'HE'S POLLING UP THERE WITH GONORRHEA!' Senator Kennedy ROASTS Starmer as King Charles departs US

Let me say a word about uh about King

Charles. Um King Charles spoke to a

joint session of Congress today. I I I

thank him so much for coming. He was

eloquent.

He was charming.

Um he was funny. He talked about the

special relationship

between the United States and the United

Kingdom. And we do have a special

relationship.

and I hope it can continue.

And I want to come back to the the

king's visit

um

in preparation

for the the king's visit and the king's

speech. I I read a an article in

particular in the Economist magazine.

Um, I read the Economist magazine anyway

every week for in my opinion I' I've

read it cover to cover. It's really some

call it a newspaper, but it really is a

magazine.

Uh, I've read it cover to cover for 25

years.

Uh, it covers the world.

Um, I I've always enjoyed the reporting

because it's very indepth. It's very

factual. Just about every uh author of

every article offers his or her opinion,

but it's subtle and it's nuanced and

usually they they offer their opinion uh

after presenting both sides of the

story.

Uh it hurts me to say disappoints me to

say that in the past year

uh the the economist has really changed.

uh their their reporting has has crossed

the line in my opinion. They they they

are are so angry at at the president and

angry at America that that it has seeped

into their reporting. And I really

regret that. I I I'm going to keep

reading them, but uh I I really regret

uh that they've given into their

repetitive desires and lost some of

their objectivity.

And and the article in particular that I

read, I read it on the plane. I don't

remember whether I was going home or

coming up, but the article that I read

in preparation for King Charles's visit

was entitled, "Britain rethinks its

special relationship with America."

Britain rethinks its special

relationship with America.

And this was the question that the

economist was asking.

Should should uh Britain,

the United Kingdom with which we do have

a special relationship,

should the United Kingdom keep hugging

America or embrace Europe

like it was a buffet

like they have a choice.

Um

and and in and the article it startled

me.

Uh

we we

the article also points out and this

also surprised me disappointed me that

uh

the author of the article pointed it out

almost gleefully

that today when you poll the American

people and ask them if they approve of

of uh of Britain 76%

of Americans approve.

Um,

when you ask our friends in Britain

if they approve of America, only 34% do.

That wouldn't surprise me.

Um,

I I want to set the record straight that

regardless of what the polls show,

America does have a special relationship

with the United Kingdom.

And it's an important relationship

and um

that's why

um the the American people

spill their blood and spent their

treasure

in 1917

to protect the British Empire.

That's why the American people

spent their treasure and spill their

blood

in 1941

in World War II

to protect protect the British Empire,

which would not have won without

America's help.

After World War II,

Great Britain, it was horrible. They

were devastated.

Um,

flat on their back, broke

America.

Um, still they were our friends, special

friends.

America

lifted them up, bankrolled their

reconstruction.

We went in, loaned them money, helped

them get back on their feet.

And then shortly after World War II, we

of course discovered that we we meaning

the United Kingdom and the United States

had a new enemy in in the Soviet Union.

We protected

the United Kingdom

uh all through the Cold War.

I'm proud of that. I'd do it again in a

heartbeat.

Uh, in fact, if you if you look at the

numbers today, we we still protect the

United Kingdom and NATO

and our friends in Europe.

Um, if you look at the me money, I know

there been there's been a lot of

rhetoric about about our allies in

Europe are going to do better and spend

more money on their own defense, but if

but the numbers are the numbers. The

American taxpayer still puts up 60%

of total NATO defense spending. Today,

we put up $845

billion dollar a year

to protect our cousins in the United

Kingdom and in Europe.

I support NATO.

I support continuing

to do that.

And so I I I I I agree with King

Charles. Um, we do have a special

relationship and we should nurture it

and we should make it better. But

friends tell friends the truth.

And to my friends

in the United Kingdom, as we try to

appreciate and reset our relationship, I

would say to them gently and

respectfully,

um, the world's changed.

You have to pay your own bills for a

while.

Uh this isn't the fault of the good

people of the United Kingdom. This is

the fault of their political leadership.

It's especially true of their current

political leadership.

But they have castrated their military.

They have they they're weak as

rainwater.

This hasn't happened in a week or a day

or a month. It's happened over a long

period of time. I remember when when

when when Great Britain ruled the seas.

Now when Iran fires a missile at their

base in Cyprus, they can barely find one

ship to sit send down there and that

shipment barely made it.

The political lead leadership in the

United Kingdom is I've watched it hollow

out its industrial base.

I've watched the political leadership in

the United Kingdom spend all of their

money on welfare.

And you know what? It's their money.

That's none of my business.

That's what they want to do on a

democracy. Godspeed.

But they've depended on the American

taxpayer to defend them.

and

the political leadership. Again, I say

this gently.

Um, I don't want to do anything to take

away from the king's speech.

I say this gently and respectfully. It's

time for the political leadership in the

United Kingdom to embrace adulthood.

And it's time for them to start paying

their bill their bills and time for them

to start spending money on the military.

Now I I know the prime minister said

we're going to do better