Name: Jasmine Crockett isn’t backing down | Today, Explained
Uploaded: 2026-02-07T17:04:40.000Z
Duration: 24 min 51 s
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Hi and welcome to Today Explained Saturday.

Adverbs of degree

every week I'll be talking to someone in the news, in the culture, or just exploring an idea I can't get out of my head.

Texas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett is a bonafide political star.

In just two terms here in Washington, D.C.

as a member of the House of Representatives, she's turned herself into a national name known for her sharp attacks against President Trump, her Republican colleagues, and

But while the social media fame has gotten her millions and millions of followers, it's also turned her into a little bit of a lightning rod, a favorite target of some Republicans and a nuisance to some Democrats who argue that she could be putting her brand above the parties.

Congresswoman Crockett's decision to run for Senate was controversial, to say the least, and

she's now locked in a neck and neck race against Texas State Representative James Talarico.

But the differences in this race so far haven't really been about policy.

It's been about candidate preference, about which one of them is best positioned to win and if Crockett has enough substance to go with all her style.

So we came to D.C. and decided to ask her.

Thank you, Representative Jasmine Crockett, for joining us today.

I think a Jasmine Crockett voter is anyone that is frustrated with everything that they're seeing in politics.

Whether you identify as a Democrat, Republican, or independent, there are a lot of people that have found themselves frustrated and feel as if it doesn't matter which party is in power.

There's no one that sees them, hears them, or feels them, or advocates for them.

I am the type of person that real people can relate to.

I am not the type of person that politicos get excited about.

You were a relatively new member of Congress, but

exploded in popularity in May 2024 when you had a famous exchange with Marjorie Taylor Greene in the House Oversight Committee.

She talked about your eyelashes and you replied with one of the great moments of American political alliteration, saying she had a bleached bond, bad built.

But I'm just curious just to better understand your ruling, if someone on this committee then starts talking about somebody's bleach, blonde, bad built, butch body, that would not be engaging in personalities, correct?

I wanted to ask a question that I've thought about since this happened.

Did you practice that or was it off the cuff?

You didn't have that in your back pocket.

No, people have asked that over and over.

I did write it down as we were going through this, like, back and forth about whether or not she was going to be allowed to continue on in a hearing.

And as the back and forth was taking place between, like, leadership, I finally got word that they were going to allow her to disrespect me.

And I basically understood the rules, because as a lawyer, the first thing that you're supposed to figure out is what are the rules?

And then I wanted to illustrate how quickly something like this could devolve if we set this precedent, while also making sure I didn't violate the rules.

How things can devolve if that space is opened up, I wonder if there is any cost to that.

I mean, as much as we love, like, the phrase or much as the phrase blew up, should we want our politicians to be clapback artists?

You know, I mean, I think that in this moment, you have to understand that politics has changed.

And one thing that the Democrats have struggled with is that they continue to be viewed as the doormat for the Republicans.

They continue to say, where's the opposition?

And instead, we continue to say, these are the rules, and

we try to play by the rules as they literally are shooting people dead in the middle of the street, and

And so the reason I personally believe that the Democratic brand has been struggling as relates to their popularity is because people feel as if the Democrats play by the rules.

And frankly, I think Americans want everybody to play by the rules.

I think whether you're a Democrat, Republican, or Independent, they actually want a government that is very boring and just plays by the rules, that keeps things kind of going.

But unfortunately, that's not where we are.

And so that's why there is kind of this fierce urgency of now.

This is why you see a historic number of both Democrats and Republicans, in my opinion, that are retiring both from House and the Senate, because this environment is not a normal environment.

And so to respond to it in a normal way, Democrats have tried that.

And right now we're wondering whether or not our democracy is even gonna survive.

I definitely think that there is a clear argument that, you know, Donald Trump has sent political rhetoric left a thousand times.

I'm not saying that it's kind of one to one, but

when I see the moment on the House where you seem to accuse Republican Lee Zeldin of taking money from Jeffrey Epstein, but

it seemed like if it was not the same person, I wonder, like, is there times in which the rhetoric goes too far?

There are times in which you should say, maybe I messed that one up.

I think that, you know, we are really in unchartered territory.

So I hear your argument that you're reflecting the urgency necessary, and

You spent much of your career as a public, earlier parts of your career as a public defender, a civil rights attorney.

I. I wanted to know how that shaped your worldview.

How did that lead, you know, what were you seeing at that time that said, hey, I want to get into elected office?

Listen, I wake up every day scratching my head about elected office.

So I don't know that there's ever been a point where I was just like, my gosh, right.

I have always been the type of person that has wanted to solve for problems.

I mean, that's what lawyers are supposed to do.

Someone has an issue, they come to you, they want you to help them.

And so as I worked as a public defender, I became acutely aware of how broken our system is.

And so, you know, I have so many stories of my experiences as a public defender that have stuck with me.

And also, like, what people don't understand is that when you are a public defender, you're representing indigent people and you're starting to learn the source of why certain things happen.

Like, you start to learn how poverty can play a role in some people ending up in the system.

I wanted to ask about how you view kind of the.

You're someone who comes up when people talk about authentic candidates and people who are willing to be themselves, you know, but

I mean, what does being yourself even mean when you think about how you show up to politics?

You know, we recently had a fundraiser down in Houston, and

one of my classmates from law school was the one that was hosting it.

And she's like, this is who Jasmine has always been.

I've always been someone who has been intellectual.

I was top 10% of my class at Texas Southern my first year in law school.

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Jasmine Crockett isn’t backing down | Today, Explained

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