In an interview that aired Sunday on NBC’s Dallas-Fort Worth-area affiliate KXAS and went viral on X Monday, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) talked repeatedly about wanting to beat up and repeatedly “punch” Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz.
Leaving aside her sudden code switching in the last year, the incendiary rhetoric is the sort of thing ABC, CBS, and NBC would look to call out if the parties were reversed. Unsurprisingly, they ignored it on their flagship Monday evening and Tuesday morning news shows, thus giving their tacit approval. CNN and MSNBC were also uninterested.
Here was Crockett’s full comment:
I — think that you punch. I think you punch. I think with — you — you okay with punching. You know, I think — and I love Colin [Allred], and I think, towards the end, he started to punch a little harder, But, like, it Ted Cruz. I mean, like, this dude has to be knocked over the head, like hard, right? Like, there is no niceties with him. Like, it all. Like, you — you go clean off on him, right?
She went onto defend this line of thinking because “we’re dealing with an administration that is lawless and disrespectful and so the idea that we're still going to be nice and friendly and kind and try to look for some sense of normalcy when we’re literally living in a time that is anything but normal. I think that we’ve got to get comfortable with letting our hair down a little bit.”
There were only two tertiary mentions of Crockett’s incendiary rhetoric coming on CNN, courtesy of The Arena host Kasie and then former MSNBC host Tiffany Cross on CNN Thunderome (aka CNN NewsNight), but both alluded to Crockett also having said “all I want for my birthday is for Elon [Musk] to be taken down.”
Multiple Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, and Newsmax shows didn’t let this go. Tuesday’s Fox & Friends First played it twice, including in a tease from co-host Carley Shimkus blasting Crockett’s “very blunt approach.”
After a break, co-host Todd Piro cued up the clip: “Democrats once again appearing to endorse threats against Republicans. This time from Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett.”
Shimkus then asked our friend and Fox News contributor Joe Concha acknowledging this “certainly doesn’t help” Democrats recover from record-low polling and no clear leader.
Concha unloaded by citing the dangerous political climate, including two assassination attempts on now-President Trump last year. He and Piro also called out Crockett’s half-hearted claims she was simply joking (click “expand”):
CONCHA: Yeah, Carley, I mean, Jasmine Crockett, in the past few days, has called for Elon Musk to be “taken down.” She wants that as the present for her birthday. Then, as you just played, advocating punching opponents like Ted Cruz — “has to be knocked over the head, like, hard.” Lest you forget there were — what — two assassination attempts on Donald Trump’s life last year? One that, if he didn’t turn very hard to the right, he would have been assassinated on national television. This sort of rhetoric cannot stand. But I guess this is what gets you on CNN, MSNBC, or wherever she was being interviewed on that particular clip yesterday. She is booked all the time because she says things like this, so I guess expect it to continue. But if you’re a responsible network, you would say, alright, we can’t put somebody on this that’s advocating violence against her opponents, but that’s exactly what’s happening. That’s what gets rewarded and that’s a shame.
PIRO: Yeah, she went on to say that, no, I’m not inciting violence in no way, shape, or form. What do you make of that, sort of — I can’t even call it a walk-back attempt — that attempt at a walk-back?
CONCHA: It — it’s not. It’s — it’s — look, it’s a wink, wink, nod, nod that, yeah, of course, I’m not advocating — just like when Jimmy Kimmel said last week, like, please, don’t go out and vandalize Teslas and kinda like smiles and gives a wink to the camera. That — that’s all it is. This is exactly — she knows what she’s doing and when we saw that poll come out last week, which Democrat espouses Democrat values most — they asked Democratic voters, she came in fourth behind AOC and Bernie Sanders. So, she’s up there as far as being front and center and some Democratic voters like this stuff — the extreme ones, anyway — and I guess that’s her game plan to continue to appeal to the crazies.
Between Monday night and Tuesday morning, the networks had other ideas. On Monday’s CBS Evening News, it’s “Eye on America” segment warned about the decline of Florida’s orange industry due to climate change and predicting the Trump team’s criticism of federal judges could lead to them (and their families) being violently attacked or even killed.
Come early Tuesday, ABC’s Good Morning America opened its second hour with news stories on the weather and...spring sales at Amazon. Morning news shows are notorious for touting deals from major retailers, but having it in place of a major news story is far less common.
And, at NBC’s Today, the crew fawned over 81-year-old Robert de Niro claiming he watches The Wiggles and YouTube host “Ms. Rachel” with his two-year-old daughter.
To see the relevant FNC transcript from March 25, click “expand.”
FNC’s Fox & Friends First
March 25, 2025
5:19 a.m. Eastern [TEASE][ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Blunt Approach]
CARLEY SHIMKUS: Texas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett has a very blunt approach to her — to beat Republicans in her state.
CONGRESSWOMAN JASMINE CROCKETT (D-TX): I think that you punch. I think you punch. I think with — you — you okay with punching. [SCREEN WIPE] But, like, it Ted Cruz. I mean, like, this dude has to be knocked over the head.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Next: Joe Concha Live]
SHIMKUS: Hmmm. We’re going to ask Joe Concha why Democrats seem to think fighting is the answer, coming up next
(....)
5:25 a.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Rep Crockett: Dems Need to Be Okay with Punching]
TODD PIRO: Democrats once again appearing to endorse threats against Republicans. This time from Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett.
CROCKETT: I think that you punch. I think you punch. I think with — you — you okay with punching. [SCREEN WIPE] But, like, it Ted Cruz. I mean, like, this dude has to be knocked over the head, like hard, right? Like, there is no niceties with him.
SHIMKUS: Fox News contributor and senior writer for the Washington Examiner Joe Concha joins us now. Joe, good morning to you. So, Axios had a piece yesterday claiming that Democrats are in a deep hole with no party leader and the lowest favorability record ever. And comments like this from Jasmine Crockett talking about punching, whether verbal or otherwise, certainly doesn’t help the cause.
JOE CONCHA: Yeah, Carley, I mean, Jasmine Crockett, in the past few days, has called for Elon Musk to be “taken down.” She wants that as the present for her birthday. Then, as you just played, advocating punching opponents like Ted Cruz — “has to be knocked over the head, like, hard.” Lest you forget there were — what — two assassination attempts on Donald Trump’s life last year? One that, if he didn’t turn very hard to the right, he would have been assassinated on national television. This sort of rhetoric cannot stand. But I guess this is what gets you on CNN, MSNBC, or wherever she was being interviewed on that particular clip yesterday. She is booked all the time because she says things like this, so I guess expect it to continue. But if you’re a responsible network, you would say, alright, we can’t put somebody on this that’s advocating violence against her opponents, but that’s exactly what’s happening. That’s what gets rewarded and that’s a shame.
PIRO: Yeah, she went on to say that, no, I’m not inciting violence in no way, shape, or form. What do you make of that, sort of — I can’t even call it a walk-back attempt — that attempt at a walk-back?
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Dems Struggle to Find Message Against GOP]
CONCHA: It — it’s not. It’s — it’s — look, it’s a wink, wink, nod, nod that, yeah, of course, I’m not advocating — just like when Jimmy Kimmel said last week, like, please, don’t go out and vandalize Teslas and kinda like smiles and gives a wink to the camera. That — that’s all it is. This is exactly — she knows what she’s doing and when we saw that poll come out last week, which Democrat espouses Democrat values most — they asked Democratic voters, she came in fourth behind AOC and Bernie Sanders. So, she’s up there as far as being front and center and some Democratic voters like this stuff — the extreme ones, anyway — and I guess that’s her game plan to continue to appeal to the crazies.
