Jasmine Crockett offers weak-kneed Democratic leaders a path forward

Crockett personifies the fight people want to see against Trump and MAGA Republicans

There are rising stars – and then there’s U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett.

A Democrat from Dallas, Texas, Rep. Crockett’s fearlessness in calling out Trump and her Republican colleagues has set a new tone in the Democratic Party. She inspires other Democrats to find their voices in this era. For many of them, that means cussing in public. Because fuck it.

She is best known for her work on the Oversight Committee that should be holding DOGEshit accountable but is more interested, still, in Hunter Biden. Speaking plain truth is her calling card.

Crockett understands the media landscape has changed and politics has changed. Being heard means being on camera and across an expansive digital universe.

Source: CNN

Many Democrats pretend to fight on a field where the game is no longer being played. They get owned by Trump’s sound-bite nastiness and the pro-wrestling theatrical skills of MAGA Republicans. But Jasmine Crockett doesn’t spin in circles when she’s throwing a punch.

Critics will accuse Crockett and others of raising the temperature in an already contentious political climate. Let them say that. Folks I talk to would be thrilled if Democrats were called out for being mean to MAGA. These assholes are ripping up the Constitution and locking people up without due process, and sternly worded letters are just pissing everyone off.

It’s about time Democrats lit some fires under some asses. Jasmine Crockett gets it.

She does not hold back in interviews, on the House floor or in committee. When a Republican committee chair said it was OK for Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to spew nonsense about Crockett’s eyelashes, Crockett asked if it’s OK to point out MTG’s “bleach-blond, bad-built butch body.”

When Republicans wanted to impeach President Joe Biden based on no evidence, she brought out real evidence against Trump, including pictures of classified documents in a Mar-a-Lago bathroom, saying: “There are our national secrets, looks like in the shitter to me.”

After Trump’s disastrous debate against VP Kamala Harris, Republicans were eager to hold a bogus committee hearing as a distraction. Rep. Crockett said what everyone was thinking: “The only reason we're having this hearing is because somebody got their feelings hurt in a debate.”

While the Texas Congresswoman is known best and deeply admired for taking the fight to Republicans on behalf of the American people, her service goes far beyond her critical committee work: elected youngest member of the Texas legislature, B.A. in Business Administration from Rhodes College, J.D. from the University of Houston, public defender, civil rights lawyer, criminal defense attorney.

Recently she’s stepped up to run for a ranking member slot opening up on the Oversight Committee. I’m not someone who endorses folks for stuff like that, and I don’t have a vote. But what I will say is do not sell Rep. Crockett short or take her for granted.

Leave that to legacy media. They write off the increasing importance of viral digital content. They say social media isn’t the real world so it can be dismissed. It’s true that America isn’t entirely represented on any one platform. Gen Zers aren’t exactly avid 60 Minutes watchers.

Then a state representative, Crockett speaks in Austin, Texas, on Sept. 20, 2021. Photo credit: Texas Tribune

Americans are using a growing number of outlets for their news and entertainment. Increasingly, that’s online from creators on Substack and YouTube. Rep. Crockett understands we must find folks wherever they are, and she cuts through the noise, nonsense, and negativity.

Count Politico among the media outlets who know Rep. Crockett is a BFD. In fact, the outlet’s Congress updates led with the Texas representative in three out of the first eight editions this month.

That’s some rarely seen influence for a second-term House member, even if the coverage demonstrates how far legacy media must come – like learning there’s nothing unusual about two candidates of the same race having interest in a committee leadership role.

Non-Hispanic white men make up 30 percent of the U.S. population but 15 of 16 committee chairs in the Republican-controlled House. Wouldn’t it be great if legacy media ditched their double-standard language and stopped dismissing the qualifications and attributes of a new generation of Democratic leaders?

I’m struck each time I hear Crockett speak about Republican efforts to undermine diversity, equity, and inclusion in this country. Rather than reflecting on their privilege and working to extend opportunities, Republicans in my demographic love to blame our country’s challenges on the lack of a white man in charge of everything.

Our country needs more leaders like Crockett who don’t back down and don’t apologize for telling the truth. If only legacy media still had the same mission.