Senator John Kennedy tells Theo Von that Chuck Schumer will likely manufacture a government shutdown before the midterms to create political chaos, warning it's a deliberate strategy not a policy dispute. Kennedy, who sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee and oversees the Department of Energy and Army Corps of Engineers, says he needs 60 Senate votes to pass a budget but is getting zero Democratic cooperation. Throughout, Kennedy and Theo bond over shared Louisiana roots — St. Tammany Parish, alligators outnumbering people, raccoons in restaurant walls — while Kennedy reflects on his Depression-era father Preston as his greatest hero.
Key Moments
John Kennedy
“I just I
just try to be myself. The”
Kennedy responds to Theo asking whether he ever thought about doing comedy, given how many quips he delivers.
John Kennedy is a United States Senator representing Louisiana, currently serving his second term. Before entering the Senate in 2017, he served as Louisiana State Treasurer for 17 years under governors Buddy Roemer and Mike Foster. He is known for his colorful, plain-spoken style and sharp one-liners, and recently published a book titled 'How to Test Negative for Stupid and Why Washington Never Will.'
Takeaways
1
State treasurer role is underrated financial power Kennedy managed roughly $4 billion in Louisiana state funds, overseeing bond issuances, short-term cash investments, and an unclaimed property program that returned money to citizens — including a $1.26 million check to a retired New Orleans schoolteacher. He argues the compounding effect of investing even overnight cash repeatedly across billion-dollar flows generates substantial returns.
2
Schumer will weaponize a shutdown for midterms Kennedy, sitting on the Senate Appropriations Committee, says Schumer's refusal to cooperate on the budget is not a policy disagreement — it's a calculated strategy to manufacture chaos heading into the midterm elections. Kennedy believes he needs 60 votes and won't get Democratic help. He says he hopes he's wrong and will apologize if so.
3
Authenticity beats performance in political longevity Kennedy says he was told as a kid 'always be yourself unless you suck,' and that maxim drives how he operates in Washington where colleagues often try to sound senatorial. He argues American voters can 'smell a phony a mile away' and that pretending to be someone else is a long-term political liability.
4
Louisiana has more alligators than people now Kennedy notes that 25 years ago alligators in Louisiana were dwindling, but conservation efforts have been so successful the state now has more alligators than its roughly 4.6 million residents. He flags that tourist boat guides feeding gators near New Orleans are conditioning wild animals to associate humans with food — a genuine safety hazard tourists mistake for tameness.
5
High-level sport is mental, not just physical Both Kennedy and Theo observe while discussing the World Cup and Wimbledon that at elite levels the margins are millimeters and the differentiator is mental pressure tolerance. Kennedy cites watching Arthur Ashe up close at Wimbledon as a student — noting Ashe wasn't muscular, yet dominated through discipline and repetition rather than raw physicality.