Kennedy’s Performance

Let’s give U.S. Senator John Kennedy a round of applause. What a performance he put on last week. With the city reeling from a terrorist attack, and the surviving victims fighting for their lives in hospital beds, Kennedy took the stage and put on a master class of grandstanding. It was epic. It was unforgettable. And it was everything that encompasses the man he’s come to be.

Playing the Southern Hick

Kennedy showed up at the press conference dressed for the part. He donned a beige shirt, a hefty green windbreaker, a ball cap and a festive red drink cup. One couldn’t tell if he had just come from hunting possum or watching an LSU game. Maybe he’d done both. Because you know, he’s just that southern.

When it was his turn, Kennedy took to the podium, minus the jacket and hat. He then proceeded to do what he often does when he’s trying to appear sincere. He waxed southern hick.

Theatrics Over Substance

Digging deep into his bag of zingers, Kennedy gummed through words like he forgot to put his dentures in. Who knows what was in that cup, but in the thick and overly slurring southern accent he’s honed, he promised that if he made it to the gates of heaven he’d ask God why evil like this happens. Back on earth, he vowed to “raise fresh hell” to get the people the answers they deserve. And if the federal government dared to withhold that information, he vowed to “chase them down like they stole Christmas.”

Of course this was all highly appropriate. Because in the wake of a terrorist attack, what the nation needed most was a fresh dose of mistrust and political division. Clearly, Kennedy was there as a Republican first and a fellow Louisianan second.

Terror Strikes New Orleans

Doubling Down on Opportunism

But if that message wasn’t clear enough, Kennedy later did two more interviews where he repeated the same schtick. Both were conveniently done live on Canal St. amidst a backdrop of caution tape and NOPD cruisers. In both, he once again promised the people the truth, even if he had to hunt members of the federal government down like dogs to get it.

It was all so scripted. It was all so phony. But it was all so what we have come to expect from an opportunist like Kennedy.

Scalise Joins the Fray

While all this was going down, the state’s other opportunist in chief, U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise was stuck in DC doing the job he was elected to do. But a seasoned opportunist like Scalise couldn’t let something like mere distance get in his way. So he did the next best thing. He called into talk radio the next morning.

Blaming DEI Without Proof

Scalise filled the void of leadership Kennedy left behind with more of the same mistrust and political division. Let Scalise tell it, this was all the federal government’s fault, i.e. Democrats. He said that Homeland Security and the FBI had become so focused on DEI that they neglected protecting the American people.

When asked repeatedly if he had any proof, any examples of how DEI caused the FBI or Homeland Security to miss this terrorist, Scalise had none. What he did have was an agenda.

Targeting Special Agent Duncan

Like some of his fellow Republicans, he was most likely taking a shot at special agent Aletha Duncan, the Black woman Republicans spent the previous day subjecting to racist dog whistles after she prematurely declared that the act wasn’t terrorism.

Duncan quickly became the face of DEI. Her nose ring and alleged broken English were symbols of the federal government’s focus on hiring unqualified, incompetent people. But during every press conference Duncan’s English was always proper. Maybe that angered Scalise? And to this day, there’s no word on if Scalise thinks the Black lesbian who saved his life was also a DEI hire.

Leadership Absent Again

Once again, in the midst of all this, leadership was needed. But like Kennedy, Scalise, despite being the U.S. House Majority Whip, took to the air and used the occasion as just another political opportunity.

Applauding the Opportunists

So give them both a round of applause. Politics these days is more about fundraising and grandstanding than it is about passing laws and serving the people. Political division. That’s the game these days. And both Kennedy and Scalise are successfully playing it. Too bad we all suffer in the process.