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Oct. 4, 2025 - Sean Hannity Show
29:17
Senator Kennedy Unfiltered - October 3rd, Hour 2
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This is an iHeart podcast.
All right, thanks, Scott Shannon.
Hour two, Sean Hannity Show.
Here's our toll-free telephone number.
If you want to be a part of the program, it's 800-941.
Sean, if you want to join us, obviously, the government shutdown is now front and center.
The big lie has been exposed, and that is the Democrats.
Oh, no, we don't want to fund health care for illegal immigrants.
They've all been lying.
They know they've been lying.
We've gone over it exhaustively on the program.
The fact that the leaders in name only, Chucky Schumer in the House and Hakeem Jeffries, I'm sorry, Chucky Schumer in the Senate, Hakeem Jeffries in the House, are so beholden to the radical left of their party, they are afraid, scared to death to ever take them on and do the right thing or stand by their very publicly stated positions in the case of Schumer that's gone on for decades.
So the Schumer shutdown continues.
I can't think of any person better to talk about this and much more is our friend, Louisiana Senator John Kennedy.
By the way, he has a new book out next week.
This book is hilarious.
You're going to love this book.
He's probably one of the funniest guys I've ever met.
And it's how to test negative for stupid.
You know, always be yourself unless you suck.
I say this gently.
This is why the aliens won't talk to us.
If you trust government, you obviously failed history class.
I believe that our country was founded by geniuses, but it's being run by idiots.
Always follow your heart, but take your brain with you.
And I'm going to go through some more in a minute, but our friend, Senator John Kennedy, is with us.
Senator, how are you, my friend?
I'm well, Sean.
Thanks for mentioning my book.
It'll be out Tuesday.
It's not a policy book per se.
It's a storybook.
And I talk about policy through the stories.
Many of them are funny.
Some are bizarre.
And all of them are true.
That's the best part.
Look, the melodrama continues on the shutdown.
I think it was Mama Gump who said stupid is as stupid does.
This is also pointless.
We have asked, we the Republicans, have asked to extend the status quo, the current budget, for seven more weeks so we can continue to talk about a permanent one.
No strings attached, no conditions.
Just give us seven more weeks to continue to negotiate.
It's called the CR, and that is you fund the government at current levels.
And Democrats, you know, for years have always pushed that and now and tried to blame Republicans.
And now they're demanding $1.5 trillion, including monies for health care for illegals, for a seven-week extension.
And in return for them agreeing to just to our quit request that we just extend the status quo for seven weeks, they are demanding that we agree to make the federal government $1.5 trillion bigger.
Give them $1.5 trillion.
Now, I'm not going to vote for that.
My mother didn't raise a fool, and if she did, it was one of my brothers.
There's no way.
And if they cut it in half, I wouldn't vote for that.
They're just not serious.
And we're going to sit here until they come to their senses.
I don't want it.
But in the meantime, President Trump and Russ Vote are just going to continue to reduce the size of government.
Senator, I could play every prominent Democrat, but more importantly, the person I can play the most over the years, you know, speaking out so passionately against government shutdowns is the minority leader from New York, Chucky Schumer.
And I think there's a very logical reason why Chuck Schumer has turned on a dime.
I think Chuck Schumer sees that his political grip on power is evaporating.
And if he doesn't give into this radical wing of his party, your friend AOC and others, that he is going to be out.
And he's likely going to be out as leader of the Democrats anyway.
But if she runs against them, she's going to clobber him in New York.
Well, some shutdowns are policy-based.
This is not one of them.
This is based on politics.
The Loon wing, the Bolshevik wing, the Hamas wing, the socialist wing, whatever you want to call it of the Republican Party is in ascendancy.
They're now in charge.
Chuck, Senator Schumer, wants them to love him, or at least like him.
They don't, and they never will.
And the person really in charge is Congresswoman Ocesio-Cortez.
She's about to elect a socialist mayor of New York, Mr. Mamdoni, is going to win that race.
And her wing of the party is clearly calling the shots.
And all Chuck's doing is trying to make them love him, and they will never love him unless he just does everything they want.
Well, you know, it's kind of, you know, I love having you on both radio and TV because, and I don't know if you plan out a lot of the comments that you make, but you have this folksy Louisiana down-home way of just kind of laying people out with simple, basic, fundamental truth.
And as Ben Franklin once said, the sting in any rebuke is the truth.
And you seem to get under the skin pretty well, but you expose the truth.
And that's a big part of your book.
I mean, if you trust government, you failed history class.
I love it.
I believe our country was founded by geniuses, but it's being run by idiots.
I mean, you put all of this in a book, and it's not fiction.
This is real life.
Explain the daily experiences that you have there.
The book is called How to Test Negative for Stupid.
It shows that tender is a mighty weapon.
I do say what I think.
That's my right as an American.
I don't get nearly enough credit, Sean, for the things I don't say.
I do bite my tongue sometimes.
But I hope if you want to know what the Senate is really like on the inside, if you want to know what President Trump is really like to work with President Biden, Chuck Grassley, Bernie Sanders, President Xi, I talk about my meeting with President Xi in China.
I hope you'll take a look at the book, How to Test Negative for Stupid.
It comes out Tuesday.
Hopefully we'll be out of the shutdown then, but I'm not going to give in.
I don't care what the others do.
I'm just like a Missouri mule on this.
I'm sitting my butt down in the mud, and I'm not budging.
If the Democrats want to come to their senses, they can.
If they don't, then I'm happy as a clam at high tide.
They can just keep this thing shut down.
Let me talk a little bit.
I've never asked you this question, and I find you fascinating because you come on the program, and I asked you one time, I said, is this all extemporaneous?
Or do you think these things out ahead of time, like comments that you make and comments now that you put in your book, How to Test Negative for Stupid?
And by the way, it's on Amazon.com, Hannity.com as of Tuesday in bookstores all around the country.
Does this come out in the moment?
Is this extemporaneous?
Or do you spend a lot of time thinking about it?
Five minutes before an interview, I stop and I really start thinking about how I'm going to answer the questions, whatever they might be.
Look, I wrote this book at my dining room table with a handheld phone and a blue pen.
And this is the way I talk in public and the way I talk in private.
This is the way I think.
Writing is painful for me, but God bless me with a good memory.
And when I read a clever turn of phrase, I will remember it.
I don't know why.
That's just the way the good Lord made me.
And I don't have a joke writer.
I don't have anybody who writes my speeches, so I can't blame this stuff on anybody else.
It is what it is.
I'd want all the credit in the world.
I wish my brain worked like yours.
I love it.
Well, not everybody agrees with you, Sean.
A guy wrote me on social media.
He said, Kennedy, I hate you.
You remind me of my second wife.
I thought that was...
I thought that was...
Let me go over a couple of more of your sayings here.
You said, always follow your heart, but take your brain with you.
I'm not going to bubble wrap it.
The water in Washington, D.C. won't clear up until you get the pigs out of the creek.
I have the right to remain silent, but not the ability.
Common sense is illegal in Washington, D.C. I know I've seen it firsthand.
I'll give one more.
I believe that we're going to have, you know, we're going to get some new conspiracy theories.
All the old ones have turned out to be true.
Wow.
Very funny.
I'll tell you a 15-second story.
I almost got sent to reform school one time.
I was asked about to compare Schumer and McConnell.
And I said, here's what you need to know.
They have a lot in common.
Each is smart.
Each is tenacious.
And each could probably lose his place during sex to reform school for that one.
You know, this is what makes you special and unique.
You know, usually in the upper chamber, most senators don't have the courage to speak their mind.
I do have a question, though.
Can you talk to your Democratic colleagues?
What are those conversations like?
I mean, are there some that you get along with, some that you have fun with, some that you go out to dinner with, some that you argue with?
I mean, what are those relationships like?
I get along with all of them.
Probably maybe a third of them wear their politics on the sleeve.
In other words, they're just self-righteous.
They know they're right and they're angry to varying degrees if you don't agree with them.
Another of them, another group, you know, they're willing to listen.
And then you've got another group that say they're willing to listen, but they're going to do what they're told.
And right now, what they're told to do is being dictated by the socialist wing of the party.
They're scared.
They really are.
You sense they're scared.
Quick break, right back.
More with our favorite senator from Louisiana, John Kennedy, is with us.
All right, we continue.
Senator John Kennedy of the great state of Louisiana has a new book out.
It's called How to Test Negative for Stupid.
Anyway, it's on Hannity.com, Amazon.com.
It'll be in bookstores all around the country on Tuesday.
You want to get a copy.
It's a great book.
It's funny.
You're going to laugh, and you're going to ask yourself, why didn't I think of that?
Well, the Democrats realize this is going very badly for them, that there's a backlash against this Schumer shutdown?
Oh, they do know.
But as long as their base is satisfied for the moment, and by the base, I mean the socialist wing of the party, they feel like they can take the pain.
To hell with the country and the American people.
I mean, I'm sorry.
That's what this is all about.
It's not about policy.
And they're going to destroy.
I believe in a two-party system.
They're going to destroy the Democratic Party if someone doesn't stand up to these folks and say, all of you people on the left who took a hard left and kept driving, you folks are crazy as a bed bug.
And we're not going to follow you anymore.
The only one that seems to be willing to do that is John Fetterman.
And a poll came out today that shows Democrats in Pennsylvania don't like him.
Like 60% are against them.
Yeah, but if you look at Fetterman's poll numbers overall with all the voters, he's got a 60% approval rating.
Yeah, you're right.
You're right.
But Democrats, you know, they seem to be embracing crazy.
I mean, look at Zoron Kami Marxism Donnie.
It looks like he's going to win.
I mean, did you ever think that we would elect a mayor of New York City, which has the largest Jewish population in the United States, one of the largest in the world, who does not like Jewish people?
He sided with Hamas.
Global antifad.
I wouldn't condemn it forever.
Yeah, I mean, I'm like, you know, I'm like, gosh, what has happened to our country?
What's happened in New York City?
But it's true, and that's what's driving this train, Sean.
Well, I got to tell you, it's been a pleasure to get to know you.
The book is phenomenal.
I'm telling you, you're going to laugh.
You're going to wish you thought of everything that he wrote in this book.
It's called How to Test Negative for Stupid.
We have a link on Hannity.com.
It's on Amazon.com.
As of Tuesday, it's going to be in bookstores all around the country.
The one and only Senator John Kennedy from the great state of Louisiana.
Senator, we appreciate you.
Thanks for fighting the good fight every day.
And good luck with the book.
We appreciate your time.
Thank you, Sean.
Thanks so much.
I-25 now till the top of the hour, 800-941.
Sean, if you want to be a part of the program, you know, thanks to your generosity and your caring, the Tunnel to Towers Foundation.
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All right, let's get to our busy, busy televones, shall we?
Let's say hi to Karen is in Nashville, Tennessee, Music City.
What's up, Karen?
How are you?
Hello, Sean.
I'm doing well.
Second generation listener here and a Tennessee conservative and was hoping you could clarify some things for me regarding the healthcare marketplace and some concerns I have.
You bet.
I'm glad to.
I love our friends in that.
Nashville's a cool city.
Do you go to Music Row much or no?
Well, it's a crazy place down there.
And I think the locals find themselves down there more often when visitors are in town, right?
Yeah, because you got to take, you know, when your friends come, oh, let's go to Music Row.
Let's go to Music Row.
It's sort of like if you live in Orlando, let's go to Disney.
You want to shoot yourself.
Exactly.
And Nashville is such a great place.
It's a killer town.
We've got so much going on here that, you know, Broadway is just a part of it.
So for us locals, there's a lot of other good things to do and see.
So just a percentage of the good stuff.
Well, I love it in Nashville.
I live 90 miles south of you in Huntsville, Alabama.
Actually, it was Athens, Alabama, just down Highway 65, and used to go up to Nashville, Gaylord all the time.
I actually once even got to host the Grand Old Opry.
How cool is that?
Oh, wonderful.
Yeah, I've heard you and your show mentioning that in the past.
Of course, you know, Huntsville is quite a city now, up and coming now as well, especially with the NASA stuff, more stuff heading there and whatnot.
But yeah, you definitely were here at a different day and age, but to have that opportunity is a wonderful thing.
So kudos to you on that.
Well, thank you.
So what's on your mind today, this Friday?
Yeah, so bear with me.
I'm kind of ignorant on this.
My time to take in information and discern what's going on in the world is usually in rush hour traffic, listening to talk radio, you know, coming back and forth to work.
So if I misrepresent the information, you know, you will certainly not offend my sensibilities, clarifying some things for me.
But I just want to.
I don't mind.
By the way, I want to add one thing.
There was a great friend of mine who's a talk show host, Phil Valentine, who I miss dearly.
I do stay in touch with his brother and get updates on his family.
He was a great guy.
I don't know if you remember Phil.
I remember him well, and that was quite a tragedy, but yes, I do.
Anyway, I didn't mean to interrupt.
Go ahead.
No, no worries.
So quickly, briefly, I know you've got plenty of other callers.
My scenario is 2020, I had a business of 20 years.
Unfortunately, I had to make the tough decision to close the door, sold off what I could, and moved on to bigger, better things in my life.
And at that time, I found myself without health insurance for myself and my two children, single parent.
So I found myself on the marketplace and not knowing what was what, I, you know, just put my head down and eeked through it.
And it turned out to be, I hate to say it, a good experience.
I saved a considerable amount of money on what I was accustomed to paying monthly.
And I loved the leverage I had at getting onto what I thought seemed like a simple platform in my collective experience to get on there and identify, you know, what plans are best suited to my children, what our needs are, so we can refine, you know, what I'm shopping for and ultimately get the best health insurance or health care for my children at the best cost.
And it felt like I had a little leverage over health insurance that I don't normally have.
You know, a mother experience through business vicariously or through an employer.
So got on then and understood how the program was intended to work.
And until I kind of got on my feet and moved forward, I had tax credits.
And then, as my salary would increase, respectfully, those tax credits would decrease, which certainly sounds more than fair.
And then ultimately, you know, you can phase out of that.
So, as time has gone by, I was blessed to get a job with a previous customer of mine and have been with them for four years now.
And as my salary has grown, I've seen the corresponding tax credits decrease, which is great.
All good on board with that.
And then now I'm kind of on the cusp where I really necessarily, like this last year, I actually contributed more above and beyond my tax and sent more monies in for the disparity in making up tax credits because my earnings were increased.
So my findings so far have been wonderful.
The business I'm with, the small business I'm with, I guess that's an important thing to signify, small business, as we all know it's much more difficult to acquire price breaks at a smaller company than a larger company.
But for me and my children, if I went through vicariously through the company, my cost was, I mean, significant, almost 80% higher.
So if the health place marketplace goes away, obviously I have some severe concerns.
I've tried to educate myself a little bit lately on this and reading what I could.
And I've saw that people that are making the income I'm making on the platform, if this goes away, you know, our policies will go up about 104%, it says, or equivalent of around $1,500, $11,500 a year.
So, you know, as a single parent, that's concerning, right?
You know what's frustrating to me because you're describing a dilemma that many, many people listening to us right now are going through.
And like you, I went through a long period in my early adult life.
I didn't have health insurance.
I couldn't afford health insurance.
It was not a priority of my life.
There are so many new, innovative, creative ways that people can get covered and do it way more cheaply.
Like we have our friend Dr. Josh Humber, Atlas MD.
It's now national.
And, you know, and that's a healthcare cooperative.
And when he started this in Wichita, you paid $50 a month, unlimited appointments with doctors.
They took care of everything except major issues like cancer, heart attack, stroke, things like that.
Although they would start, you know, if you went into the office, they would offer emergency care immediately.
Unlimited visits, 50 bucks for an adult, 10 bucks for a kid per month.
That's how they started.
And then you'd leave.
He would negotiate with pharmaceutical companies and you'd pay 95% less than others.
And it was just brilliant.
Now, he incorporates telemedicine in this.
So you have healthcare cooperatives, you have telemedicine.
Then if you have a plan like that that takes care of your day-to-day needs, where they'll do stitches, they'll take care of broken arms.
You get x-rays if you need it, whatever it is.
And then you get a catastrophic plan, which is relatively inexpensive.
The higher the deductible, the better.
For the God forbid moment, cancer, heart attack, stroke, bad accident, that is relatively inexpensive, relatively.
I'm not saying anything's cheap today.
But you could do so much better.
There are so many better ways, innovative ways that we're not used in technology yet to innovate our health care system and save a fortune.
And it sounds like you did that on your own before it was fashionable.
Good for you.
Well, I appreciate you saying that.
And I appreciate you referencing some other ways that possibly some other pursuits or avenues of address I can take.
I think that's one thing, you know, when you're working 56-hour weeks and life, we all have busy days, right?
So I think it was the attraction probably of the convenience of it for me.
It was all one user-friendly place.
I wasn't having to do the legwork and track this information down and find it.
Not opposed to it at all.
And I'm not saying after this conversation, it's not going to be something I think I am interested in.
I certainly will seek the alternatives and see what is best for my children and I. The one thing I did want to ask you, though, that's a two-fold question, and I'll get out of your hair.
I appreciate your time.
When I do have an opportunity to watch the news or whatnot, I see my fellow Republicans are kind of packaging this as it's all, you know, all is encompassed by the use of undocumented illegals using as a conduit to health insurance or health care rather.
And I now understand it really is more pertaining to that one-line item where the Medicaid reimburses hospitals for emergency visits.
And I totally agree with the Republicans on our use of taxpayer money.
I do not agree it should go to undocumented illegals.
So I'm not proposing that at all.
But what frustrates me is our inability to effectively work together so that we don't dismantle a program that was serving 24 million Americans, from what I understand, somewhat effectively.
It's kind of like cutting your nose off to spite your face so that we can eliminate illegal use of this.
I would think as sophisticated as we are today that we could develop some type of platform that eliminates that type of illegal use of the platform.
If it is just even this Medicare, do you think they'll be able to isolate the Medicare aspect of it from the rest and possibly keep what we have moving forward?
Or maybe maybe take it and prove upon it and and and take it as our own and put our own sample of approval on it.
Look, I think that we're going to work through this.
But the one thing we cannot afford is what the Democrats are demanding here.
I mean, they're trying to hold the country hostage to give people that didn't respect our laws, borders and sovereignty access to taxpayer funded health care.
We can't afford it.
I mean, I'd like to be able to pay for health care for the whole world, but we can't.
You know, everybody has their responsibility in this.
And, you know, the fact that they are willing to push it this far is pretty amazing because, again, it's another 80, 20, 90, 10 issue.
Anyway, I got to run.
Karen, appreciate you calling Nashville.
God bless you.
And 800-941-SHAWN is our number if you want to be a part of the program.
All right, let's get back to our busy phones.
800-941-SHAWN, our number.
We check out the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
And Steve is there.
Steve, I need to warn you.
Linda is a neighbor of yours.
You just don't know it.
Be careful.
If you go to school board meetings, she may show up.
I appreciate that.
It's a real privilege to speak with you, Sean, and appreciate you giving me the opportunity.
What's going on?
It's my pleasure.
I'm calling as regards to the accountability of the Iowa School Board.
I'm a general contractor, and we do a lot of work in schools all the time.
And the state law here in PA requires that we submit three separate background checks to be approved by the school prior to us stepping foot on the school grounds.
It's a state police criminal background check, a child abuse background check, and a federal background check, which includes requiring fingerprint.
So not only for us contractors, but any subcontractor we hire, any volunteers that show up to the school or even the applications that are sent to the school, we all must submit these clearances.
And I don't know what the laws are in Iowa, but I can't believe that the board would have a person for such a prestigious position would hire a person without doing their due diligence.
I mean, do you think this is just gross incompetence or willful negligence?
Probably a combination.
I mean, it's unbelievable to me.
You know, and, you know, this person even forged their credentials.
You know, the idea that this person had this background and they didn't catch it.
It's unforgivable to me.
Somebody's got to be held accountable for this.
It's really unreal.
I don't know why they're not looking at, you know, I don't know if they can bring charges against the school board or why they would keep their positions as well.
I mean, we're talking about the, you know, the safety of our kids.
You know, we, as parents, we put our trust in these individuals to do their job and protect our children.
And, you know, some of these school districts, you just can't count on them to do that, to put the interests of your child ahead of their own.
It's pretty remarkable.
Just like, you know, the idea that you have so many state governments, you know, Tim Walls and California, gender-affirming care without parental consent.
What they think they know better than we parents.
They don't believe in parental rights.
They think they're smarter than us.
It's so frustrating.
But I can tell you that, you know, as a parent, you've got to be involved in every aspect of your kid's life.
You've got to pay attention.
I probably didn't pay as much attention as I should have when my kids were younger.
But thankfully, you know, they turned out okay.
All right, my friend, appreciate you.
800-941-Sean, have a great weekend.
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