Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) has served the state of Louisiana in the Senate since 2017, beginning his career in that legislative body at about the same time President-elect Donald Trump began his career as an elected official after winning the 2016 presidential election and being inaugurated in January 2017.
Kennedy, a lawyer, Rhodes Scholar and former Democrat who switched parties in 2007, has been a stalwart Trump supporter throughout Trump’s political run, and has participated eagerly in Trump’s condemnation of what MAGA adherents commonly categorize as the “liberal media.”
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Republicans are proudly pushing Russian propaganda.
— David Rothschild
(@DavMicRot) December 2, 2019
This week in the wake of the New Year’s Eve terrorist attack in New Orleans that killed more than a dozen innocent bystanders, Kennedy made a joke at a press conference. When told NBC News was positioned on “the right,” the Senator replied it was an “unusual position” — presumably referencing his belief that mainstream media is always on the left instead.
When confronted — “I don’t get it,” a reporter said — Kennedy replied “you wouldn’t,” sneering at the media trying to report to the public on the terrorist attack.
Reporter: NBC is here on the right
Kennedy: That’s an unusual position
Reporter: I don’t get it
Kennedy: You wouldn’t
The jocular tone Kennedy took, given the gravity of the situation, was called out by some as unnerving. “If my constituents had just been slaughtered in a terrorist attack,” wrote the attorney and former Obama appointee Eric Columbus, “I wouldn’t be cracking jokes for the cameras but that’s just me.”
Another commenter wrote: “Is anyone else as appalled as I am at Sen. Kennedy’s demeanor as others spoke?”
Question: You said you were confident there were multiple suspects involved, what makes you confident? pic.twitter.com/amN2ygxeVH
— Acyn (@Acyn) January 1, 2025