The former Democrat says Sanders, AOC, Mamdani are threatening to tear apart or take over the Democratic Party, promoting “neo-Socialism.” “To be a member of their club, you have to have contempt for America.”

By Alan Wooten, for The Center Square

Once a Democrat himself, Louisiana Republican U.S. Sen. John Kennedy said his old party is split, isn’t listening to what would otherwise be expected leaders, and has contempt for America.

While Congress recesses from Washington, there’s no break from the loquacious Vanderbilt- and Oxford-educated former state treasurer and his homespun plays with words needling the rival party. One-liners aside, he says Democrats’ fight within the party is lacking the veteran leadership standing up to the younger up-and-comers.

“The mainstream wing of the party is scared to death of the loon wing,” Kennedy said in a network broadcast interview. “They won’t speak up. And they don’t stand for anything anymore. All they stand for is whatever is against whatever President Trump stands for. That’s why we find ourselves in the extraordinary position of mainstream Democrats have now come out firmly and passionately in favor of crime in Washington, D.C. Why? Because Trump is trying to do something about it.”

He referenced former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and New York’s Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries as a group “nobody pays attention” to anymore.

“There is a split in the Democratic Party,” Kennedy said. “Unless you have the IQ of a meat thermometer, you can see that. On the one hand, you have the mainstream wing of the party. On the other side, you have what I call the loon wing. They’re fighting like cats in a bag, but the loon wing is winning.

“Nobody pays any attention to what Obama, Clinton or Pelosi or Schumer or Jeffries says anymore. The leaders are Mr. Mamdani, Ocasio-Cortez, and Bernie Sanders. And yes, they’re socialists, neo-socialists. They want government to control your life and tell you how to live it. It’s hard to believe that anyone can fit that much stupid in their head, but they can.”

Zohran Mamdani is the state assemblyman and favorite to win this fall’s mayoral race in New York City. U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the second-term Democrat from the Bronx known as AOC first elected at the 2018 midterms at a record-setting 29-years-old. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is one of two independents caucusing with Democrats and labeled socialist by his philosophies.

“The defining characteristic of this group is contempt,” Kennedy said. “To be a member of their club, you have to have contempt for America. Not gratitude as you should, but contempt. You have to believe that America was wicked when it was founded, and that it is more wicked today. You have to believe that America is racist, sexist and unjust. That’s why they all hate George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln, and Thomas Jefferson, and Dr. Seuss and Mr. Potato Head.

“You also have to believe, to be a member of their club, that America is irredeemable. We can’t fix it. We’ve got to burn it down. And finally, to fit in, you’ve got to be unhappy. They’re just not happy people.”

Kennedy won a second term in 2022. From 1999-2016 he was state treasurer, the first two terms as a Democrat and the remainder as a Republican. He was in the state Department of Revenue from 1996-99.