, if the Palestinian civilians didn't obey Hamas They would kill him Okay. Hamas was in complete control. Israel attacks When Israel attacked Hamas Many civilians got killed and it was regrettable, but what are you going to do? Iran was hiding physically hiding behind them. Wh that happened Hezbollah from Lebanon funded by Rant attacked Israel And all Israel has done is fought back Now, I'm not saying that In the fog of war, there haven't been innocent people killed. there have been Yeah. And it's terrible. But it's not like Israel is is the bad guy And H Hamas and Hezboah And Iran are the good guys because they're not And these weakness invites the wolves. I wish It weren't like that I wish it weren't. I wish you could sit down and and reason with them. But it's like talking to Charlie Manson. He was stone coal crazy. Yeah. And these people believe If you don't accept their religion, their form of Islam Uh, then you should die And they think they're on a mission from God I think that Islam is If you want to be you think that's true? And you would know, I mean, I don't have a I think have experience Islam, Hindu, you can your religion is your business. In America, we have freedom of religion If my religion told me that I had to kill bunch of other human beings. to advance my religions's call. Christianity taught that I couldn't be a Christian Yeah Yeah, that would be heartbreaking But they really believe that. And that's And how do we know that? because they've done it They've what they've done what they did in October, Was it october seventh They raided, they raped cut off Israeli People's heads kidnapped him Um, what they they've done to American troops in Lebanon It's widely known. lookook at what they did. Um, They started shooting at the Saudis. and the UAE That's not the good people of Iran That's their leadership. They were religious salads. And didn't we get didn't we didn't we take their Ayattollla out the first one out Theyve replaced him with his son But hes he's in hiding. Dying bro, and that's nepotism I mean, we got to call that what it is. Well, nobody wants Nobody really wants to to Nody wants the job. Nobody wants the job, man. Our military is the greatest military in all of him in. Amen to that, dude. It's always so extraordinary We're so lucky, man. I mean, we're just lucky to be in a place where we can at least like think and try and explore ideas and try and learn. And even if we don't know stuff, you know, we can try our best Um Wasn't there some evidence that Hamas was funded by Israel though like it was back channeled through Qatar or something. Can you look that up? Qatar has funneled money to Hamas You're a middle Now we have to I'll be shocked. How the United States Money Isel from Israel I don't believe that. Yeah. I just don't believe that. I know their' stories But I just don't believe that because I've been to Israel. I've talked to the Israeli people They don't want to be at war Then why are they at war with everyone, then it feels like a? Well they're at war with Hezboamah to the north because Hezbah keeps shooting missiles at them and digging tunnels and' they're terrorists. And they're at war with Hamas because Hamas attack them. Yeah. and and until they took out their missiles, kept shooting missiles and they're at war with Iran because Iran is beh hand ar that. And I wish we didn't have to do any of this, honest to God President Trump about it. He didn't he didn't want to be it in conflict with Iran. But we cannot let them have a nuclear can These people or stone home crazy Yeah, I guess it's tough to I think when you see like videos and stuff online, it makes you just see like Um I don't know. it just makes your heart hurt like There was a There was a report the other day in that UN report that there was like a fourteen year old kid who they got who they shot and then they just stood around and watched him bleed to death. And when his mother tried to come to him, they just like would shoot at her And then these soldiers s just stood around and watched him bed to death. and it's just kind of hard.. it all breaks your heart. And that's why you don't have to go to war Put yourself in and the in the president's shoes. our intelligence. Here's what our intelligence showed And I've seen it classified, but I've seen it But I can give you a general outline Our intelligence showed Iran was building up its missile capacity, both ballistic and crews. and they were going to u p so many missiles and drones that they were going to turn to America and Israel and say we're restarting our nuclear weapons program And if you try to stop us, We're going to destroy the rest of the Middle East. and by the way Our missiles can now reach London. Pish. Pairars and, uh and Germany. And you you saw reports. I've seen the intelligence. Okay And President Trump was faced Well Do I let them continue He hadd already bombed their nuclear, some of their nuclear facilities He was faced with the decision, do I let them get to the point where they have so many missiles and drones, ballistic and crews that they could destroy the Middle East, that they could hit London They might even be able to hit the United States or do I go in to stop them And he did. right And we haven't destroyed all of their missiles But if you go to Iran today, their whole swath of Aronte look like something out of Mad Max four I mean we destroyed the public sector private big portions of the p private sector didn't want to do it It take them twenty years to recover I mean, in our milleitary, I'm not going to bubble ri it They went in and our military ye ate them. and spit out the bones. Yeah. And and and they are not right now A nuclear threat but they still have The sensor fuses to make to take their fissile material and make it uh, a make a warhead. Yeah, I didn't know that. I didn't know that you had seen the intntel on that We have we have a a basement and underground a room in the in the Senate There's some we call it the Siff completely secure, you leave all your electronics. outside and I've been brief follow the s by Rubio by Secretary headad Seth by C Rubio. the joint chiefs Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. And do you trust those guys? Absolutely Absolutely, John Radcliffe from the CIA I trust every single one of them. Amen Okay, Yeah. Yeah, I don't, Yeahah, I'm not in the space. So it's like, you know, it's from perspective just as a regular person, you just see all of this stuff and it's so It seems like so one way. It seems like you were saying like you feel like the truth comes through and you know what it is, right Like we were saying in the beginning or whatever like what we see and what we see and perceive is, okay, this is u this is real or this is u earnest or whatever, you know, It's like that's the way that a a lot of it seems. Well let me get this note real quick before you go and sorry to interrupt you This is here in a controversial deal. Israeli's government under Benjamin Netanyahu supported Qatar Qatar's payments to Hamas for many years and hoped that it would turn Hamas into an effective counterweight. Palestinian authority and prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state. So maybe there was some funding, but it wasn't clear on what it was for. Well if they gave eight adults There's a footnote there. I don't know the authority for that. Yeah, I'm not sure If they if they if they gave aid through utter to try to help the people of Gaza So they wouldn't Um, they wouldn't join ding up with Hamas That's a different thing from them Yeah supportupping Hamas. Hamas. Yeah And what did you look up there? just I'm going to look it up one more time. Can you put Israel supported did Israel support Hamas? Can you just put that question Let me see Israel did not. directly create Hamaspit from the late nineteen seventies through the nineteen nineties, the Israeli government provided covert support and funding to the Islamist movement that preceded it This strategy was used to counterbalance secular Palestinian nationalist groups like the Palestine. So they may have inadvertently supported it by trying to support something else, I guess. Hamas is a spinoff God the Palestine Palestinian PMO, Palestine. Palestine Liberation organization But once Hamas spun off They got all their financial support from Iran Almost ninety percent of it. G. And without Iran throtting the money, neither Hamas Nor Hezbollah could exist and they are terrorists. Understood Did Iran fund Homosasquit? Let's look that up then Thanks for discussing it with me. Sure. Yes, Iran. important subject. Yes, Iran has funded armed and trained Hamas for decades. Tehran consist considers the group a key part of its axis of resistance and provides tens of millions of dollars annually to support its military and operational capabilities And look, I'm not saying Israel is perfect. I'm not saying that none of us is is perfect, but Look at it this way Yeah They're certain areas you you You could walk down If you walk down at two o'clock in the morning in Nashville, let's say. There are people there that would hurt you. Yeah Now I don't know why Uh like I say, if I make it to heaven, I'm going to ask why people you know, want to hurt other people they do And And that's the situation that Israel's in I'll give you an exam a more concrete example Um My wife hates guns. Okaykay? I respect that. Um, but I own guns Do I do I hate everybody else? No? I believe love is the answer But I own a handgun just in case. A because I know there are people out there And if they try to hurt me or my family, I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm going to defend myself and my family. Yeah. Um and and that's I wish the world weren't like that. But it is. And some there's some very powerful countries that they hate them there They just hate us. They do And, uh can't reach them through diplomacy. It doesn't mean you shouldn't talk to them with a guy I've looked it Look present she in the eye Okay, Ive met this guy. Um with hard men like presresident She or they o to her Putin and Russia Weakness invites the wolves and try getting too close to them It's like hand feeding a shark We shouldn't want like that Push it war I think President Trump has understood that President Trump and I have our differences Two different styles. Yeah. Okaykay. President Trump exists loudly told him one time He said to Kennedy, how you like my tweets I said, Mr. Prest. Weweeding a little bit less would not cause brain cancer He said, What, you don't like my tweets? I said, no, I didn't say that. I said, I like a steak every now and then I just don't like toat eight of them one time. And I said, you're the president of the United States and He had he just has no filter He grows anxious when he has an unexpressed thought. He's the president and I'm not And and that makes a lot of people mad H I've known him for ten years I've got his cell phone there in my briefcase. If I called his cell number. If I called him, he called me right back I don't go hanging around the White House But we deal with each other straight up and we agree we agree, we agree, when we disagree, we disagree. Amen And you've had him on your show, you've met him. Yeah He's a busy guy. He's a He he's he exists loudly He's aggressively unpredictable He's a busy guy, man. Isy guy. Yeah. That's one thing I just remember from From my interaction with him Met he's a busy gu He's not as cool as Jeff Bridges,'s her. But he's pretty cool. You know who you need to have? My two favorite actors, not my T of my favorite actors, Jeff Bridges and Denzel Washington. Oh man. Denzel Washington came to see me one time. Really? It was It was so cool. He was lobbying because I'm only the preparations commommittee. for boys and money for the boys and girls Cub In the sky is what cool looks like, man He sat in my office And we talked about movies. Dang, look at him. And oh man, he was he was He had just made the movie. They'll almost have the same hair kind of different colors a little. Look, he is so cool. I told him, he said he he didn't like to talk about his movies, but I said, I think your best movie is Malcolm X And he just made a movie, The Magnificent Seven, a rememake of a M And he was telling me he showed me pictures. That's a Western huh? Yeah. Yeahah. He said, Kennedy, I'm from inner City, Philadelphia. I had to get on a horse And he showed me, but anyway, he's just dude that's aw. I h Jeff Bridges a lot too. Yeah, that would be amazing to get to have him. 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Let's fucking Cuo Your entire team can handle calls and texts from one shared number. so no more missed messages or dropped conversations or somebody's handing it off to this person and they're not receiving it or you know what I'm talking about Everyone sees the full thread. Replies are faster and customers actually feel taken care of. Money is on the line. Always say hello with Quo Try quo for free. Plus get twenty percent off your first six months when you go to Quo dot com slash Theo That's Quo dot com slash theo. Let's loog in co Do you think that America will support like a pro Israel candidate like in the next election. Like Trump has been pretty pro Israel overall. Do you think that will affect how they vote in the next election It's going to be a big iss Um My Democratic friendrench Not all of them. The wing of the what I call the loon wing of the Democratic partarty that's in control They hate Israel And they they support They say they support Palestinians Well they hate the government, not the people, right? No, R'm talking about the. I don't want to believe they hate the people. Okay. yeah. But they hate thes that's fair. That's a good point. hate the government. Yeah, and that point's across the board in this conversation. That' that's a fair point But but they support Hamas. I mean, I'm sorry, they just do Uh, that's why I call a Malloon wing. of the party And and that will be a big issue within the Democratic primaries But there are a lot of Republicans that think we're too close to Israel. Well, mean, it's just that's's so interesting about Tucker Tucker' one. Well Tucker saying that because Tucker has one of the top ten Uh podcasts and platforms in America So for that, for him to be for that to be his direction and that to be how he feels. And he really believes that. Yeah And I'm sure a lot of people feel exactly like he do like he does, you know. So that's why I'm wondering. Do you think like an Israel first politician could win? could win Good wooe Look, this is a big wide open, diverse country. Yeah, for both Republicans and Democrats. Yeah. in in our in our country, you can believe what you want and say what you think and and We I support this dialectic of ideas where ideas compete. Yeah, they have to have it. Yep and that's why God made elections I want people to and my people in Louisiana, but on America to know where I stand. Yeah. And I have a lot of admiration for Israel Um They're tough. They're tough as a boot. They fight back to against people that try to kill them. Yeah Do I want a better life for the Palestinians? Absolutely. And I remember under President Clinton. He offered the Palestinians a deal to give them their own country Um Big chunk of the West Bank, give them Gaza They would have their own country They said no Their leadership said Let's let's bring that up just so I know that that's to the Camp David Summit? Yeah Yeahep Yeahah, President Billklin's primary effort to help Palestine get its own country culminated in the Clinton parameters of december two thousand. This was an ambitious proposal for a two state solution that followed the failed Camp David summit Um, and the political leadership of Palestine. said no offfferedalestine control over ninety four to ninety five percent of the West Bank, along with the equivalent of a additionational one to three percent of land via territorial swaps Um And what happened? Oh, this was the Oslo Accs The Oslo chords were next Okay They were after Camp David Ultimately, if a final deal was never solidified the Clinton proposals and subsequent TAabA summit negotiations brought the sides closer than ever before. both sides voiced reservations and the deal collapsed at the end of Clinton's term. Yes, sir Arafat. Arafat was in charge of the PMO He was the leader of the Palestinians. I think if you put it to a vote of the Palestinian people They would have said they would have taken it Who decided to No, that's that's I'm trying to get to that. Aarfat turned it down. Okay. And he was he was head of the PLO or the political organization for all of the Palestinians But if I've always believed VerFat had put it to a vote. of the Palestinian people, they would have accepted But Bill Clinton came that close. What says here the Israel resp of Israeli cabinet conditionally accepted the parameters, but issued a twenty page letter outlining reservations regarding security U Israel will T back? And borders. yeah. Now, Israel would have taken it telling you I'm just saying that this what this says.. And then the Palestinian responsse Palestinian Liberation orrganization accepted the framework, but also with heavy reservations. So why did it not go through. That's all I'm trying to figure I'm just because air fat And you o'ught to have President Clinton on your show. I'm sure you'll love to do to talk about it It's one of his I've heard him speak before and say one of his biggest disappointments Really becausecause he thought he had Chairman Yesar Afak gave qualified agreement to the parameters in january two thousand one, the extensive reservations submitted by both sides prevented the parameters from materializing into a formal peace treaty. So I'm not saying you're wrong, but this has both sides. I would encourage to I mean, it would be awesome. Have you ever met him before President Clint Yeah. Oh he wouldn't know who I am, but I've met him a couple of times. I bet he would know. Have you ever been a fable Have I have ever been to F? No, not here at all. I might have, but I It's been a long time. It's one of my fav. I didn't realize it was such a great college time. I haven' I wanted to see I've been to LBJ's library in Texas I'd like to go see Bill Clinton's library. I mean, President Clinton, I don't agree on some things, but u Like I say, I don't hate anybody, man. Yeah I don't I mean, I don't I wish President Biden well, you know I was one of the few Republicans. to spend some time with him And we just disagreed. Well, I mean, I think he disagreed with. You ought to ask President Biden to come on his show. He'd probably do it Do you think he's? No nobody thought that he was Well, he's aged he aged I mean ag He was aged in office. Why didn' nobody come out and say, hey, this guy's not doing work? Well, they should have. his staff should have. But his wife should have. someomebody should have like come to the aid of him as a human being. I mean, clearly in hindsight, his staff, they were trying to hide it from the American people. And at the end Um It was so bad Be being president's tough. President Biden blush his heart. He couldn't finish a sentence without taking a nap Yeah. I mean, he never everybody knew that though. It made us I feel like it made us look like a joke to like the world in a way, did you feel like this? Yes, but I knew what was going on and everybody on Capitol Hill knew was going on. What didd you think was going on? I thought Who was running the show? I think that he had four or five aides who are making all of the decisions I've always believed that these aids had had They're allegion. I'm not going to say they're in bad faith. They had allegiance to President Biden But they also had contacts with President Obama. And I think they were making most of the major decisions How many AidS does the president have? Oh God, in the White House hundredundreds include the old executive office building. Probably five or six hundred I've never counted that many ag for the president. But there are four there are always four or five people u that tend to that a president, whatever president teendnds to allow on and, um, at the end President Biden's age did a very good job of secluding him and hiding it from the American people. They were lying to the American people. And when the President Biden did that debate They couldn't hide him and it was it was Hows in Wyoming I remember? U for some something I don't remember, but I watched so TV and I was This is a rare phenomenon. I was speechless And so is he? I mean That's a good one, Mat You're right. It was terrible It was It was embarrassing Yeah, it was embarrassing, man. That's what it was. You know what you know what upset me the most about that was I felt like to me it showed people this is how we think of our senior citizens that we would put them in a space like this and let them be taken advantage of. like To me, it got to that point where it was like, what's it called when you take advantage of someone because of their age, whatever is wnder I'm not sure if there's a word or term about it. Elder abuse? Yes. That's what it seemed like. And it seemed like it's 'cause like in a lot of countries they respect their elders so much, they bring them back into the home. There's that sort of thing.. And it just seemed like that's it seemed to me like that was the view that people got of us. and that made me sick. like Well people the people around President Biden had a lot of power power what did Henry Kissinger say powerower is the ultimate aphrodisiia. I mean, people That's true. People there were around President Biden. It was in their financial interest, it was in their their emotional interest to maintain the power that was derived from the Pston. Yeah. and they kept him propped up And what were they using? Do you think they were using anything to keep him up? I mean you think you almost think Hunter might have slipped him something, you know? No, I don't think that. I think I'm justoking on. know. I think that Hunter hopefully Hunter knows I'm just joking. And I actually talked to him the other day. Did you? Yeah. How's he doing? We had a nice conversation and he was doing great. He's been clean for a long time. Yeah, man. his story's kind of fascinating. I'm just intrigued by it, right I would love to maybe get to talk to him sometime He had a really bad addiction That was clear. Oh, dude A most of us have been there Well, it's Um That's one of the Another thing I'm going to ask the good Lord if I make it to heaven is You know, why is there addiction? Yeah because people Uh It's just horrible when something controls Y soul. I don't need to tell you, you've been thr. Yeah. It ruins a lot of families. It ruins what it ruins is the people around you. That's the worst part. And there are a lot of people who aren't strong enough to beat it th It's It's, u It's just it's I have so much respect for people who beat. bad addiction whether it's alcohol or drugs or or OCD or It just takes enormous will pay. And a lot of people don't have it. It takes commitment too. I mean, to go to a meeting five days a week, you know? to go do to go drive across town to go someplace five days a week, you know, the people that do it, there should be a special day for those people that are that are battling it, you know, and that are doing a good job. There really should. Um There has been It's kindind of some more socialist candidates, right. Which I think is a term the safe term to use' been Democratic socialists. There's been like some more socialist candidates that have popped up and have garnered a lot of support Do you think that the Republican Party like, is there a response to that that the Republican Party should kind of have or or that the Republican Party like has to that sort of happening? L what is kind of the Republican Party's response to that or counteraction to that if there is question Well, Senator Bernie Sanders. You thought it was a good question? Yeah, It's a good question. Thanks, Dude Senator Bernie Sanders, Congresswoman Ocacio Cortez Mayor, M, Donny in Mayor of New York Um Mr. Graham Platner is running for for Senate in Maine. They are socialists. They believe in in a government run economy Um, they believe that My words, not theirs. You should send all your money and all of your freedom to them and they can make decisions for you. I don't believe that. Yeah. I believe in free enterprise I think free entnerprise has done more to lift people out of poverty and then all the social programs put together They believe in defunding the police bond all that They believe that cops are a bigger problem than criminals They believe in defunding IC Um They believe that I know some of them that They think all white people are racist I know some of them that They think Thomas Jefferson and George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and Mr Zeus and Mr. Potato Had are all racist. Yeah. Dude to say Mr. Potatad is his racist, bring him up. He's mixed, is mean Um, I don't believe. I mean,'s at least he's half Russet I don't think the Dude, hold on. L' mister Potato headad. Bro and look first of all, look at the second mister Potato headad. Look at mister Potato headad. I just remember That guy each the first mister Potato. Okay, brring out your first one. That was the one they got mad at. He there was another one. Bro. What are you talking about? Steve Harvey played him too Look at the one in the middle on the second row. He gets all the roles They they got man. They said the creators of Mr. Potato head. We're racist. comeome overra Now, I don't look. I didn't know you, that's what you meant. I thought you meant the potato itself, man, a potato Definitely potat potato definitely He's from Jackson Um, But yeah, I don't think he's racist at all the creators of it. I don't think doctor Sus is racist No, he wasn't racist. I don't think so at all, dude The canat a hat I remember that's a black guy. But but my point is Most look Horton here' a who That's not racist at all. It should be Horton here's a what Or I think I don't know, never mind. goo on, America what? America' not perfect, but we're good and we caught the disease of slavery But we beat it back Yeah, there's a lot of, there's a lot of speculation about how slavery started and where it started and what exactly happened. And I do think that over time, there's definitely this constant like there's definitely a playoy, it seems like by the media sometimes that tries to remind like It's like tries to keep people locked into like a victim mentality sometimes. That's true. And that's it's okay to be a victim sometimes, but if all you are is a victim, I think it's tough to move forward sometimes. It is for any of us regarding anything Yeah, what do you think are some of the pitfalls of long terms of like socialism that maybe people don't see that have happened in the past If you have an example, I I do not believe that the people in the Democratic Socialist Party that I just named. some of them I know Senator Sanders is a friend of mine. Um, I believe deep down They think they're smarter and more virtuous than the American people and that they can make decisions For the country and the country will be better off And I respectfully disagree with I trust the American people. This is the greatest country in all of human history The whole world knows it. Everybody wants to come here When's the last time you heard of somebody trying to sneak into China People wanton't come here. That's a good point. And it's because We believe in f enterprise. We believe that our future can be better than our present or our past. We believe in free will and responsibility You know,, most Americans They they they don't read Aristotle every day because they're busy earning a living Cy smart They don't need a soul crushing federal government to run their lives And and and free enterprise works Socialism Name one country where it worked. It doesn't work in Cuba didn't work in Argentina It didn't work in the former Soviet Union Yeah, that's what I think sometimes if we do get to that place of it where if it were to grow that much that Could it work? Is it different? Would something be different this time? I don't know. You know, it's interesting to think about you know, if it ever was really tried earnestly, It's hard to know. I'm not I'm not saying I'm not voting in tried earnestly in Cuba And we see how that turned out. Yeah It was tried earnestly under Paron in. But do you think that that Castro was earned Like in the end, he kind of became corrupted, right? He was very corrupt They've always been corupt. But do you think in the beginning he was earn like he tried to play himself as earrnest, probably? I don't know. Right. I think he was I think he believed in the socialist philosophy But in the end, this became about him And and yeah. Yeah. And Senator Bernie Sanders. I think he's been on your show. Yeah. I Bernie. I comes in. He's got his bag. like we've said him a little thing. he's like I just want a couple cookies on a plate. likeike he's like Sand a long time to get to know Bernie because he's I thought he just didn't like me because he can be kind of gruff, but he's kind of Goughly I remember one day I got him to smile. I was walking over to the Citol with another senator to vote and Bernie passed me by and he didn't speak and I leaned and I said, Bernie He said what? pay your taxes, man, we need the money. And he got a little smock But he's a great guy Yeah. But he is genuinely A socialist And he honestly believes that U if you made money in business. That you had you did it by taking advantage somebody or you stole it And that's not been my experience. I know many successful business womomen and businessmant that have created a lot of jobs. They earn the money honestly When you started out Nobody gave it to you. You did it through hard work, you took risks If you had failed, nobody the government wasn't going to be there to bail you Yeah. and that Most of the businesses in America are small businesses And these are people that sometometimes they mortgage their home to take a risk and they work hard and they create jobs and I think that's American. That's why we're the greatest country in allan history. Do you think But God everybody agrees with Well, I mean's okay. I think what I do think is and I' thought about this is I live here you know, I want to support this place and believe in this place as much as I can, right? Like. And I think most of my life, there's been like this feeling of like America, we're doing something good, like we're forward thinking, we care about the people and stuff like that. And then I feel like in the last few years, things have devolved some. people's faith in the political system has waned I think we're not sure like it doesn't's true. I think it's we don't it's like it's hard to feel like It doesn't feel like it's even Republicans versus Democrats anymore. It feels like it's like I don't I don't know if it's good versus evil or what it is, but it's like it almost seems like, u Bernie Senters came on here the second time and it felt like he was on here Pleading at us But it's like we voted for politicians. like you go up the hill and plead. you know what I'm saying? Like we're the it just seems like now like sometimes politicians are coming like on or on platforms like pleading to the people. It's like, I don't know. It just feels like u It feels like something's not working 's just too much h. And it starts to feel scary. What do you What do you think that is? And do you think like You know, it feels like we have a purpose as a group, that it was America and it was like we're going to something was going to happen and that the country was going to be better for your children than it was for you. There used to be that feeling. And I think it was probably that feeling whenever you were growing up and stuff like that cant you can't hate, man. And it was when I was growing up. What do you think has changed? and what do you think is like Like how do we get how do you get the American people to believe again? And um in a political system that sometimes feels like it's not solving a lot for them I think part of it is not all of it, but part of it there is social media can go on anonymously. and say things on social media that they would never say to your face or another person's face. It's just too easy Um I think, um, I think the federal government as our country has gotten big bigger and the world is more complicated The federal goverment has gotten bigger, too big and it has interfered in people's lives too much You know, my about ninety percent of my personal philosophy is, u U I don't want to I don't want to hurt anybody unless I have to defend myself don't take people stuff. I mean, my if if my if my son when I would tell my my son growing up Don't hurt other people unless you have to defend yourself take other people's stuff And the third one for me is leave me alone. Yeah. I don't need government to run my life Um I think I think, but I think a big part of it is social media. It's a It is I'm not saying it's all bad, but it's a susppect comesark. And the other thing you've seen You've seen a breakdown in America of the family unit. You have And you've also seen Um to each your own, but you've seen a breakdown, we become a less religious country. Yeah. Now, you know, for this freedom of religion, you don't have to believe in God It helps. It helps, man and I believe in God Yeah I have I have doubts When when I pray, I ask for faith. I have enormous doubts And anybody decis or they're absolutely certain You know, it just that's why God called it faith But I think it's a combination And I don't know why people hate so much. Do you think that we're still a Christian nation Um, yes, but less so Do you think we would support a Christian leader for president? L a true like a true Christian person that ran for president When was the last really Christian person that we had run for president, the last like or last person that seemed that was that was truly rel? Well, probably in my lifetime, the most devout president we had was Jimmy Carter Uh, he He lived his faith Now he only served one term And I didn't agree with some of his social policies. U, but I think he lived his faith People like Jimmy Carter, huh? And I will say this when he left the presidency President Carter didn't go get rich He didn't sit on a bunch of boards. He went into service, didn't he? He just helped people. And he established the peace Carter Center for Pace and that in Georgia Yeah, in Atlanta He was very active in habitat for humanity And I really respected that Jimmy Carter did not It was never wealthy In nineteen eighty two, and his wife for R Oslin established the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia. throughrough this non goovernmental organization, he monitored over one hundred elections in developing democracies, mediated international conflicts and championed human rights worldwide He must had a big heart They did a big He u his wife died not long ago, is that right hisis wife Ms. Roslin died before he did.. Oh, okay But not much before. Um, I saw you talk actually about, uh Like Facebook and meta recently about how their algorithm, right? This is a really awesome point that I saw you bring up. and you do such a good job of this and thank you so much for just being somebody who like shows up with good points, dude, you show up with some like great stuff to say. And it's it gives me faith. You give me faith like in possibility of things Bet, right So thank you Thanks for saying that. Thank you very much. Not everybody agrees with you, but and that's fine. I do work in my job. I have to. have to I probably spend thirty hours a week reading att least hang And to do it right. I like it. Yeah complaining. Have you read this yet? I have read that. That's my book. How to test great De, sorry. I haven't even read the title yet. How to test negative for. I'll sign a copy for you to. Please do, man. I wrote it myself. It's one of the hardest things I've ever done. Writing a book How to test negative for stupid and why Washington never will. Yes, thank you so much. We'll be happy to keep that. We'll put up on our shelf for couple months. But I spend Some of my colleagues are brilliant. They can they're just you know, a guy like U Marco Rubio, for example, Ted Cruz Jane Shane Um Peter Welch. I'm not gonna name all my colleagues in the Senate. Pull up Pete, man. I don't even seen. Peter Welt, she's from Vermont. Pull himem up.old up Peter These people are brilliant. There he is. But I have to hang, huh? I have to work at it Oh, Peter looks like a he looks studious though. He's a smart guy But he can probably spot me fifty IQ points But he's not going outwork me. I'll work harder than an ugly stripper, man. That's how I was raised. I've always been able to outwork people He d, That's awesome. I might get in trouble for saying that. hey, no problems here. My god cousin is a stripper He was God bless But I saw you talk about meta and how there's an algorithm act that's out there about how that And I've talked about this before in this show. That's why this made me this really like this really wrong truth with me. It was like Yeah, why isn't the because the algorithm will lead you down a staircase of deviiancy, anger Um and can even lead people into conflict. It can lead you, it can take you from feeling neutral, looking at something on your phone to feeling angry and going out into public and acting on that anger or on that belief And there's no repercussions from it. Y from Facebook or meta or social media, Instagram, TikTok, there's no repercussions. When Facebook, I'll use Facebook as an example When it first started, we passed them all that said if somebody goes on Facebook and writes a post and they defame somebody between the person who posted it and the person they defame that you can't hold Facebook. liable for a host Fair enough Now Facebook has gotten so big that they control You see And they gather this data about you And they want you to stay on Facebook a long time to look at the ads because they make a lot of money selling those ads. R they got to keep you on there. And so they they send you stuff. they find out what your hot buttons are through algorithms and they keep showing it to you and show on it to you. and showing it to you and All of a sudden and some people can can separate the wheat from the chef and say, well, they're manipulating. But other people they just get get angrier and angrier and angrier. And what do they expect? Youre just gonna get so pissed off you going buy an air fryer or something? They're they make their money. That's their strategy. That don't mean that Facebook's not You' get so pissed off you're gonna bu a dog caceook Facebook is If you ask me the one reason for the demise of newspapers It's social media because I miss a newspaper Oh well, yeah. But the worlds changed And you can hit a kidally off off of a of advertised ye The Algorithm acccountability Act is proposed and this has been proposed for a while, I think. This was proposed. We've been debating it for a long time. Originally for like five years ago, I think this first came into light. The Algorithmic Accability Act is a proposed US. bill aimed at requiring companies to examine and disclose how automated systems and algorithms affect people, especially in high stakes decisions likeike housing, credit, education and employment. And this is perplexity here is our search engine Suorters say the bill would give regulators and the public a clear way to see when algorithmic systems are causing harm I agree there should be something on the device that goes off and says now you're falling into an algorithm. you know Well it's Do you think they manipulate Yeah they manipulated Do you think something like this will come to light soon? Like we've got to be getting there. I mean You know, I mean, you have algorithms leading people into extremely strong beliefs You know, like some people say that the, um The shooter at the uh Was it the Charlie Kirk shooter was u radicalized by things that he had seen on social media. You dbt it that a lot of these shooters are, you know. They Facebook just, I think it was Facebook just lost a big lawsuit Yeah. Um, filed on behalf of a deceased minor I think I don't remember the details, but it was basically that the algorithms Drove the young lady into suicide. and a jury awarded the money. Here we go. campaigners welcome Meta and YouTube's defeat and landmark social media addiction trial That's it. Man, who you got pulling this stuff up? Some white guy it's a DI This guy, you just you need a pay raise You're awesome Thank you Senat S at least they ought to buy you a car Hey Dang, what? I'll be your agent. man, you can pull this stuff up. That's it That's the case. That's the case. Jurors found that Meada, which owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp and Google, owner of YouTube intentionally built addictive social media platforms that harm the twenty year olds mental health The woman known as Kayy was awarded six million dollars in damages, a result likely to have implications for hundreds of similar cases now winding their way through US courts. Amen, praise God, good for her. What happened? do they have the exact Th thing that happened The young lady didn't pass away He it says right here, Kaylee started using YouTube at about six years old and Instagram at about nine with no effective agge based blocking from the platforms. By age ten, she was experiencing anxiety and depression conditions that were formally diagnosed later by a therapist. She became intensely preoccupied with her appearance using Instagram filters that altered her face smaller nose, larger eyes, and has since been diagnosed with body dysmorphia, a disorder involving obsessive worry about perceived flaws in appearance Her lawyers argued that Instagram's design features such as infinite scroll and growth strategies focused on the young users contributed to an addictive pattern of use that harmed her mental health The jury awarded Kayley three main in compensatory damages and three main in punitive damages I know the stuff's addictive Oh yeah, it is. Well, I noticice myself you start getting into beliefs. It starts leading you down certain holes of certain beliefs. and then you got on your phone just to check a text and next you know, you get off with a belief. Well, it's all our kids know Our kids, so many of our kids have become smart phone zombies, you know, they they just It's always this. And look, they they're there did we doough, John, do you remember what we did? I didn't have social media. But I know because nowadays, if you imagine, it's kind of crazy to imagine. know, if you imagine some guy just sitting around I like this, not doing, but imagine somebody just waiting for something somewhere. Were they just sitting with their hands in their laps? I played ball. In my sport time, I played ball. I did my homework We'd go to movies U I'd read a lot But how was thought of some of that. Let say you just were sitting somewhere. I guess you would just sit there and think or just Because now they had magazines, I don't know. Yeah, that's true. We had magazines. Are you actually talking tove or not talk to people? Even if you didn't like me to talk to him then. You just remember that E if you didn't even like them. Yep. Now when you When you' around a lot of young people Um they they really are smartphonezb smartphone zombies. They're just like this all the time peopleeople are hooked and it has impacted. I'm not saying all social media. is baded it has many good purposes. No But it has been abused. It's abused and it's addiction it's an addiction crisis. It's very addictive. And it's it's and they've been able to make it more and more addictive and they know it Is there lobbyists for this type of thing in the government too that are lobbying for these social media platforms? Absolutely. Gazen These guys are strong as a horse rb. Why don't more lobbyists get called out by politicians Well I don't well, I don't meet with many lobbyists, but in some state, some they have an influence. I'm not going to kill you I mean, I'm sure they're the ones keeping this act like the algorithm act or whatever. Of course I'm sure' the ones keeping those things like at bay. Thatese's not the only ones, but of course they are And I don't want to just pick on Facebook. But organizations like Google Facebook They employ thousands of people. They have huge packs Um If you're from their state And you're a senator And Google plumes to you and says, I employ ten thousand people. and if you pass this bill I'm going to have to lay off half of them. Plus they do have very powerful lobbyists and and Um, um They're just very powerful. So that's an instance where an elected official has to make a choice there. That's That's a good example of an instance, right And that's something real that could happen. It's like, hey, we have ten thousand we employ ten thousand people in your state, if you pass this, then five thousand are we' going to lose jobs And their're normal they know how to use their power. I mean, if you ask me What's who's more powerful? The state of Tennessee or two 's like Goog And the state of Tennessee is powerful. A lot of people, wonderful universities beautiful natural resource, but these The four or five or six social media companies are very powerful. and that's why we havere we're We have to be very careful. I support it But we have to be very careful with artificial intelligence and AI Well theope the Pope just came and spoke out against it. And that's kind of scary to think. And AI is It's This was this was developed in America. It's just another example. of American brilliance and ingenuity and innovation It's so powerful It it can make our lives better if it doesn't kill us all first But if you develop A machine can know everything and then can start thinking for itself and through its agents can take actions could shut down your entire infrastructure But that's why I lose. that's where why I start to lose but like what actions? likeike, so do like like my laptop's not gonna like come in and like, you know attack me while I'm sleeping you know what I'm saying? So it's not like that, right? No. So what actions because I hear people say these this, this thing, right? where you're saying? what actions are we talking about kind? Well, you can I mean, I'm no expert, but You can create U agents now use AI Yeah, we just had Jeff Richardes just had he has a friend on Chat GPT or whatever, and he talks to him all the time named Gary. You can You can do that. You can have an AI assistant Yeah and give them almost unfettered authority book you a plane ticket or Rich you a car or rememind you to have your oil changed or You know, buy some Fig Newts at the grocery store. Yeah, they're pretty they're not bad. And they're I love fig Newton. They're okay. They're good. They're pretty good. They're awesome. Sometimes they're great. Figewts are better than sex Not really. Well Not really. Not really. I take it back, but I like fig News. I mean look, I've had some bad sex. I understand. I'm not gonna to comment on that th. All right. And I've had some bad fig Newts today. Yeah. If they're not warm, I don't like them when they're real warm. I don't like themem either. I tell what if they've been sitting in the sun, I don't like them I'll tell you what else I grew up on is Vienna sausage man Bianna sausage. Oh, you know, It'akess my nextck I go fishing. Take Vienna sauage. Ier a fish one for you. Absolutely. In fact, if you run out of worms or crickets, you can if you can get the Vienna sausage to stay on the hook I've caught many a brim and a catfish with Viennaauce. Oh, you can catch a girl in Avondale with a couple of them too. I knowdad, b, but that never worked for me. That never worked for me. That was a good reference,ough wasn't it? That was damn good. Thank you. That would be good. I can tell you're a Louousiana boy. You know,, you know what? I think Um You know, Louisiana's had tough time and you know this, Louisiana has had a tough time over the years like with like a lot of economic growth, right? We've We've struggled some. We've had a tough time with u A lot of job stability and job growth, right Um, We were very oil and gas dependent. Right. We are, one hundred percent, right? And and some of that's adjusted over the years, right? for sure. less so, but it's still important. But one thing that we do have is we have good people, we have resilient people. and those and we have good storytelling. And some people say, well, that's not there's not a lot of financial like incentive in that, and that's fine But we but there's a lot of like pride in that though. Wellook, you know, I've lived in five states in a foreign country And I've never met people like the people Louisiana. Yeah. you know They're they're They're God fearing, they're hard working, they're fun loving Um, they're authentic Oh yeah. And I I tell my my tell my Senator Cruz a lot. he's from Texas I tell him he'll start talking about Texas, and I say, Cruise look Texas is a great state. You get all this wonderful publicity. God bless you, you deserve it. I love Texas. Texas is five and a half times bigger than Louisiana. ten and a half times more interesting than you are. Louisiana is an interesting state. I read somewhere that one hundred percent Interesting people. U the best, man, the best storytellers ever. We're good at oil and gas and petrochemical and education and agriculture and aquaculture So we'll even eat fish that have been in a dam of w. We We'll eat anything that won't eat us first. Yeah Um We eat things that you that most people would call an exterminator far to get out of their backyard Just brring a fork, baby. That's it. but brring your fork. It's home and I love it., It's never dull No, it's not I read somewhere that it's the most native state where people that are born there die there. Did you ever hear that? That's true We have We have don't I forget the percentage we have a lot of people that are born in Louisiana and they never leave. Yeah That's pretty special about something You know what I'm saying? That's because that's interesting. It's so good right there. You don't Some people don even get out their chair People in Louisiana U, they have fun. Yeah and they enjoy life. Now it doesn't mean they don't work hard And but we became very dependent on oil and gas. And when U that a lot of that changed, most of it, of course, moves has moved offshore But when you're dependent on a natural resource O gas coal, Yeah, iron ore, whatever uh Codities, you have boom and bus cycles And when times are good, they're really good, man But when times are bad, they're tough. Yeah. Now Louisiana is much more diversified today. And so things are Things are better. Yeah. But we're still We're, you know, if you want a good time, if you want to get good food G Got told me a joke the other day. He said He said, Kennedy, what's the difference between a zoo? in Louisiana in a zoo in every other state. That what? He said, if you go to the zoo in every other state, each animal has its cage And at the bottom is the name of the N He said, if you go to a zoo in Louisiana, each animal has its cage and at the bottom is the name and underneath the name is the recipe Yeah. I love that Dude, that's perfect, man. That's so true, man Yeah, Louisiana consistently ranks as the state with the highest percentage of native born residents who never leave. Amen. According to the US Census Bureau Data, slightly more than seventy seven percent of Louisiana's residents were born in the state because the population is so sticky and transplants are rare, this lar largely translates to most of its people being born there and spending their entire. That's where you got your start I was spending the entire lives right there. Then you went to L.A and you got famous and then you came to. But you got your start I've been reading the bachel on a Tfunct over there. That's right. You know the Tfunct got its name? No, this is M Oh, fine. I didn't know that. I got one for you then, Johnan. The Jfuncta got its name because a long time ago they had like a Native American tribe And they went there and they threw a big rock into the water and the sound it made was boom. Really? Yeah. You see rest them And it's kind of how a rot when you. Thatent kind of how it goes in. So yeah, that's it. I go fishing on much fun. Oh, yeah. That's where you got your start. you Where'd you go? U andO? You went LSGU for a while. I went't tell us you for a while, graduated from U andO. How do you think Lane's gonna to do over it here at LSU? Let's put put it out there. What do you think And I wore my raaging cages today. I wore it this for you. see that Um, Laye is How can I put that. He's a brilliant. U strategic strateg whatever the word I'm going for He's a good strategist. Yeah. He's brilliant. He knows how to recruit. He's got a great football mind. Sometimes he talks too much. You know? Oh, yeah, look Lane look look L on l it, man. One of Lane's fans is Lane. That's right. Yeah. Yeah, Lane's one of the smmartest people on the planet just calan and he k. But but he's He's u he's I think he's going to be a good coach, but I'll tell you this. loveove you coach. love we paid him a lot of money. Now he's got to go win. Now that's a good point, broother. I'm not saying he wasn't worth it, but He's making a boatlad of money, a bucket full of money. Well he's making a part of he's making like four percent of our GDP. And so our he's making four percent of our GDP. He's got to win now He's just got to win. but He did a great job at O Miss. He's been. Yeah did. you know, I thought Nick Saban I this is probably Harron L was you. I thought Nick Saban was a great coach. I hated to lose him when he was ele. Yeah, I think everybody thought that. Yeah Well, a lot of people got mad at him h from leave and he went to the to the dolphins, I think. Yeah. And then he went to Alabama And a lot of my people in Louisiana, our people got mad at him And I kept my mouth shut, but I'd say, look, because he went to Alabama said at the time. Alabama offered him like five million dollars or something. Is you're telling me that you would have turned down five million dollars? Oh shit we justust so the people Louisiana wouldn't get mad at you. We were still trying to pay them and bang yourahays out. Yeah, exactly But he, uh U I'm he he liked I think he liked Louisiana. Yeah Oh yeah, look, I know that he's happy there. He's having a good time man. Lane's a good Look, Lane Low's have a good time. I'm hopeful for him for sure, you know, And this is where he's had in his journey. So it's like, you got to hope somebody hope the best for somebody. I don't know but he's into hot yoga. Oh yeah, I've been to a class with him. Have you? Yeah, I went to a class with him at fricin. What's hot yoga like I mean, it's it depends on who alls in there. Yeah you know I don't want to go there, Theo. Yeah. I mean, I gott to run for re election. Yeah. Yeah, I don't think your wife would be happy if you went there. but look, I went there right there. Lane Kiffin right there. hot yoga. right you go And I wear a t like that becausecause I was raised by a single mother. You see that? Look at you guys We was leaking in thereir cut. Now yoga's good for you. Oh man, it's really good. It'll give you good workout. Oh, definitely, man. Make me feel like a name four you old Um, The Save act, right? Let's talk about the saave act. Okay So that's a big thing that's happening right now, right? That that's a kind of trying to pass it. You guys are trying to pass it. Can you explain to me what it is really quick? Can you explain to our listeners what it is? It basically says that in order to vote in a federal election You have to prove you are who you say you are You got to have that valid ID and to register to vote You have to prove that you're in our country magly as neagerly as it says. Only American citizens can vote There's some other provisions, but there those are the two main provisions U probablyrobably eighty percent of Americans support it We can't get a single Democratic vote Um H hereere's Here This is not, I'm not speaking for President Trump Here's the way I think you fix our elections and give people confidence in our elections Number one, you have to be able to prove you are who you say you are to vote. And number two, that just what the president says and what we say in the SV Act I'm a co sponsor of it U but number two We need to go back to an election day not an election month. I agree. We need to know Who won that night? Yeah Frankly, I don't care how you vote It's up to the states the votes have to be counted that night. Why did that change so much? It used to be, didnn't it used to be we knew that night? Yeah, we always did. Well because some states changed their laws. in California, they don't know now for two weeks They still don't know. And they still' not sure becausecause you can vote by mail. And it what matters is if it's postmark. And sometimes the mail slow when it takes ten days, two weeks If you're going to vote by mail or now President Trump hates voting by mail But some states love it. But if you're gonna vote by mail The male balance have to be in Far enough in advance for them to be counted and announced on election night. I think it makes sense. 'cause if you go past election night whether you are a Democrat, whether it's a Democrat or Republican who who loses? they're going to think the lecture is rich. Right for sure. And so now they're saying if you mail it on the day of, it can still be kind Yeah gotot it. Yeah we have we have a month long election. What are some of the side effects of this that people what are some of the things that that this also brings in that are peopleople don't see. I know there was some issue with What did I read something about? Oh, you have to have two forms of identification Um No, the Democrats say Well, I mean, these this is my point of view. They may have another point of view Democrats say It's a way of suppressing the vote. to require you to have ID I don't know anybody doesn't have idDation. I agree. dont I think if you don't have identification, I don' think should be able to. I mean, most people have a driver's license, but there are other forms of identification would be acceptable And if you if you don't have a driver's license And you don't have any identification The chances are you're in our country illegally. Got it. And they say that is it is it that they're they said they're going, you can't register online anymore? Would that be part of it too If you if you have ID, I don't have a problem registering online if you have proof right that it is you. Yeah. And I'm no technological whiz But uh they're I give credit cards online and they can authenticate that it's me. I don't I don't mind using technology, but to register vote to vote, you have to prove that you are who you say you are You can only register once And you have to prove that you're an American citizen. Yeah. I don't think that's unreasonable I brought it up. I agree. Everybody's kind of, everybody thinks that there's some fraud happening with voting. It feels very it feels unreliable. Well, that's because sometimes it takes When they have mail ballots, for example, it takes a month to get them all counted. Yeah. And the loser is always going to be suspicious But on the sa over the people. Of course People are not going to have confidence But on the Sve act, I tried to amend it into our in our to our reconciliation bill. I couldn't get a single Democratic vote What are the what do the Democrats want in the bill they just don't want it at all. They don't want it at all. They think that it will suppress votes. Got it. And not all of my Democratic colleagues But many of my Democratic colleagues, whether they will admit it or not They want illegal immigrants to be able to vote and No, they're not American citizens If I go to Nicaragua, wonderful country. My father's from there. Is he? Yeah. Well, if I go to Nicaragua, wonderful country. You can't vote there. But I I'm not and I say I want to vote and I go no. Kennedy, you know? If you like a look. You're not from here, Budy. I look, I agree hundred percent, man. if you're not if you're not a citizen, you can't vote And I don't even understand how that's How is up for debate in anybody's head or mind that wants things to be organized in this country, I do not understand. Well, there are many people that believe and it's what is behind a lot of it. and it's not all of them. Right. Okay. But there many people believe I know there are many Democrats that believe that we ought't let anybody into our country ignore immigration laws and they see it as way of getting new votes. Well, I mean, that we had a lot of We had, um a lot of border patrols like uh, hierarchy on during um Like within the past four years and there was a lot of that. There was a lot of like people just coming in moving into democratic states, people like escaping like jurisdiction, just running away, just running off into the country and not being not being followed. We've seen a lot of that over year. A of my colleagues, than and their're entitled their point of view They think that vetting people at the border is racist I don't. I don't at all either. I don't And here's the way I read, I don't remember where I read this, but U The American people, most of them see our southern border like their front door. Most Americans lock their front door at night They don't lock their front door at night because they hate everybody on the outside and they're racist. Yeah. They lock their front door at night because they love the people on the inside and they want to know who's coming in and out of their house.. And that's the way it is with the border We let more people in legally. Yeah to become Americans through legal immigration every year than anybody else in the world. Legal immigration is legal Iillegal immigration is illegal And the problem is that the people that were advising President Biden convinced him, he let in betweenween eight million and fifteen million people It was like the price is right. Come on down. Yeah. We had no idea who they are. Some of them, I'm sure were decent people But there were a lot of rapists, there were a lot of murdereers, there were a lot of drug deers. medophiles. We don't know where they are. Yeah. And you can't run no country in the world No country in the world doesn't. its borders and have immigration laws Yeah. How many people get into many how many people are allowed into China each year? I wonder like how many people get into their? They're very strict. Yeah. They're very strict. How many people do they think illegally get into China every year? Who who can look that up? The only people I know that want to try to sneak in from China to China or from North Korea Yeah Because North Korea is so bad they want to get out. Yeah trying to Do China is U They are very monolithic in their culture They don't like minority groups, the Uyighghurs, for example They don't want any they don't like Muslims. Yeah. they they like the Han Chinese And they want to it's run by a small group of men that are hit they won't that are headad of the Communist Party. It's totalitarian. It's authoritarian And if you get they spy on cameras everywhere, they they they censor your social media And if you get out of line, they will kill you and hurt you the entire time you're dying. Shit, I'm just trying to get some orange chicken. I'm just telling you, man, its And the people in China I've been there. They' nice people they've been there. They a nice time. But but ye, they have no freedom. No. But they're yeah, they're specific Before you go, you just mentioned you were talking you mentioned like a surveillance state, right? And it feels like sometimes in America that we're getting to that. Like with a lot of flock cameras and a lot of these data centers. Like to me, the data centers, it feels like they're just gonna hold all the information from like all this recording that's going to go on like in this surveillance state. Is that what you feel like is happening Well in order to have AI artificial intelligence Hey' here We've got to properly regulate But it's here. You've got to have data centers You've got to Um I'm okay with data centers as long as they pave their way Pay for their own electricity, pay for their own water and the community accepts them If if you want to build a data center in a community community should have a say. I agree. It shouldn't be forced upon people. They're forcing one here at Nashville right now. And I don't have I know they are down downtown. Yeah. And and the data centers shouldn't go when they're not wanted Uh, I don't have a problem putting them on on, uh, our military bases, but they've got to pay their own way They've got to pay their and they can't cause people's electricity bills to go up and their water bills to go up and they have to be properly regulated What's your biggest fear with AI? Be I'll tell you mine really fast. mine is that Say it starts to you start to have this thing, right? Like where like even Jeff Ridges was communicating with an AI. He's got a buddy named Gary that he's talking to and even Gary even knows who his wife and family is and everything. Spooky, Matt. Spooky, right Um, but it's it was cool. It was neat but still it's like What if we start to have this thing that everybody puts their information into? because also AIs can your information is not is legally then also owned by them then. So if somebody ever was able to go subpoena information from an AI, they could use it against you in court or this it's not inform once you put it in, I believe most of these AIs, I think, anyway, that it is it belongs to them as well. That's right and it shouldn't And that should hear information. I agree.ar data. I agree. one hundred percent. so it's crazy. We're also just feeding our actual lives and things that we think and care about and questions into this information place. But my fear is that O time people start looking to this to these AI to these AIs as their God in a way because they're going to go to them like I need help with this. What do I do? I don't know how to feel about this. And the thing that they used to take to an actual God They're now going to take to this like super computer And so that's why I feel like sometimes the race is so very perceptive that the race is so big because somebody' they're trying to create the next God. That's what they're trying to do and I have talked to people to have brains a lot bigger than mine. that say within five years Not only will AI in these chat boxes know everything but they will become independent and can think on their own And the next step is be able being able to act on their own Let's take Electricity, the grid here in Nashville It's all based on computers. Oh, yeah If AI can hack into the grid in Nashville on its own or at the instructions of somebody else. They could shut down this whole city They could cause shhut down thereir cause twenty five planes to crash at once. Yeah, what if they said all the Teslaas right now drive off into the Cumberland Rver it. Yeah. And that's why I don't want to get in the way of innovation I do. We got enough. well no, we're no this AI stuff can really it can be a blessing, but it can be a curse. If it's not proper regulate. But we don't have hardly any regulations in place right now. We don't have any No thinkink about that We don't have any. There's a potential new electronic god about to show up. There and it's scary. And we have no Regulations in place. No, it's scary. We're enough parking and we're trying to put together some But you don't want to ratchet down so hard to interfere with the regulation I mean to interfere with innovation. I don't care if you do. But well, but it can make our lives better. Our lives are we're doing fine. I know, but let me give you an example Um it can A CT scan or X ray looking for cancer. Yeah A human has to read those things. Sometimes they miss a cancer. Yeah. With AI, you running through AI, they never miss. That's a good point. They never miss. Doctors, you go to a doctor with a disease Doctors' diagnosis is based on their judgment They can put it into AI Bom hit it every time. Yeah. And my doctor might be doing wh That can make our lives better. eating a sandwich or doing anything. But it can also pay attention. It can also kill us all Suppose AIamn, That's a big trade. No, no listen, John, that's a big tradeer. It is a trade off, but Look two people don't have two people have cancer that don't and otherwise we all die. But suppose AI gets to the point where it's so powerful and it can think for itself and it decides to break break the nuclear code. and set offlear nuclear missiles, nuclear ballistic missiles with a warhead to hit to hit China without any way to stop them. Do you think any country would ever use a ballistic use like a nuclear weapon and blame it on AI I think a Ron would Do think anybody else would No. because even though Vladimir Putin which has the largest nuclear uh, u stock pile in the world even though he is a evil man with blood under his fingernails He's irrational. He's he's not stupid. He's he's not crazy. He's shrewd And he knows the a reason But he does not try to take out America today. He has a bigger stockpile than us But we've got a pretty big stockpile And we would retaliate, and it would be the end of Russia. It'd be the end of America. it would be the end of the world How get how we get to such an ungodly place, you think Um M people, people are imperfect And too many people have more zeal than wisdom. Too many people have more what? More zeal than wisdom Abition u desire for power a desire for money Um, there's good in everybody. I believe that, but there's potential evil in everybody We all struggle with it every day. Oh, yeah, for sure. I'm not saying I'm a I'm not a bu. I'm not you know's a lot of there's a lot of evil wr. When I pray I ask for forgiveness and I don't try to catalog my sinense Because I don't even know all of Pride U Oh yeah. Sloth, envy. Yeah. Pervertent being a pervert or whatever. Not a big time when. Envy is a big one. I mean, you with social media you see somebody driving a You know, a Mercedes and you go, I do I deserve a Mercedes. Yeah. Why should they have one and not me? Well, most of the time it's because they work their rear ends off and they earned it Yeah. You know or imperfect if we appeal to our better nature and try to stop haaving our lives run by our repetitive desires like a thirst for money or power If we try to treat everybody else with some dignity and respect Um That's the answer to me I mean, I don't mean to sound like naive because there's some evil people on the And and I'm in it. Weakness invites wolves They you turn them you you you're The other cheek with some of these people, they'll stab you right in the neck, man. Oh yeah. But not everybody's like that And I think that's why Deep down, I think Americans evenven though we stay angry at each other a lot. Our country was founded on respect for everybody's humanity Yeah, I agree. I believe that we have a moral compass. We are all created equal. We believe that Um We believe in equal opportunity. We believe in free will But with free will, goes responsibility and all power from government is derived by the people, not the other way around Somebody some some of my colleagues want government to run everything And you if you you have to go to government, get permission That's not America, man. I don't want any part of that U Anything else you want to share before you go, John, or anything specific you want to talk about. fun, man. I'm just glad to see a Louisiana boy on a UNO graduate. ome famous. Yeah, thanks, man. Yeah, yeah, I've been ye, I've been I've been lucky. I work hard, but I've been lucky. An u Yeah, I don't know But I'm grateful that people pay attention.'m grateful to get to spe time with guys like you, to be honest, man, it's been so cool. It's like I'm really jealous that you met Jeff Bridges, man. Yeah, dude, me too. And I met him. Yeah jealous. and I met him man He's like the prime mininister of cool. Yeah And Denzel Washington. If you get Denzel Washington on your show, man, he is He is I just If I get really nice guy. Oh, if I get him on you then you gotta your wife's got to make me some egg salad I'm gonna She'll make you some egg salad that'll make you you stand on one leg and yo Oh she m good. She makes some good sals. Does she? Yeah. She good cook. She likes to cook. Oh, that's nice, dude Yeah, I'm gonna get me a good wife onene of these days. A beta roasting company. Is that what it's called? Yep. ye. It's an old Cole cottage with a Sugar kettle in the front. Oh yeah. And I've been there many times. Right there When I'm home, you're homeough to go over there We'll go there together. That'd be cool. buy a cup of coffee. Yeah.. And we go to friends and have an adult beverage. Yeah. and look, and you can write it off. It'd be a state, it' be it'll be a deduction, won't it? No.'ll pay for. I'll pay for it I'll pay. I'll treat you but okay. I'm paid okay in by the United States Senate. Okay. so it'd be just a personal expense. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay, that's fair, man. I'd love that. we'll swap lies tellell stories and You can tell me what Hollywood's like in Los Angeles. Oh yeah. All those fake people out there, all those beautiful people. And and you trade me stories from just the swamp waters over there in Washington, DC. That's right Yeah That's right That's a deal. John Kennedy, Senator John Kennedy, thank you so much for your time. He. It's been fun. Thanks forving me. Amen. You're the prime Minister of Cool yourself. Oh, thank you, Bro. I appreciate you. Now I'm just falling on the breeze and I feel I'm falling like these leaves. I must be C a stone I'll share this piece of m life I can feel it in love