Sen. John Kennedy and Sen. Cory Booker sit on opposite sides of the dais, but that hasn’t stopped Mr. Kennedy, Louisiana Republican, from admiring his New Jersey Democratic colleague.
This week, Mr. Kennedy called Mr. Booker the “prime minister of cool” as they joined together to found the Senate’s Creators Caucus, dedicated to trying to understand and assist the interests of online “influencers.”
Meeting with influencers from beauty, tech, sports, mental health and lifestyles, the senators said they should be seen as entrepreneurs, holding down an important part of the market.
“The citizens of the world now get their information from you,” Mr. Kennedy told the influencers on Tuesday. “They used to get it from newspapers — that has changed.”
He said the best thing the government can do is protect their property rights, then get out of the way.
“What can government do for you? Frankly, the best thing government can do for you is leave you alone,” he said. “You do not want government involved in what you say and when you say it.”
Mr. Booker cast himself as a consumer of internet entrepreneurs, saying he’s received advice from online about books to read and policy issues to act upon as a senator.
He’s also a bit of an influencer himself.
When he was mayor of Newark, New Jersey, Mr. Booker used Twitter to communicate about potholes that needed to be repaired. The idea was so successful that he said people started sharing posts internationally about potholes that needed repair.
Mr. Booker now has 4.3 million followers on X and 3 million on Instagram.
Mr. Kennedy and his penchant for zingers also has earned a broad online reach, with 1.7 million followers on X, 2.3 million on Facebook and 1.3 million on Instagram.
He has 4.8 million likes on TikTok, making him the most-followed Republican senator.
Leslie Miller, who works in public policy at YouTube, says that platform alone contributed $60 billion to America’s gross domestic product last year, and supported more than 540,000 jobs.
Targeted climate-change litigation is ‘voodoo’
Former Attorney General Bill Barr is not a fan of attempts to blame individual firms for climate change.
He called the idea “voodoo” at an event this week looking ahead to the Supreme Court’s first blockbuster oral argument when its new term opens next month.
“This litigation is over a global phenomenon,” Mr. Barr said, questioning the wisdom of global warming lawsuits against firms.
The justices will hear a case involving Boulder County, Colorado and its challenge to Suncor Energy and ExxonMobile, arguing they mislead the public about the dangers of fossil fuels.
Boulder lays blame for extreme summer heat, precipitation changes, wildfires, diseases and drought at the feet of the two energy firms.
But the companies — backed by the Justice Department — say states shouldn’t be able to exert control over energy activities that occur outside state lines.
Mr. Barr said legal precedent says a state cannot go beyond its own role and police an international forum.
“I think the Supreme Court was a little late coming in on this issue,” he said. “It really has to be addressed and handled quickly.”
The justices will hear oral argument in the Suncor case on Oct. 5.
Rep. Riley Moore slams ‘click’ culture in D.C.
Too many politicians in Washington are chasing social media “clicks” rather than the call of the Lord, says West Virginia’s Rep. Riley Moore.
He was speaking to the Heritage Foundation’s Belief in Action series, and he told attendees that “God’s will” must define lawmakers’ time in D.C.
“I serve the constituents of the Congressional district, but first and foremost I serve God and as long as I have that and try to keep it at the center of every question I have and approach it in that way, I think we have had some positive outcomes,” he said. “It doesn’t mean you’re going to be the most popular.”
The Catholic lawmaker said power and envy creep into decisions on Capitol Hill, and people begin to conflate their own desires with good public policy.
“This town and that building over there that we serve in, it is very easy to be governed by your own will,” Mr. Riley said. “It is what I pray for every day. I pray I can discern what God’s will is.”
“Without that, it’s how you end up making bad decisions,” Mr. Riley said.
Rep. Mary Miller, Illinois Republican who was also part of the discussion, revealed her favorite Bible verse is 2 Corinthians 5, which says believers will have a home in Heaven.
She said faith and family are why America was founded.
“God has left us here for such a time as this. We are to be engaged and occupied until He returns and I don’t believe we are to sit in our armchairs, entertaining ourselves — whatever —and expect to hear, ‘Well done, great and faithful servant,’” she said.
• Seen, Heard & Whispered is a weekly column taking you inside the conversations happening in Washington’s power corridors, the moves being made and the whispers that explain what’s really going on in the nation’s capital. Email tips to whispered@washingtontimes.com. Click here to receive this in your inbox every Friday morning.
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