WASHINGTON — Verbal sharpshooter Sen. John Kennedy kept the door open to a 2028 presidential run and defended Sen. Tom Cotton from President Trump’s wrath over his blocking of the Sunshine Protection Act.
“My plans right now are to run for re-election, but as I’ve said before, if I don’t think I can be effective in the Senate anymore, I would consider it,” the 74-year-old told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.
“I haven’t made a decision. If a bunch of, on my side of the aisle, if a bunch of goobers run, and I think they’re goobers, and one of the goobers might win, and I think I could do a better job, I would consider running.”
The Louisiana soundbite whiz, who has a knack for going viral with his one-liners and thick southern drawl, is up for re-election in 2028.
His colleague, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), was taken down in a primary earlier this year after Trump pushed for Rep. Julia Letlow (R-La.) to oust him.
But that hasn’t deterred Kennedy (R-La.) from raising questions about the president or his administration. Kennedy’s questioning of former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem over publicly funded ads notably came right before her firing.
On Sunday, he bashed Trump’s public admonishment of Cotton. Trump released Cotton’s personal cellphone number in a fierce rebuke of the Arkansas senator for opposing a bill to make daylight savings permanent.
“Every now and then, there are disputes in Congress that have existential significance for the future of Western civilization. Daylight Savings Time is not one of them,” Kennedy said. “Tom Cotton feels strongly about it. Tom is a rock star senator.”
“The president, as we know, can be sometimes — he, he exists loudly,” he added bluntly. “He can be tempestuous. He can go from zero to a-hole in about three seconds.”
“I don’t think he should have given out Tom’s cell phone number.”
Cotton, who chairs the Senate Republican Conference, is up for reelection on Nov. 3.
Like Cotton, Kennedy is working on trying to boost Republicans in tough Senate races. The Louisianan said he has plans to stump in Texas, Michigan, and Ohio.
Kennedy described the Texas race as an “unpopularity contest” between Attorney General Ken Paxton and state Rep. James Talarico.
“I think ultimately Mr. Paxton will win because I think Texas is a Republican state, but I think it’s gonna be very, very close,” he said.
Broadly speaking, Kennedy suggested the outlook may not be as gloomy for Republicans as the pundits make it out to be.
“I will bet you a soda and a nice hat that the experts are wrong. I will think – I do think it will be close. I think the biggest issue is cost of living,” he said.
“Some of that is our fault,” he acknowledged about affordability concerns. “We should have done more, but we’ve done a lot, and I’ve been out on the campaign trail talking about it.”
