Congressman Joe Kennedy III on His Family, Trump's Tweets, Health Care & Legalizing Pot

so so everyone understands, yeah, Robert Kennedy, grandpa, grandpa, John Kennedy, grandpa's brother, great uncle, great uncle, Ted Kennedy, all right, too, yeah, Arnold Schwarzenegger, he was like Uncle Terminator, yeah, kind of like Terminator said something, it's

family

close enough that you like the new thing. Arnold Schwarzenegger as a guy, so yeah, obviously I did, um, my cousin Maria and Arnold have broken up, right, oh yeah, I know I read that, yeah, so I haven't seen them in a while, but yeah, right Yes, you guys really are very close. group, right? Yes, there are a lot of us, but we are pretty close-knit.

Yes, yes, there are many of you and yes, many of you are dedicated to politics. And I was thinking about this. I was wondering, like when you're a kid, and I'm talking about you, you know, when someone in your

family

was eleven years old told you, listen, be

care

ful what you do because you're a Kennedy and one day you might want to run for office. , you know your eyes are for you, so behave no, no one did, actually, yeah, do that, if I were a Kennedy, yeah, well I'm not, by the way, my parents met at a bowling alley , no one, we don't have airports named after us, it turned out to be fine for him for the most part, you know, you grew up in a public family, so for the tribes, our shortcomings have been very public, like all American families, and everyone we have them and they've been public too, so yeah, you just grow.

Did you know when you were young that this is something you wanted to do? You wanted to make it public. service no, no, so public service, yes, I was probably a Peace Corps volunteer before I ended up running for office. Can I ask a very, very stupid question? Water please, what's going on in the Peace Corps? I mean, I listen to the Peace Corps. I just know it. It's not for me, but I do it too, they come to your house and take you to another country. No, actually you have to get on a plane. You have to play.

This is voluntary, although of course, that is the voluntary part. Okay, so look for the. experiences that I've had in my life there hasn't been one that's been more impactful for me growing up it's just a very positive spirit it's a very positive now look it's not for everyone um you spend I spent two and a half years or so in the Dominican Republic, yes, intermittent electricity, intermittent running water, do you speak Spanish? I do not see anyone. Oh wow, by the way, you know this and this is: I don't want to be a profiler, but if I lined you up with a thousand other people and they said which of these men speaks Spanish you would be the last one I would choose, which actually has the benefit of time, yes, which is great.

I've traveled quite a bit in Latin America and you get a few quizzical looks when I start. speaking Spanish with a strong Dominican accent, the people are doing well, so it's an organization close to my heart, it's one that does a lot of good around the world, and it's still alive and doing great work, so yeah, I was excited . to be a part of it and particularly given the challenges that we have around the world and on Washington Day, to have the opportunity to go to a country that you haven't been to, in a language, you don't speak a culture that is a bit foreign and actually throwing yourself into it with everything you have and learning about it and trying to serve that community has been a really valuable thing, yeah, I think it is, it's probably a great experience that I and no one in my family we will never have, but they I just discovered that there is no age limit for volunteers.

It's true? You can sign up today. Can you imagine if I did that everything would be a joke? Nobody would believe it. I went to volunteer for the Peace Corps. I'm just saying you know yes. This doesn't work for you a Peace Corps that's not why you're here are you here to get rid of me? When are you going to run for president? When will this happen? I came here today hoping that you would announce it and I could be your vice president. I don't think it's better the other way around, but this is a question you get asked all the time and a lot of it is because of your fingernail and a lot of it is because you gave the answer to the State of the Union address, the Democratic Party, were you elected? or was this a punishment because usually that goes wrong, so it's an interesting question and the answer, actually, I don't think is clear, so anyway they asked me and I was excited to do it?

Leader Pelosi asked me about a week before this ship, that's fine, she took me off the House floor, cleaned out her office, kicked out all her staff and then I thought she was in trouble and then she asked me to do it. I immediately, obviously, said yes and then I walked out of his office and said, "Oh my God, my

care

er could be over because everyone struggles with a speech, yeah, so I'll be exact Kindle, Mario, what's not Marco Rubio, yeah, Look, look what happened, yeah." Exactly, yes, the good news is that what I take away most from that experience is that it has solidified for me the generosity, compassion and affection of the American public.

I've gotten tubes of lipstick from every damn corner, yeah, doesn't matter what I said. I'm sure you're tired of talking about lipstick and glossy lips and all that, yes, but remember, it doesn't matter what you said, because you did it, you gave a very well received speech, you were very smart to do it in front of a group of people that's usually very sterile and it's like you're just prepared, yeah, I can't do a hostage video that well, there are some people that can. I'm not one of those people, so I needed a live audience. If that were small, do you think we'll ever get back to one day?

And I guess there was a day where I'm not quite sure where Republicans and Democrats actually work together in any meaningful way in government. Yes, I do. I hope there's more of that going on than the public sees some of my closest friends in Washington are actually Republicans who's your best friend that's a Republican my best friend would be really interesting your last guest is this guy Mark Wayne Mullen who he's a former Ultimate Fighter from Oklahoma Wow really yeah that's a good app for best friends because if you get beat up he'll go kick everyone's ass yeah so he made me sign a bill about protecting the Ultimate fighters in the industry and people.

I wonder why I signed up. It's like waiting when you bring a whole series of ultimate fighters that can kill you in 16 ways starting Tuesday. Yes, you sign anywhere. Maybe it's a good plan for Trump because we have a lot of problems. We bring something definitive. fighters and maybe he will do what needs to be done. You get your news about Trump like we all do, just from Twitter, and then you and I want to talk and I'm not naming anyone specifically except your Republican colleagues are also like oh no, what is this? What happened here?

Yes, there are a couple of areas where you deviate from your number one match. You are against the legalization of cannabis for recreational use. You object to that mm-hmm, then why me? I realize my views on this aren't exactly in line with "you'll never win in California." You know that's true, so look, I think part of the impact when you talk about the law is making sure that you get the border cases. true, and I'm concerned about what greater availability of legal marijuana means for teens, what it means for people struggling with addiction, mental

health

, it's also anti-alcohol because it seems like those same things apply to AB, so I don't drink. but obviously it's okay for everyone else to do it and I think Jimmy is something that if we are going to move towards legalization, I think we have to be thoughtful about what we have already moved, yes, in moved, we have it, it's good.

So part of this is the federal process about what federal law and the structures of federal law are a complete and comprehensive right and what Jeff sessions are doing in this administration is making it worse, so I think if we We'll move this way, what you clearly know is that California is your my home state, Massachusetts. I write. I acknowledge the fact that they are leaving. I'm an outlier in this. I just think it's something we want to be careful with and deliver. Almost as good, I don't always talk pop all the time because it doesn't really matter, but I want to ask you about

health

care.

Bernie Sanders believes in Medicare for all. You are also against that, no, no, like that. Health care is a right that should be enjoyed by every family in this country, period, period, and I have worked very, very hard, of course, during my time in Congress to make sure that everyone has access to health care. accessible, affordable and quality. What we've also seen over the last year and a half is that the details are important on this and there are a couple of bills in Congress that I think, yes, those details are not quite worked out yet and I have concerns.

As to what that means when you actually try to implement it, there are ways we can do that. We have essentially close to universal health care coverage in Massachusetts. We have 98 people covered. We need to make sure we see the base. about this I quote you about this although I have never mentioned it before, it is true that this idea should be that every person in this country, no one should worry about whether they can afford to save the child's life, period, the most powerful country in the world. world. I should be able to do that medical care in this country.

I think it comes down to a fundamental question: How are we going to treat people in their time of greatest need? It's something that people don't think about much until they need it, but when they need it it's the only thing they think about and we have the ability to make sure that no one is denied because of a pre-existing condition that we can actually make it accessible and affordable for everyone, we want to make sure that I want to do I'm sure that we will do it in a way that is responsible, accurate and that covers everyone, and I think we can do it, but we need to think it through, that's all I ask, okay, Do it because we need you to do it. okay Hello, thanks for watching, if you liked the video click the subscribe button and if you didn't like it you will hurt my feelings.