Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., offered a colorful description of President Donald Trump’s closed-door meeting with Senate Republicans on Wednesday, comparing the tense gathering to an episode of HBO’s “Euphoria” as he discussed the president’s frustration over the Iran conflict and the push to pass the SAVE Act.
Appearing Thursday on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” with Dana Perino, Kennedy reflected on the meeting while also celebrating the Senate’s latest action on an Iran war powers resolution.
“We won it last night. I’m much relieved,” Kennedy said. He argued that the resolutions were Democratic efforts to direct the president to “cut and run” in Iran.
The latest Senate vote followed an earlier war powers resolution in which four Republican senators joined Democrats to rebuke the president and direct him to end the Iran war. President Trump celebrated the outcome on Truth Social after Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., changed his previous vote on the resolution and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., voted “present.”
According to Kennedy, the earlier vote on the Iran resolution, combined with Trump’s effort to persuade the Senate to pass the SAVE Act, contributed to the president’s mood when he arrived for Wednesday’s lunch with Republican senators.
The SAVE Act would establish new voter identification requirements and additional voting restrictions. Before the luncheon, Trump announced that he was canceling the scheduled signing ceremony for a housing bill designed to increase housing supply and lower costs, saying passage of the SAVE Act had become the higher priority.
Reports from inside the meeting described a tense atmosphere. According to those accounts, Trump engaged in heated exchanges with several lawmakers, including Cassidy. One source characterized the meeting as a “total cluster f*ck.”
Kennedy said he understood why the president entered the meeting upset.
“That’s why our meeting with the president was like an episode out of Euphoria,” Kennedy said. “He came in smoking hot, and I’m not talking about his looks.”
Kennedy said lawmakers should consider the situation from Trump’s perspective.
“I mean, put yourself in his position. He’s negotiating with Iran, and all of a sudden, Congress, with Republicans’ help, pulls the rug out from under him,” he said.
Although Kennedy acknowledged the meeting was intense, he said he could not say whether Trump ultimately persuaded any senators to change their positions or whether enough votes now exist to pass the SAVE Act.
“I’m not sure,” Kennedy said when asked whether the president had changed minds during the gathering.
Still, Kennedy said one message from the meeting was unmistakable.
“What I took away, in part, from the meeting was that the president really wants a SAVE Act,” he said. “I mean, I think at this point, even your neighborhood squirrels understand that.”
Kennedy also noted that he previously attempted to advance the legislation himself. He said he had offered the SAVE Act as an amendment during the Senate’s most recent vote-a-rama but failed to secure enough support.
Despite that setback, Kennedy said he remains willing to pursue whatever legislative path is necessary to move the proposal forward.
“I’m open to any approach that we need to follow,” he said.
The closed-door meeting highlighted the president’s continued focus on both the Iran conflict and election-related legislation, while underscoring ongoing discussions within the Senate Republican conference about how to advance the administration’s priorities.
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