Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) is an old white man, which means he can pretty much say anything and not be held accountable. He can say things that aren’t true and then simply come back late and claim “I misspoke” or just yell out “fake news,” and despite there being camera footage, he can still insist that it’s all a ploy by the left-wing media to try and bury him.
So it’s with no fear that Sen. Kennedy appeared on Meet the Press Sunday and spit one of Russia’s hottest verses that Ukraine is the one guilty of being the P. Diddy to the Democrats Bad Boy Records and can’t stop, won’t stop being all up in the videos.
Despite U.S. intelligence clearly stating that Russia interfered with the 2016 presidential election, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s talking points has been the Shaggy defense: It wasn’t me! Russia has been casually dropping all the election meddling blame on Ukraine. Well, it’s one thing for Russia to do it but it’s another for an American senator to take on a Russian talking point, which is exactly what Kennedy did.
Meet the Press host Chuck Todd pressed Kennedy on earlier claims that Ukraine meddled in the election.
From the Daily Beast:
“When does opinion become fact?” Todd wondered aloud. “Does 17 intelligence services saying it, does every western intelligence ally saying Russia did this—I get sort of confused at what point is it no longer an opinion for you?”
After once again noting that a Ukrainian court “smacked down several Ukrainian officials for meddling in our elections,” Kennedy then made a claim that gobsmacked the Meet the Press host.
“Russia was very aggressive and they’re much more sophisticated,” the conservative senator declared. “But the fact that Russia was so aggressive does not exclude the fact that President Poroshenko actively worked for Secretary Clinton.”
“Actively worked for Secretary Clinton?! My goodness, wait a minute, Senator Kennedy,” Todd shot back. “You now have the president of Ukraine saying he worked for the Democratic nominee for president. C’mon. You realize the only other person selling this argument outside the United States is this man, Vladimir Putin!”
The NBC host then highlighted the Russian president recently boasting that “nobody is accusing us anymore of interfering in U.S. election” but instead blaming Ukraine.
And Sen. Kennedy smiled, clearly hoping that the president of the United States, his audience of one, had seen what he’d done. Like a dog wanting a pat on the head for not shitting in the house, the GOP continues to lower the bar in hopes of appeasing their mob boss—and because they’re white men, they won’t be held accountable for any of it.