Sen. John Kennedy Defends His Attacks on Dem Congresswomen in Bonkers CNN Interview: Insults Were ‘Heartfelt’
CNN’s Jim Sciutto interviewed John Kennedy (R-LA) over Donald Trump’s racist “go back” tweets to progressive congresswomen, and the whole thing ended up going in rhetorical circles around the senator’s defense of the president.
Sciutto started things off by noting how Trump quote-tweeted Kennedy after the senator appeared on Fox News and insulted the intelligence of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and Ayanna Pressley
“In America, if you hate our Country, you are free to leave. The simple fact of the matter is, the four Congresswomen think that America is wicked in its origins, they think that America is even more wicked now, that we are all racist and evil. They’re entitled to their…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 17, 2019
…opinion, they’re Americans. Now I’m entitled to my opinion, & I just think they’re left wing cranks. They’re the reason there are directions on a shampoo bottle, & we should ignore them. The “squad” has moved the Democrat Party substantially LEFT, and…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 17, 2019
….they are destroying the Democrat Party. I’m appalled that so many of our Presidential candidates are falling all over themselves to try to agree with the four horsewomen of the apocalypse. I’m entitled to say that they’re Wack Jobs.” Louisiana Senator John Kennedy
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 17, 2019
As Sciutto noted Kennedy’s remarks, he asked: “Do you think your words have helped or hurt the dialogue on this issue?”
“I don’t know the answer to that,” Kennedy answered, “but they are heartfelt.”
“Heartfelt to call sitting congresswomen whackjobs? Really!?” Sciutto asked.
“Yeah, I believe that,” Kennedy said. “I believe the four congresswomen are more famous than wise – look, this is America. They’re entitled to their beliefs. They are Americans. I’m entitled to mine.”
From there, the two embarked on circular back-and-forth over whether the president should be engaged in “playground insults,” and whether the four congresswomen hate America as Kennedy and other critics claim. Sciutto repeatedly pressed Kennedy on the latter, but the senator refused to provide evidence of his allegation, saying instead “you’ll have to ask them.”
“I think they also think America is even more wicked today [than its founding],” Kennedy said. “I think they believe many Americans, maybe most Americans are racist, are misogynistic, are evil.”
“What do you base that statement on? Sciutto persisted. “So many of the president’s critiques of them are outright false so I’m curious how you accuse them of believing that most Americans are racist. You’ve got to back it up if you’re going to make that claim.”
Kennedy said he didn’t have time to replay the congresswomen’ previous comments, saying to Sciutto “you wouldn’t replay it anyway” and it only kept going downhill from there.
Watch above, via CNN.
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