‘Madea with Half the Charm’: Fox News Says She’s ‘Too Street’ for Congress—Rep. Jasmine Crockett Fires Back with Zero Apologies
Outspoken Texas congresswoman Jasmine Crockett’s feud with assorted members of the Trump White House and the right-wing media continues to escalate, with two Fox News personalities using racially tinged and dismissive language Thursday night against the Democratic firebrand.
Appearing on “The Ingraham Angle,” commentator Raymond Arroyo, channeling Elon Musk’s wish that he could fire members of Congress, singled out Crockett, a favorite target of conservative media.
“She has become the Madea of Capitol Hill with half the charm,” said Arroyo, comparing the 44-year-old legislator to a wisecracking man in drag. “She doesn’t make an argument. Saying you don’t like a guy because he’s firing people, that’s a complaint, not an argument.”
Actually, it’s easily constructed as an argument. Musk says the furloughed federal workers were expendable; Crockett disagrees.
Of course, it wouldn’t be Fox News without some thinly veiled racism added to the critique.
Host Laura Ingraham noted that she feels Crockett seems to have changed during her tenure in Congress.
“She sounds very different, and now she’s going very…you know…’ street…you know ‘I’mma do this.’ … It all seems like a TikTok challenge or something,” Ingraham said. “It’s very odd.”
Added Arroyo, “You’re a member of Congress, not a desperate housewife. Clean up the act and stop threatening people.”
It’s become a Fox talking point that Crockett threatened MAGA golden boy Elon Musk when she commented, “All I want to see happen on my birthday is for Elon to be taken down.”
Crockett insists she was endorsing nonviolent demonstration and instructed attendees at an anti-Tesla rally to follow local laws. Tesla lots and showrooms have been beset with incidents of arson and graffiti in recent weeks, and some Trump supporters have tried to connect Crockett to the property damage.
Attorney General Pam Bondi went so far as to warn Crockett to “tread very carefully” in her future comments about the Tesla CEO and StarLink founder.
Bondi also suggested that Crockett apologize to Tesla shareholders considering the rise of violence against Tesla dealerships and showrooms. “She needs to unequivocally denounce the violence; she must apologize immediately, not only to all Texans but to our country, to the American shareholders of Tesla, because she is promoting violence.”
Crockett was taken aback by Bondi’s threat.
“Because here it is, she is the highest law enforcement agent in this country and people are watching and they are consuming this information, and they are believing that simply because I decided that I wanted to exercise my right to free speech — which I am not abridged from doing — that she then wanted to then politicize something that should not be politicized,” Crockett said.
“I don’t like Elon Musk, I’m going to say it 50,000 times,” she doubled down.
Crockett has also refused to apologize for calling wheelchair-bound Texas Gov. Greg Abbott “Governor Hot Wheels,” though most agree mocking someone’s handicap is beneath a member of Congress.