‘Get Up Off Its Ice-Cold Lazy Butt’: Sen. John Kennedy Dismisses Suggestion Trump Coalition Is Falling Apart Over Affordability

Republican Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy rejected claims President Donald Trump’s coalition is “falling apart” over affordability concerns expressed by many Americans.

Trump dismissed affordability of living expenses as a Democrat talking point, even as Republicans weigh how to address such voter concerns after Democrats leaned on the issue to win in the 2025 elections. Appearing on Fox News’s “The Sunday Briefing,” Kennedy pushed back on the suggestion new voters who helped return Trump to the White House are abandoning the GOP over affordability concerns.

“I don’t think the coalition is falling apart. I think that when the American people speak, you better listen to them,” Kennedy said. “And I think that we need— the president and the United States Senate need to be working on things that moms and dads worry about when they lie down to sleep at night and can’t.”

The Louisiana senator then said Republicans already have tools to address those concerns but lack urgency in using them.

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“And one of the things is the cost of living. And what I’m telling you is there are things we can do that the president can’t do but, in order to do it, the United States Senate has to get up off its ice-cold lazy butt. And you can’t use the excuse, ‘Well, the Democrats won’t go along with it,’” Kennedy noted. “Of course they won’t. But we don’t need their votes. We can do it through reconciliation.”

After Democrats swept a series of high-profile November elections, White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Legislative, Political and Public Affairs James Blair