In a hilarious and no-holds-barred takedown of Rep. Jasmine Crockett on his SiriusXM show “Straight Shooter,” ESPN personality Stephen Smith scorched Crockett with a vengeance, declaring her to be inappropriately using “street rhetoric” as a member of Congress in a way that is very harmful to her side and cause.
Smith originally took Crockett to task when he said, “You have a Democratic Party that knew they were getting our vote, would engage in demagoguery, scare the living hell out of us about what existed on the right and, as a result, they’d get our vote. And all they had to do to get it was to give us lip service about negative stuff about the other side.”
Continuing, Smith, who is himself an African-American, argued, “And I believe the biggest reason in this day and age ain’t even about racism to the degree it once was. What it’s really about is us not strategizing, playing checkers instead of chess, letting our emotions instead of facts lead the way and letting that guide us to express ourselves in ways that serve to alienate the very people who can help us.”
And, tearing into Jasmine Crockett with a vengeance, he then said, “But how Jasmine Crockett chooses to express herself, I’m like, ‘Is that gonna help your district in Texas?’ Aren’t you there to find a way to get stuff done, as opposed to just being an impediment to what Trump wants? How much work goes into that?”
Still not done, Smith pretended to quote her, snapping, “’I’m just going to go off about Trump, cuss him out every chance I get, say the most derogatory, incendiary things imaginable and that’s my day’s work.'” He yelled, “That ain’t work!” He then added, “Work is saying, ‘That’s the man in power. I know what his agenda is. I’m not exactly in a position to stop him since the Republicans have the Senate and the House, but maybe if I’m willing to work with this man, I might get something out of it for my constituency.’”
Then, speaking during the Monday, October 13 broadcast of his SiriusXM show Straight Shooter, Smith responded to the massive blowback he received from the left for calling out Crockett, doubling down in response to that vociferous criticism of his take on Crockett and her issues.
Giving examples of her past comments that were obtusely rude, such as her “Governor Hot Wheels” comment about the wheelchair-bound Greg Abbot, he said, “And that’s going to serve 750,000 constituency in the 30th district of Texas? That is what I was saying. Never mind what she feels, never mind whatever level of justification you may have towards feeling the way that you feel. When you’re in her position, that’s not going to get you anywhere. That’s what I was saying.”
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Continuing, he accused her of using “rhetoric for the streets” in a very inappropriate setting, declaring, “What I was saying was this educated, brilliant Black woman, representing over 750,000 people, is engaging in verbiage and rhetoric for the streets! And that’s fine when you in the streets!”
Adding to that, Smith declared, “How many of y’all bring the streets to the table when you’re at the negotiating table trying to get a deal done? How many of you are able to think that for a second that you able to bring street verbiage to Capitol Hill and that’s going to work for you?”
Watch him here:
Smith later apologized, saying, “I get it now, with Trump feeding into that nonsense, giving him fodder or ammunition, to continue to go out there and talk about our Black women that way. I got it. I don’t like that at all. I don’t want to be associated with nothing like that, and I apologize because I respect the hell out of Jasmine Crockett and what she has accomplished. I absolutely do. And I appreciate the fact that she feels compelled to fight the way that she’s fought, the way that she fights because of what she’s dealing with.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video