Sen. Kennedy says he has a plan to fix GOP’s midterm disaster, but leadership won’t approve it: ‘We’ve gotta do something’

Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana used an appearance on Fox News’ Hannity to push fellow Republicans to treat their midterm losses as a serious warning rather than an ordinary result. Host Sean Hannity asked whether Kennedy supported a resolution offered by Sen. Rick Scott of Florida that would keep the Senate in session longer. Kennedy said he did.

He argued that voters respond more to evidence of concern than to technical knowledge. “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care,” Kennedy said. He followed that with a blunt comparison, stating that a smart man washes his hands after he urinates while a wise man does not urinate on his hands. Senate Republicans, he added, need to stop thinking they are so smart.

Kennedy rejected the idea that the election outcome followed a typical pattern. “This was not a normal midterm election loss,” he said. “If you think that, congratulations, you’re stupid.” He pointed to remarks from Sen. Jim Justice of West Virginia, who has described voters called Toby and Edith as people who turned out and chose Democrats rather than staying home. Republicans must win those voters back, Kennedy said.

Kennedy lists measures he wants Republicans to pass while they still hold power

Kennedy noted that Republicans retain control for more than 50 days before Democrats take over. He said the party should use that time to advance specific items. Among them are a permitting bill and a reconciliation bill.

He also called for raising the tax-free gain allowed when someone sells a home, banning stock trading by members of Congress, requiring all pardon brokers to register with the government, and providing additional money to the military. A former Fox News host also pointed out that Trump’s rising net worth hurt the GOP in the midterms.

He described the list as a way to demonstrate effort even if it falls short of fixing every concern. “Now, those things are not gonna solve all of Toby and Edith’s problems, but at least it’ll show Toby and Edith that we’re trying to do something,” Kennedy said. “Doing nothing, Sean, is hard,” he emphasized.

Although the administration has tried to pin the current economic situation on Biden, voters were not buying that argument and instead held Republicans accountable. Kennedy recognizes that the party has lost voters’ trust and needs to earn it back.

He returned to the voters who supported Democrats. “We lost Toby and Edith, and we’ve got to get ’em back,” Kennedy said. The only barrier he identified is that Senate leadership has so far declined to give him permission to pursue the steps. “There’s only one problem with my suggestion – I’ve gotta have permission from Senate leadership to do it, and at the moment, they declined to give it to me,” he said.

Kennedy ended by asking viewers to contact people who might help. “So, if you know anybody, make a few calls because we’ve gotta do something,” he said.