Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) acknowledged on Wednesday that one aspect of the tariff wars had truly surprised him: how many countries the Trump administration said had come to the negotiating table, and how quickly they had done so.
Kennedy made the observation when he joined hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski on MSNBC&#8217;s &#8220;Morning Joe,&#8221; admitting that he &#8220;frankly never saw that coming.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Some of the smartest minds across the world are betting on a recession.
SEN KENNEDY: With tariffs, an eye for an eye just leaves both people blind&#8230;But then&#8230;an extraordinary thing happened! We have 195 countries in the world. Probably 40% have come forward —… <a href="https://t.co/30WYxnYuQ1">pic.twitter.com/30WYxnYuQ1</a>
&mdash; Townhall.com (@townhallcom) <a href="https://twitter.com/townhallcom/status/1909960194546692390?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 9, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Scarborough set the oppositional narrative with regard to tariffs, saying, &#8220;Some of the smartest minds across the world are betting on a recession. What are you saying to your business leaders when they&#8217;re calling you about where this goes next?&#8221;
&#8220;Well, this is what I&#8217;m telling them,&#8221; Kennedy replied. &#8220;With tariffs, an eye for an eye just leaves both people blind. When a government imposes a tariff, it&#8217;s putting its thumb on the scale. It interferes with people&#8217;s freedom to exchange goods and services.&#8221;
&#8220;Some countries — China, the best example — have used trade barriers as a weapon to hurt the American economy,&#8221; Kennedy continued. &#8220;You said it — God created the world, everything else is made in China. President Trump decided to try to change this, and he, as we know, has imposed dramatically higher American tariffs on these countries.&#8221;
And that, Kennedy explained, was where the pendulum started to swing back: &#8220;But then, at least for me, an extraordinary thing happened. We have 195 countries in the world. Probably 40% have come forward — and instead of bowing up and fighting, they&#8217;ve said, &#8216;We want to lower our tariffs! Will you lower yours?'&#8221;
&#8220;I frankly never saw that coming,&#8221; Kennedy said, noting that he could not speak for what the president might do next, but adding, &#8220;I think it is a wonderful opportunity &#8230; I would pounce on this opportunity like a ninja. And I would use this as an opportunity to reduce or in some cases — Taiwan, Vietnam, European Union — go to zero reciprocal tariffs and then we can have free trade, let the best product at the best price win.&#8221;
Kennedy once again couched his comments by saying he did not know the White House&#8217;s plan and could only speak to what he would do in the current situation.

Sen. Cotton Holds Capitol Hill Press Conference To Discuss Ongoing College Campus Protests

GOP Sen. Reveals What Surprised Him About Tariff Battle: ‘I Frankly Never Saw That Coming’

GOP Sen. Reveals What Surprised Him About Tariff Battle: 'I Frankly Never Saw That Coming'

Congress

Donald Trump

Economics

John Kennedy

Morning Joe

MSNBC

Politics

Tariffs

Trade War

Senator <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/john-kennedy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">John Kennedy</a> (R-LA) took a brief moment during Thursday&#8217;s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to throw a little shade at his colleague, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), over the latter&#8217;s claims that Kash Patel was a &#8220;conspiracy theorist.&#8221;
Kennedy addressed the comments to Patel, who was testifying before the committee as part of the Senate&#8217;s &#8220;advise and consent&#8221; process since being named by President Donald Trump to take over leadership of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
🚨KASH PATEL A CONSPIRACY THEORIST?
Here&#39;s the epic moment when <a href="https://twitter.com/JohnKennedyLA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JohnKennedyLA</a> mocked Sen. Durbin for calling <a href="https://twitter.com/Kash_Patel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Kash_Patel</a> a conspiracy theorist.
&quot;Sounds to me like we need to get some new conspiracy theories because all the old ones turned out to be true,&quot; <a href="https://twitter.com/SenJohnKennedy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SenJohnKennedy</a> said.… <a href="https://t.co/N1goiWHa91">pic.twitter.com/N1goiWHa91</a>
&mdash; Tyler O&#39;Neil (@Tyler2ONeil) <a href="https://twitter.com/Tyler2ONeil/status/1885023700849709102?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 30, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;My colleague and friend Senator Durbin called you a &#8216;conspiracy theorist,'&#8221; Kennedy said to Patel. &#8220;You remember that?&#8221;
&#8220;I do, Senator,&#8221; Patel replied.
&#8220;You were instrumental in revealing the Trump-Russia election-collusion hoax was a hoax, weren&#8217;t you?&#8221; Kennedy asked.
Patel said that he was, and confirmed that he had been the lead investigator on that particular case. For a moment, Kennedy remained silent, hands folded, and simply nodded his head.
&#8220;Sounds to me like we need to get some new conspiracy theories because all the old ones turned out to be true,&#8221; he observed.
Patel laughed, and added, &#8220;Facts matter, senator.&#8221;
&#8220;I mean, conspiracy theorists are up something like 37 to nothing,&#8221; Kennedy said, prompting more laughter, before pivoting to a more serious line of questions: &#8220;You&#8217;re not saying everybody at the FBI is bad, are you?&#8221;
&#8220;I&#8217;ve never said that,&#8221; Patel replied. &#8220;I&#8217;ve overwhelmingly said, multiple times, that 98% of the FBI is courageous, apolitical warriors for justice. They just need better leadership.&#8221;
Patel&#8217;s hearing included a series of contentious exchanges with Democrats like Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), who used her allotted time to make several attempts — all of which failed — to walk Patel into a rhetorical trap.
Also on Capitol Hill for hearings on Thursday were Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former Rep. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tulsi-gabbard-spits-fire-in-opening-statement-i-refuse-to-be-their-puppet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tulsi Gabbard</a>, who was nominated to be Director of National Intelligence.

Twitter Whistleblower Peiter Zatko Testifies Before Senate Judiciary Committee

John Kennedy Mocks Dick Durbin For Calling Kash Patel A ‘Conspiracy Theorist’

John Kennedy Mocks Dick Durbin For Calling Kash Patel A 'Conspiracy Theorist'

Dick Durbin

kash patel

U.S. Senate

Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) warned President Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans not to waver from their course just because their critics in the Democratic Party and legacy media called them &#8220;crazy.&#8221;
Speaking to Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum, Kennedy argued that the naysayers before the flood had also called Noah crazy — but history eventually proved him right and them inconsequential.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The naysayers are going to start calling Republicans crazy very soon.
But they said the same thing to Noah, and then the rains came, and all the fact-checkers drowned.
Republicans will stay focused on what we know is right—because we’ll get no help from Democrats. <a href="https://t.co/nZIEjqTqTC">pic.twitter.com/nZIEjqTqTC</a>
&mdash; John Kennedy (@SenJohnKennedy) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenJohnKennedy/status/1881827521869529307?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 21, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
MacCallum pressed Kennedy about President Trump&#8217;s first 100 days in office, asking whether the American people could expect to see rapid progress toward fulfilling the president&#8217;s planned agenda.
&#8220;Point one, Martha, one bill or two, frankly you can teach it round or you can teach it flat,&#8221; Kennedy said. &#8220;I don&#8217;t really give a function whether it&#8217;s one bill or two. I care about the final product.&#8221;
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He went on to encourage members of his party not to lose sight of their goals when the attacks inevitably began.
&#8220;My advice to my colleagues and to the president is, number one, don&#8217;t get distracted,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Very shortly the honeymoon will be over. My Democratic colleagues and many members of the media will start calling us, particularly the president, crazy. They said the same thing about Noah, and then the rains came — and all the fact-checkers drowned.&#8221;
&#8220;We need to keep our focus on why we&#8217;re here,&#8221; Kennedy added, noting that Republicans had to push particularly hard on the issues that he said had gotten Trump&#8217;s 2024 presidential campaign over the line: &#8220;Inflation, border security, national security, and the fact that Vice President Harris and President Biden staffed their administration with a bunch of people who majored in online activism and with a minor in puberty blockers.&#8221;
&#8220;All they wanted to do was sit around all day and talk about climate change and whether a man can breastfeed,&#8221; he quipped, noting that he didn&#8217;t expect any help from across the aisle in dealing with those four issues — but that Republicans had to hold the line on them just the same.

Sen. Kennedy Warns Trump To Ignore Democrats And Media Who Say He’s ‘Crazy’

John Kennedy Warns Trump To Ignore Democrats And Media Who Say He's 'Crazy'

Democrats

A top <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/fbi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FBI</a> official insisted on Tuesday that there had &#8220;never&#8221; been any question as to whether former President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a> was wounded in the ear by a bullet during an assassination attempt.
FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate made the assertion during a hearing in the days after his boss, FBI Director <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/christopher-wray" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Christopher Wray</a>, suggested that shrapnel may have caused the injury.
Sen. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/john-kennedy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">John Kennedy</a> (R-LA) asked Abbate if the FBI, which is investigating the shooting, had any doubt that Trump was struck in the ear by a bullet at a rally in Pennsylvania earlier this month.
&#8220;There is absolutely no doubt in the FBI’s mind whether former President Trump was hit with a bullet and wounded in the ear,&#8221; Abbate replied. &#8220;No doubt, there never has been.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/SenJohnKennedy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SenJohnKennedy</a> asks if there&#39;s any doubt President Trump was shot in the ear: &quot;It wasn&#39;t a space laser? It wasn&#39;t a murder hornet? It wasn&#39;t sasquatch? It was a bullet&#8230;fired by Crooks that hit president Trump in the ear and almost killed him?&quot;
FBI Deputy Director: &quot;100%&quot; <a href="https://t.co/95SQHC5cpZ">pic.twitter.com/95SQHC5cpZ</a>
&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1818332411572232219?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 30, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Kennedy went on to ask, &#8220;It wasn&#8217;t a space laser? &#8230; It wasn&#8217;t a murder hornet? &#8230; It wasn&#8217;t Sasquatch?&#8221; He also got Abbate to say the bullet was shot by the gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks.
A Secret Service sniper shot and killed 20-year-old Crooks while other personnel rushed to protect Trump and escort him off the stage, but not before the former president was struck in the right ear.
One rally-goer, 50-year-old fireman <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dana-white-kid-rock-donate-to-fundraiser-for-shooting-victims-surpasses-2-million-in-under-24-hours" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Corey Comperatore</a>, was killed. Two others were wounded and have been <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/second-rallygoer-injured-trump-assassination-attempt-released-hospital-rcna164003" target="_blank" rel="noopener">released</a> from the hospital in recent days.
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Last Wednesday, during a hearing before the House, Wray <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-attacks-fbi-director-wray-question-struck-bullet/story?id=112302959" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cast doubt</a> on whether Trump had actually been hit by a bullet — as the former president had said from the beginning.
&#8220;I think with respect to former President Trump, there&#8217;s some question about whether or not it&#8217;s a bullet or shrapnel that hit his ear,&#8221; Wray said.
He added, &#8220;It&#8217;s conceivable — although as I sit here right now I don&#8217;t know whether that bullet, in addition to, you know, causing the grazing could have also landed somewhere else.&#8221;
Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), Trump&#8217;s former White House physician, <a href="https://x.com/RonnyJacksonTX/status/1816503874783514866" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted to X</a> that he personally examined the wound and condemned Wray for his &#8220;absolutely irresponsible&#8221; statement.
Trump <a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/07/24/trump-fbi-head-biden-resign" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called on Wray to step down</a>, though he did so citing another issue. He did also react to the bullet comment, <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/112850202227985061" target="_blank" rel="noopener">saying</a>, &#8220;No wonder the once storied FBI has lost the confidence of America!&#8221;
The FBI <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fbi-confirms-trump-was-struck-by-a-bullet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">released</a> a statement on Friday declaring that Trump was struck in the ear by a bullet shot by the gunman at the former president&#8217;s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
&#8220;What struck former President Trump in the ear was a bullet, whether whole or fragmented into smaller pieces, fired from the deceased subject’s rifle,&#8221; the bureau said.

FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate

FBI Now Claims There Was ‘Never’ Any Doubt Trump Was Hit By A Bullet

FBI Now Claims There Was 'Never' Any Doubt Trump Was Hit By A Bullet

Christopher Wray

Secret Service

U.S.

Senator <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/john-kennedy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">John Kennedy</a> (R-LA) delivered a lesson in biology on Wednesday, explaining in scientific terms why biological males had an unfair advantage over females when it came to athletics.
Kennedy ran through a list of physical differences that made males — particularly after puberty — predisposed to perform better when it came to sports. &#8220;Girls’ lungs are 12% smaller than boys’ lungs. Their hearts are 14% smaller. That gives boys a clear edge in endurance sports.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Girls’ lungs are 12% smaller than boys’ lungs. Their hearts are 14% smaller.
That gives boys a clear edge in endurance sports. <a href="https://t.co/cGieBNHDpE">pic.twitter.com/cGieBNHDpE</a>
— John Kennedy (@SenJohnKennedy) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenJohnKennedy/status/1803455655166001581?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 19, 2024</a></blockquote>
&#8220;Swimming, for example. Cycling. Rowing,&#8221; Kennedy continued. &#8220;Girls develop a wider pelvis. That decreases the amount of force their legs exert when they&#8217;re lifting, when they&#8217;re kicking, when they&#8217;re pedaling. That&#8217;s another relative disadvantage vis-a-vis boys or men. When you compare female athletes to their male counterparts.&#8221;
Kennedy went on to add that boys typically had broader shoulders and explained &#8220;that allows them to make more space for upper body muscle mass and gives them a decided advantage when competing against a girl.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s hard to think — I can&#8217;t think of a sport in which a higher muscle-to-fat ratio isn&#8217;t helpful,&#8221; Kennedy concluded. &#8220;The average boy will grow five inches taller than the average girl, that&#8217;s just a fact. Even when men and women are the same height, men have higher levels of bone density, which helps them move more forcefully and escape more injuries.&#8221;
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Former collegiate swimmer and women&#8217;s sports advocate Riley Gaines responded to Kennedy&#8217;s post, saying, &#8220;A sitting US Senator has to explain the physical differences between girls and boys to other sitting US Senators &#8230; what a time to be an American.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
A sitting US Senator has to explain the physical differences between girls and boys to other sitting US Senators
&#8230;.what a time to be an American <a href="https://t.co/Ub3aUa7xVm">https://t.co/Ub3aUa7xVm</a>
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) <a href="https://twitter.com/Riley_Gaines_/status/1803636024339206203?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 20, 2024</a></blockquote>
&#8220;Honestly it’s ‘1984’ that we have to say these things, what’s happened to people&#8217;s brains that they can ignore basic biology? There are 2 gametes. One large (female) one small (sperm) there is NO 3rd sex &amp; humans can’t change sex! This is all fact. Even if u don’t like it,&#8221; Sharron Davies added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
👇🏼 honestly it’s ‘1984’that we have to say these things, what’s happened to peoples brains that they can ignore basic biology ? There are 2 gametes. One large (female) one small (sperm) there is NO 3rd sex &amp; humans can’t change sex! This is all fact. Even if u don’t like it <a href="https://t.co/iotH4PvK8j">https://t.co/iotH4PvK8j</a>
— Sharron Davies MBE (@sharrond62) <a href="https://twitter.com/sharrond62/status/1803843527396503559?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 20, 2024</a></blockquote>

‘A Clear Edge In Endurance Sports’: Sen. John Kennedy Delivers Gender Biology Lesson

'A Clear Edge In Endurance Sports': Sen. John Kennedy Delivers Gender Biology Lesson

gender ideology

Social Issues

Transgender

Transgender Athletes

USA Today may have violated its own ethical standards by deleting an op-ed about protecting women’s sports by Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) without his knowledge or explanation to the public. 
While USA Today <a href="https://cm.usatoday.com/ethical-conduct/">promises</a> to provide its readers with “transparency” about its journalistic processes it left its audience and Kennedy guessing for days as to why it deleted an opinion article written by the Republican senator on keeping males out of female sports. 
The op-ed, titled “Is transgender inclusion more important than women’s sports?” was published on May 11 but was deleted from the USA Today Network newspapers by May 14. In the op-ed, Kennedy argued that it was harmful to girls for males identifying as female to be allowed to compete in women’s sports. 
For the first 10 days after deleting Kennedy’s article, audiences were led to believe there had been a technical error. However, after Fox News <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/usa-today-newspapers-quietly-delete-gop-senators-op-ed-trans-athletes-without-telling-him">reached</a> out to inquire about the deletion, USA Today added a note to a link to the <a href="https://www.dailycomet.com/story/news/2024/05/24/john-kennedy-questions-whether-transgender-inclusion-is-more-important-than-womens-sports/73639180007/">article</a> saying it had not met its editorial standards.
The delay in explaining what was going on to USA Today readers and Kennedy appears to fly in the face of one of USA Today’s <a href="https://cm.usatoday.com/ethical-conduct">ethical guidelines</a>, which says that the outlet “will explain to audiences our journalistic processes to promote transparency and engagement.”
Kennedy says the newspaper acted anything but transparently.
“One of America’s largest outlets censored a common sense position that an overwhelming majority of Americans and Louisianians hold,&#8221; a spokesperson for Kennedy told The Daily Wire. &#8220;And they tried to hide the fact that they squelched it. It took the USA Today network well over a week to admit to the public that they had secretly removed the senator’s piece, which raises a lot of questions about some mainstream media’s willingness to be transparent with American readers.”
Initially, the op-ed was published by eight Louisiana newspapers owned by USA Today without any requests to Kennedy for edits. It was then removed, with no opportunity for Kennedy to make changes, and without his knowledge. After discovering it had been removed, Kennedy’s team attempted to understand why the article had been deleted. 
Emails and phone calls show that the process behind the removal was anything but transparent.  
Kennedy’s team was first told that the op-ed had been removed because it hadn’t included any links to citations despite the fact that the version submitted by Kennedy had over a dozen citations. 
After corresponding with one local reporter who they had submitted the op-ed to the paper through, a spokesperson made contact with Misty Castile, the editor of the Shreveport Times and four other Gannett papers. The spokesperson spoke with Castile twice on May 20, six days after the deletion of the article. 
In the first phone call, Castile told a Kennedy team member that the op-ed had been removed because it had no citations. She also said that a “process problem” was what led to the op-ed being pulled without Kennedy’s knowledge, according to a transcript of the call shared with The Daily Wire. 
In a second phone call, Castile added that there were concerns about language used in the op-ed, adding that she was waiting to hear from others about more specific problems. 
“You know, I do know there were some specific questions about language, and, and part of the reason that we&#8217;re talking to standards is I&#8217;m trying to get very specific information on what language they were discussing—if it was just that they didn&#8217;t see citations, and, so, without the citations it, it, it was, it looked worse on the face that it was—I&#8217;m waiting on answers,” she said. 
Later emails from Castile stated that Kennedy’s use of the terms “biological male,” and “biological female,” were “loaded terms” outside of the outlet’s editorial standards. The outlet also took issue with Kennedy saying that men competing against women in sports was similar to NBA star Zion Williamson playing against middle school boys.
Two newspapers that ran the article, including the Houma Today and the Daily Advertiser, both still have the op-ed promoted on their X pages though the links to the article go to the editorial standards explanation.  
USA Today did not return a request for comment.

USA Today May Have Violated Own Ethical Standards In Deleting Op-Ed From Republican Senator Over ‘Loaded Language’

Legacy Media

USA Today

A Republican senator’s opinion column about keeping biological males out of women’s sports was removed from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/usa-today" target="_blank" rel="noopener">USA Today</a>’s network of newspapers because of his “loaded language.”
Sen. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/john-kennedy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">John Kennedy</a> (R-LA) learned that a column he wrote about protecting women’s sports had been removed from several USA Today Network newspapers because of &#8220;inflammatory&#8221; language out of the paper’s editorial standards, Fox News <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/usa-today-newspapers-quietly-delete-gop-senators-op-ed-trans-athletes-without-telling-him">reported</a> Friday. Kennedy told the outlet that he was not aware that the column had been removed until he was informed of broken links to the article.
Kennedy told Fox that the &#8220;USA TODAY Network apparently does not like the way I express myself.&#8221;
&#8220;They think they are the speech police. Drunk on certainty and virtue, they think they are our moral teacher. This attitude is why so many Americans have lost confidence in the media. The media is not going to win that trust back until they return to neutrality instead of advocacy,&#8221; he added.
The article, titled &#8220;Is transgender inclusion more important than women’s sports?&#8221; had been published on May 11 by several Louisiana-based papers owned by Gannett, the parent company of USA Today.
&#8220;Men and women don’t compete for the same reasons,” the Republican senator said in his column. “Yet transgender activists want athletic institutions to ignore these obvious physical differences so transgender athletes can feel included, even if it hurts biological girls in the process.”
Gannett Opinion Editor and Vice President of Standards and Ethics Michael McCarter said that Kennedy’s column did not meet the company’s “ethical standard” and that he had been given a chance to “revise his language.”
&#8220;We recognize the importance of sharing varying perspectives and the vital role we play convening conversations,” McCarter said. “Sen. John Kennedy’s submitted opinion column did not meet our ethical guidelines, which state we will treat people with respect. After further review, our editorial team removed the column from our website. Sen. Kennedy has been given the opportunity to revise his language &#8211; not his viewpoint &#8211; to adhere with our standards.”
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According to emails with the executive editor of the Shreveport Times, a USA Today Network newspaper, Kennedy’s use of the terms “biological male,” and “biological female,” were “loaded terms” outside of the outlet&#8217;s editorial standards. The outlet also took issue with Kennedy saying that men competing against women in sports was similar to NBA star Zion Williamson playing against middle school boys.

Sen. John Kennedy

Senator’s Op-Ed On Protecting Women’s Sports Removed By USA Today Due To ‘Loaded Language’

Media

Senator <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/john-kennedy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">John Kennedy</a> (R-LA) grilled Judge Sarah Netburn during a Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, asking her a series of questions about a trans-identifying male sex offender whom she had recommended be sent to a women&#8217;s prison.
Kennedy asked Netburn, who was nominated to be a United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York, about her recommendation — specifically why, despite a history that included raping a nine-year-old boy and a 17-year-old-girl, Netburn would recommend that such an individual be sent to a women&#8217;s prison.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Kennedy: &#8220;You&#8217;re really a political activist, aren&#8217;t you?&#8221;
Netburn: &#8220;I&#8217;m not, sir&#8221;
Kennedy: &#8220;Your record demonstrates otherwise.&#8221;
🔥🔥🔥 <a href="https://twitter.com/SenJohnKennedy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SenJohnKennedy</a>
This judge belongs nowhere NEAR a courtroom. <a href="https://t.co/I4HEpuE0Aj">pic.twitter.com/I4HEpuE0Aj</a>
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) <a href="https://twitter.com/Riley_Gaines_/status/1793644999470678023?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 23, 2024</a></blockquote>
&#8220;Do you remember an inmate name William McClain?&#8221; Kennedy began, detailing the crimes to which McClain had pled guilty — the rape of a nine-year-old boy and the subsequent rape of a 17-year-old girl. After serving time and being released, McClain was arrested again for sending child pornography to another sex offender. Netburn, after a few false starts, appeared to acknowledge the accuracy of Kennedy&#8217;s assessment up to that point.
&#8220;And then he decided to transition,&#8221; Kennedy continued. &#8220;He became a female and started going by July Justine Shelby, is that right?&#8221;
&#8220;Yes.&#8221;
&#8220;And Ms. Shelby said, &#8216;I don&#8217;t want to go to a male prison. I want to go to a female prison,'&#8221; Kennedy said. &#8220;And the board of prisons said, &#8216;What planet did you parachute in from? You&#8217;re going to a male prison, with this kind of record.'&#8221;
Kennedy then asked Netburn how she came to the conclusion that Shelby should be allowed to serve time in a women&#8217;s prison.
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&#8220;I issued a report and recommendation to the district judge,&#8221; Netburn said, claiming that medical needs would not be met properly in a male prison.
&#8220;What were you thinking in saying it&#8217;s &#8216;only hypothetical&#8217; that [Shelby] would reoffend?&#8221; Kennedy asked. &#8220;You&#8217;re really a political activist, aren&#8217;t you?&#8221;
&#8220;I&#8217;m not, sir,&#8221; she objected.
&#8220;But your record demonstrates otherwise,&#8221; he replied.

Kennedy Grills Judicial Nominee: ‘You’re Really A Political Activist, Aren’t You?’

Kennedy Grills Judicial Nominee: 'You're Really A Political Activist, Aren't You?'

Gender Transition

Joe Biden

Judiciary

Prison

Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) grilled Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/xavier-becerra" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Xavier Becerra</a> over his position on abortion, asking whether there was any case in which he would support imposing restrictions on women seeking to terminate their pregnancies.
During a Tuesday hearing, Kennedy posed a hypothetical scenario — a healthy baby and a healthy mother, one day before the due date — and Becerra repeatedly refused to say whether he&#8217;d support banning abortion even in that case.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Why are you embarrassed to answer?
&quot;Would you support making it illegal to abort a baby, if the mother is healthy, and the baby is healthy, on the day before that baby is scheduled to be born?&quot;<a href="https://twitter.com/SenJohnKennedy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SenJohnKennedy</a> presses <a href="https://twitter.com/SecBecerra?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecBecerra</a> on his support for no-limits abortion <a href="https://t.co/K2mkoSGW0i">pic.twitter.com/K2mkoSGW0i</a>
&mdash; SBA Pro-Life America (@sbaprolife) <a href="https://twitter.com/sbaprolife/status/1780275185125392535?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
After thanking Secretary Becerra for his time, Kennedy jumped straight to the heart of his questions.
&#8220;Mr. Secretary, if the mother is healthy and the baby is healthy, do you really support abortion of the baby up to the moment of birth?&#8221; he asked.
&#8220;Senator, let me make sure — to the moment of birth? You&#8217;re saying after gestation, the 40 weeks —&#8221; Becerra attempted to clarify the question.
Kennedy obliged, saying, &#8220;Let&#8217;s suppose — suppose it&#8217;s the day before the due date, and the baby is fully formed and the baby is healthy and the mother is healthy, do you support aborting — the right to abort the baby then?&#8221;
&#8220;I&#8217;ve heard no one say that,&#8221; Becerra protested, claiming that &#8220;reproductive rights&#8221; advocates were only saying that they supported the provisions of the recently-overturned 1973 case Roe v. Wade.
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Kennedy responded by reading a 2020 statement from Becerra himself, who said at the time, &#8220;No government, state or federal, has the right to make decisions for a woman about her body or her health care.&#8221;
&#8220;Your words, not mine,&#8221; Kennedy added. &#8220;I ask you again, up to the moment of birth, if the mother&#8217;s healthy and the baby&#8217;s healthy, do you believe that there should be the right to abort that baby? Up to the moment of birth.&#8221;
Becerra again claimed that he had &#8220;always supported Roe v, Wade, which doesn&#8217;t do what you just said,&#8221; and said that he did not know of anyone who was arguing in favor of abortion until the moment of birth. He went on to say that it should still be a decision left entirely up to a woman and her doctor.
Kennedy tried once more, asking Becerra directly whether he would support any restrictions on abortion in cases where both mother and baby were healthy and the baby was full term. The HHS Secretary would only answer that he would support bringing back Roe.
&#8220;I want your answer,&#8221; Kennedy pressed again. &#8220;Roe v. Wade has been overturned. I want your answer.&#8221;
But even as Kennedy repeated the direct question several more times, Becerra refused to give a straight answer.

‘Your Words, Not Mine’: GOP Senator Grills Biden Health Secretary Over No-Limits Abortion

'Your Words, Not Mine': GOP Senator Grills Biden Health Secretary Over No-Limits Abortion

Abortion

Pro-Abortion

Xavier Becerra

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) slammed President Joe Biden on Sunday and accused the president of signaling weakness following Iran&#8217;s unprecedented attack on Israel Saturday night.
Kennedy made the remarks during a Sunday interview on &#8220;Fox News Sunday&#8221; with host Shannon Bream while discussing the hundreds of missiles and drones that Iran directed at Israel.
&#8220;You’ve got Senator Sanders there, one of your colleagues who says, in a piece in the Boston Globe this week, he said not another nickel to Netanyahu,&#8221; Bream said. &#8220;He says, does America want to be on the side of history of standing with people who are child killers and creating starvation? I mean, those are his words. He seems determined to block anything going to his right.&#8221;
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&#8220;Yes. And in the past 60 days, we have seen President Biden, go wobbly in his support of Israel,&#8221; Kennedy responded. &#8220;And today, the White House has already leaked to the press early this morning that they’re not going to participate in an Israeli response to what Iran just did. Let me say it again. More sheep is not going to solve the wolf problem.&#8221;
&#8220;My advice to the president today, for what it’s worth, Mr. President, &#8216;don’t&#8217;. Stop it. Support Israel,&#8221; he added. &#8220;With respect, go to Amazon and buy a spine online! Peace through weakness never works. Not with these hard, hard men.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
Epic stuff. Sen. John Kennedy tells Biden to &#8220;go to Amazon and buy a spine online.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/Bjwnc7w9Ud">pic.twitter.com/Bjwnc7w9Ud</a>
— FJ (@Natsecjeff) <a href="https://twitter.com/Natsecjeff/status/1779694222779838722?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 15, 2024</a></blockquote>

Senator Kennedy Slams Biden: ‘Go To Amazon And Buy A Spine Online’

Executive

Iran

Israel

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) introduced the EDUCATE Act, a bill that would eliminate federal funding to medical schools that embed the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) agenda into their admission or instruction policies, on Thursday.
Called the Embracing anti-Discrimination, Unbiased Curricula, and Advancing Truth in Education <a href="https://www.kennedy.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/f/c/fc004939-9acc-4b5b-ac2a-33f6a400d77c/EB87810799D9902262DC1CD4353F7165.educate-act-bill-text.pdf">(EDUCATE) Act</a>, the Senate bill corresponds with legislation that was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/this-bill-would-eliminate-federal-funding-to-any-med-school-that-incorporates-dei">recently introduced</a> in the House of Representatives by Rep. Greg Murphy (R-NC).
“Woke universities are forcing America’s future doctors to care more about race and gender than saving lives,” Kennedy <a href="https://www.kennedy.senate.gov/public/press-releases?id=3AACCF99-2BEC-40B7-8432-2D6D58596EDB#:~:text=John%20Kennedy%20(R%2DLa.,affirm%20ideological%20beliefs%20and%20prioritize">asserted</a>. “The EDUCATE Act would make sure taxpayer dollars don’t fund medical schools that discriminate against talented students or peddle progressive nonsense at the expense of science.”
Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) is co-leading the legislation alongside Kennedy.
“The medical field has traditionally been one driven by core tenants of merit, academic excellence, and superb scientific achievement, but that has not stopped the left from their malpractice of injecting DEI into every aspect of education in America,” Schmitt noted. “To cheapen medical schools with woke politics and DEI would be to put the lives of countless Americans in danger as students of extraordinary achievement and meticulous discipline in the field will be cast aside in the name of social justice and equity.”
Medical schools would not be eligible to receive federal funding under the bill if they direct, compel, or incentivize students to adopt or affirm various beliefs associated with DEI and Critical Race Theory (CRT), including that the United States is structurally racist or that people can be lumped into “oppressed” and “oppressor” categories by virtue of their race, ethnicity, or sex.
The bill would also eliminate federal funding for medical schools that deprive students of educational opportunities on the basis of their background by giving preferential treatment to students on the basis of race or by holding classes specifically for those of one racial background. Medical schools would also be ineligible for federal funding if they established or maintained DEI offices.
The introduction of the bill in the Senate was praised by Rep. Murphy, who introduced corresponding legislation in the House of Representatives in March. “Discriminatory DEI practices have rapidly permeated medical schools across the country at great harm to the field of medicine,” Murphy <a href="https://murphy.house.gov/media/press-releases/murphys-legislation-ban-dei-medicine-introduced-senate#:~:text=%E2%80%9CDiscriminatory%20DEI%20practices%20have%20rapidly,lives%20are%20on%20the%20line.">asserted</a>. “Political ideology has no place in the classroom, especially when lives are on the line.”
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“I appreciate Senators Kennedy and Schmitt for recognizing the detrimental impact these initiatives will have on the future of American healthcare,” Murphy went on to add. 
The legislation comes in the wake of a bombshell investigation into Duke Medical School by Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro, who found that the institution appeared to be <a href="https://x.com/benshapiro/status/1762196005234024632">discriminating</a> against white men.
Discrimination in medical schools has recently become a national conversation, with Elon Musk warning that lowered standards in the medical field in pursuit of equity would put people’s lives at risk.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Elon Musk tries to explain how lowering the standards for doctors could result in more deaths. 
Don Lemon is unable to grasp the concept.
This entire exchange is incredible. <a href="https://t.co/QJ3efuvVAb">pic.twitter.com/QJ3efuvVAb</a>
&mdash; End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) <a href="https://twitter.com/EndWokeness/status/1769727932161728681?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 18, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Data <a href="https://www.aamc.org/media/6066/download">from</a> the Association of American Medical Colleges reveals that the average grades and test scores vary significantly by race, with whites and Asians needing to receive higher scores to be competitive in admissions than black or Hispanic applicants.

U.S. Senate Picks Up House Proposal To Cut Funding To All Medical Schools That Push DEI

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

A witness who testified about climate change last week on Capitol Hill said a top Democrat issued an apology after he was grilled by Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) on the issue of carbon dioxide.
Gus Schumacher, an American cross-country skier who was invited by the Democrats, went viral over his exchange with Kennedy during a Budget Committee <a href="https://www.budget.senate.gov/hearings/recreation-at-risk-the-nature-of-climate-costs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hearing</a> on &#8220;Recreation at Risk: The Nature of Climate Costs.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Democrats want to spend $50 TRILLION to become carbon neutral &amp; held a hearing to tell us why.
Dem witness: Carbon dioxide is &quot;a huge part of our atmosphere.&quot;
Me: &quot;It’s actually a very small part of our atmosphere.&quot; (0.035%)
Dem witness: &quot;Well, okay. But, yeah. I don’t know.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/sSdbtsX7aq">pic.twitter.com/sSdbtsX7aq</a>
&mdash; John Kennedy (@SenJohnKennedy) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenJohnKennedy/status/1770830505417576612?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 21, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
One particular moment at the start that drew much attention was when Kennedy corrected Schumacher after he said carbon dioxide is a &#8220;huge part&#8221; of the Earth&#8217;s atmosphere after noting he was not a &#8220;professional&#8221; to discuss the topic.
&#8220;It&#8217;s actually a very small part of our atmosphere,&#8221; Kennedy replied.
Indeed, carbon dioxide makes up only about <a href="https://netl.doe.gov/carbon-management/carbon-storage/faqs/carbon-dioxide-101#:~:text=Carbon%20dioxide%20occurs%20naturally%20in,percent)%20in%20the%20Earth's%20atmosphere.&amp;text=Carbon%20dioxide%20is%20a%20minor,subsequently%20exhaled%20from%20the%20lungs." target="_blank" rel="noopener">0.04%</a> of the atmosphere. Although it is naturally present there, it is also <a href="https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases" target="_blank" rel="noopener">considered</a> the planet&#8217;s primary greenhouse gas, emitted through human activities that are driving climate change.
As the discussion went on, Schumacher said he would like there to be a decrease in the use of fossil fuels that produce CO2 emissions, but he could not provide specifics on a timeline or how much money going carbon neutral would cost.
Schumacher later <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13238361/Climate-skier-Gus-Schumacher-kennedy-senate.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told DailyMail.com</a> that Chairman Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) offered him an apology and was &#8220;pretty cheerful&#8221; afterward.
&#8220;He apologized for Sen. Kennedy and mentioned that it&#8217;s not the first time he&#8217;s done that aggressive line of questioning that&#8217;s not entirely related,&#8221; Schumacher said.
He added, &#8220;&#8216;I don&#8217;t think anyone from my team was expecting that approach, he did a good job of making these questions really silly.&#8221;
Schumacher also said he was &#8220;a little bit flustered&#8221; after the line of questioning from Kennedy. &#8220;That spoke to my inability to answer questions on CO2, but I wasn&#8217;t too red in the face,&#8221; he said.
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Kennedy posted a video of his exchange with Schumacher to X.
&#8220;Democrats want to spend $50 TRILLION to become carbon neutral &amp; held a hearing to tell us why,&#8221; he said before quoting the exchange about how much carbon dioxide is in the atmosphere.
In addition to questions about carbon dioxide, Kennedy pressed Schumacher about social media posts in 2020 about racism and the criminal justice system.
Schumacher pushed back, claiming the questions were &#8220;off topic&#8221; and that he was there as an athlete to discuss the effects of climate change on his sport.

Gus Schumacher

Witness Says Top Democrat Apologized After Sen. Kennedy Schooled Him On CO2

Climate Change

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