Sen. John Kennedy’s ‘Jindal’ strategy vs. Trump

23rd July 2018   ·   0 Comments

By Christopher Tidmore
Contributing Writer

As Treasurer of Louisiana, Republican John Kennedy was a thorn in the side of GOP Gov. Bobby Jindal. After initially supporting the conservative rising star, Kennedy became a “principled” opponent, charmingly offering weekly commentary to the media on the Governor’s failures budgetarily and otherwise. Critiques which were tailored never to anger conservatives, but still embolden Jindal’s opponents.

The Democrat-turned-Republican Treasurer reveled in his outspoken role, designed in large part to advance his own political career, and it eventually won him a U.S. Senate seat. Now, if last week’s CNN interview in the wake of the Helsinki “summit” is any indication, John Kennedy is poised to repeat this tactic against President Donald Trump.

Can a ‘Southern-fried critic from the Pelican State manage to break through to the MAGA crowd thanks to conservative outrage over the bowin’ down to the Ruskies?’ Forgive the colloquial phrasing, but the homespun style in which John Kennedy makes his case against Trump’s conduct at the Helsinki Press conference with Vladimir Putin comes quite near to his phraseology.

Noting that talking to Putin is like “feeding a shark.” As Sen. Kennedy explained to CNN, “You can do it, but you have to do it very carefully. Here’s what I wish the President had said. I wish he’d come out after the meeting and said ‘President Putin and I had a very frank conversation. I told him to stop acting like a thug. I told him if he wanted a better relationship with my country, he should stop, to stop trying to mug democracy. He should stop treating the truth like his mother’s Good China. He should get out of Ukraine, let it self-determine. Get out of Crimea let it self-determine. Help us settle the mess in Syria -and stop poisoning people and other countries.’”

“Now that’s not what the President said,” Kennedy continued. “He started out like a man on fire. He fussed at NATO—as he should have—for letting the American taxpayer pay most of the freight. He fussed at Germany for signing a gas deal with Russia, but at his press conference, and I watched it first live, and then I watched it on tape, he was very uncertain, very tentative. He was clearly off his game.”

“And I will tell you, I left this after listening to both of them, I told my better half Becky, I said, ‘Becky I’m not sure what the president said’. Now he’s cleared it up, and regardless of what anybody says, I stand by what I said about Mr. Putin. Dealing with him is like hand-feeding the shark. He even has eyes like a shark.”

“No disrespect. Forget what he says. Watch what he does. If [Putin] medals in our election this fall, and I told his colleagues this when I was in Russia as did the other senators, if he messes with our election this fall, I believe Congress will double down on sanctions. Maybe triple down.”

There is little doubt that Kennedy toed a partisan line to keep on the good side of the conservative base. With Senator’s praise of Trump‘s determination to get NATO allies to “pay more of the freight” he reassures those who ‘America Firsters’ who worry about U.S. over-extension for ungrateful allies. By giving a brief lip service to the President’s ‘walking back’ of his statements, where Trump implied that he meant a double-negative to accuse the Russian FSB of tampering in U.S. elections, Kennedy manages to both uphold the White House’s assertion that the President was tough in Helsinki—and at the same time, criticize him for defending Putin at the Press Conference.

In other words, Kennedy went as far as he could in condemning Trump, yet still not alienate the pro-MAGA GOP base which has ejected Republican Trump critics like Jeff Flake and Mark Sanford out of politics. Kennedy carefully stated that the President looked “off his game,” when asked by CNN if Trump looked weak. The Senator’s implication was clear, without being unforgivable.

As John Kennedy is widely expected to run for Governor of Louisiana next year against incumbent Democrat John Bel Edwards, the U.S. Senator obviously does not want to shut off White House support for his bid. Yet, Kennedy also likely faces two other very prominent Republicans in the primary, Fifth District Congressman Ralph Abraham and Attorney General (and former Congressman) Jeff Landry. Should the Louisiana Senator falter in his Gubernatorial bid at the hands of his GOP rivals, Kennedy has just raised his national profile with anti-Trumpers in the GOP—without going as far as Flake or Sanford or John McCain and earning the pro-Trumpers eternal enmity.

In point of fact, Kennedy only slightly rhetorically outpaced some of Trump’s own aides. To the President’s assertion in Helsinki, “So I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today,” FBI Director Christopher Wray, replied to NBC, “My view has not changed, which is that Russia attempted to interfere with the last election and that it continues to engage in malign influence operations to this day.”

On whether Russia is still targeting the United States, Trump said “No.” (The White House did later retcon this “no” to be a response to no more questions, while reporters in the room said it was clear the “no” was addressing the question of whether Russia is still targeting the U.S.) In contrast, DNI Director Dan Coats told NBC, “I’m here to say the warning lights are blinking red again. Today the digital infrastructure is literally under attack.”

Neither man offered suggestions on how the President should have behaved before Putin in Helsinki as Kennedy did, however, which creates an interesting possibility. Kennedy kept his options open as he repeatedly criticized Jindal — a conservative darling — throughout the Governor’s eight years in office. Kennedy, who had run for the U.S. Senate previously as a Democrat and as a Republican (in two different attempts), kept silent on whether he wanted to run for Governor to succeed Jindal or again for the federal Senate. He was prepared for either, so when U.S. Senator David Vitter opted for a Gubernatorial bid, Kennedy was able to make a deal to become his handpicked successor. (It was quite a feat, in point of fact, considering that Kennedy had initially run for the U.S. Senate as a Democrat against Vitter in 2004.)

Still, it was unclear over a year out of the 2015 state elections exactly what path Kennedy would take. Nearly as unclear as it is today if Kennedy is surely to be a Gubernatorial candidate in 2019. With these comments on Trump, even with Kennedy’s subsequent assertion that the President “settled” the controversy with his clarification, the U.S. Senator has again placed himself in the role of “constructive conservative critic” of the President. That opens up all sorts of national possibilities.

Could Kennedy’s role in amongst “Never Trumpers” in the GOP grow? Could he be involved in the likely Republican Primary challenge in 2020? Kennedy would be the first one to say no, ever sure not to alienate the MAGA base, at least right now. Nevertheless, if the President’s poll numbers decline amongst Republicans, the Louisiana Republican Senator has put himself in a perfect position to take advantage of an anti-Trump movement in the GOP thanks to his “constructive opposition” last week.

Just as John Kennedy did when the political tides turned against Bobby Jindal in his later years in the Governor’s office, eventually fatally undermining the conservative wunderkind’s support in his home state when Jindal decided to run for President. Kennedy’s critiques eventually proved politically fatal for Jindal.

This article originally published in the July 23, 2018 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.