I don't believe Ashley Allison.
I don't believe that anyone with the minutest modicum of intelligence or integrity could believe Jasmine Crockett when she claimed that in calling Greg Abbott "Governor Hot Wheels," she wasn't referring to the paraplegic Republican Governor of Texas being confined to a wheelchair for decades.
And yet, that's what Allison, a CNN contributor and former Obama and Biden aide, said on Tuesday's CNN NewsNight.
If CNN had any integrity of its own, they'd never have back on its air someone who so blatantly lied, and lied in respect of a despicable mocking of a disabled person.
Allison surely knows better. She mentioned, "I know Jasmine." And since she does, she knows that Crockett was raised in a solidly middle-class home and attended the tony St. Louis Country Day School before going on to law school and becoming a member of the Texas bar.
Crockett normally speaks like the highly educated lawyer that she is. But when it suits her political purposes, as it did in her NAACP appearance where she uttered her despicable "hot wheels" line, Crockett affects an inner-city accent and lingo. Somewhere, Hillary "I don't feel no ways tired" Clinton is nodding approval.
For the record, here was Crockett's despicable and utterly implausible denial, which simultaneously insulted Gov. Abbott and the intelligence of anyone she expected to believe her transparent lie.
"I wasn’t thinking about the governor’s condition—I was thinking about the planes, trains, and automobiles he used to transfer migrants into communities led by Black mayors, deliberately stoking tension and fear among the most vulnerable. Literally, the next line I said was that he was a 'Hot A** Mess,' referencing his terrible policies. At no point did I mention or allude to his condition."
Here's the transcript.
CNN NewsNight
3/25/25
10:46 pm EDTJOHN BERMAN: All right, Jasmine Crockett apparently subscribes to the "if you can't beat them, do what some of them do" school of thought.
Here is what the Democrat said about the Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott.
JASMINE CROCKETT: We in these hot ass Texas streets, honey. Y'all know we got Governor Hot Wheels down there. Come on now. And the only thing hot about him is that he is a hot ass mess, honey.
BERMAN: Now, Abbott can't walk, requires the use of a wheelchair. Crockett insists she was talking about Abbott's policies and not alluding to his condition.
. . .
S.E. CUPP: But to be clear, you don't agree with what she said, right?
ASHLEY ALLISON: Well, her explanation was that she wasn't referring to that policy.
CUPP: So you buy that.
ALLISONl But here's the thing. If you make fun of somebody because of their disability, I do not agree with that as a person with a disability, as a person who has family members with a disability, as a person who has taught children with a disability. That is not acceptable.
She said that's not what she was doing, and so I know Jasmine, and I believe Jasmine if that's what she was saying.
