Jim Beam column:Sen. Kennedy’s book best-seller

Published 6:50 am Saturday, January 17, 2026

I missed a story last October about Louisiana’s U.S. Sen. John Kennedy writing a book about life in Washington. I found out about the book while reading a New York Times story that said it had been on the best-seller list and Kennedy had sold close to a half million copies.

The title of the book is “How to Test Negative for Stupid: and Why Washington Never Will.”

Tyler Bridges, who writes for The Times-Picayune | nola.com,  wrote a story about Kennedy’s book last Oct. 30. Bridges said thanks to Kennedy’s homespun phrases during frequent appearances on Fox News and other conservative TV networks, his book also shot to No. 1 on Amazon.com.

Kennedy, 73, told Bridges he talks about policy through stories.

“Some of the stories are funny, I think,” he said. “Some are bizarre. But they’re all true. I try to use stories to explain to readers what the Senate and Washington are really like from the inside.

“ I try to use stories to explain to them why in Washington, normal is a setting on the clothes dryer, and I tried to explain why it doesn’t have to be like that if we just use a bit of common sense.”

Bridges said Kennedy’s book is full of clever one-liners like, “I believe this country was founded by geniuses, but it’s being run by idiots.” Bridges said he thought a lot of people wondered where Kennedy got those lines.

Kennedy said some of them are organic, “expressions that were commonly used when I was growing up.” He said most of them are his own.

“I’ve always admired people who have a clever turn of phrase. If someone writes something in an especially attractive way, I have a file on my iPad, and I’ll make a note about the article and the way somebody expressed something,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy said nobody writes stuff for him. “The responsibility, the blame, the credit, whatever you want to call it, is all mine,” he said.

Bridges asked Kennedy what goes through his mind when he hears or reads about someone calling him Senator Foghorn Leghorn.

“I’ve been called much worse than that on social media. I’ve been in politics for a while. It doesn’t take long to learn that to survive, you need to have a big heart, a lot of wind and very thick skin…,” Kennedy said.

Foghorn Leghorn is a fictional cartoon character, a rooster with human characteristics that appears in cartoons and films.

Kennedy was asked what he thought about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack by the President Donald Trump supporters and the ransacking of the Capitol.

“It was a dark day for America. I was there. I’ve never thought it was an insurrection. It didn’t appear to be organized to me,” Kennedy said. “But it was clearly a riot. I condemned it very loudly at the time. I still condemn it.”

Kennedy was asked for an example when he thought Trump had been cruel. He said the president is clearly not a forgiving person, and he said Trump believes that if you turn the other cheek, you just get it in the neck.

“I agree with that, particularly in Washington, but not to the extent the president does,” Kennedy said. I talk about it in the book. I don’t hate anybody. I look for grace in Washington. Up here, you really have to work at it. Once I start hating, that’ll be a pretty good signal for me to come home.”

Bridges asked Kennedy if he was very careful about what he said about Trump.

“Well, yes. He is my president. I have private conversations with President Trump. We have very frank, honest discussions. But up here, if you try to be fair and balanced, the other side will try to make you eat it. So you do have to be careful in what you have to say.”

Bridges said Kennedy wrote, “I’ll do this job until I run out of gas or my people tell me to come home.” He asked if that meant Kennedy was likely to run for re-election in 2028.

“Yes, I plan to run for re-election. I think I’ve got $20 million in my campaign fund. Last time I ran, I raised a record $42 million. I’ve got pretty good support

across the state and the country. I plan on raising probably $50 million or $60 million.”

As anyone can see, politics is a mighty costly pursuit.

Jim Beam, the retired editor of the American Press, has covered people and politics for more than six decades. Contact him at jim.beam.press@gmail.com.