“Her incompetence is beastly.”
“She definitely is a psychological poor.”
“She’s a dumb-dumb, and you may’t take her critically.”
“She is a recalcitrant piece of rubbish.”
“She’s massively incompetent.”
That was Fox Information’ Lisa “Kennedy” Montgomery attempting to demean Rep. Jasmine Crockett 5 instances in a single rant. However all that petty derision reveals nothing about Congresswoman Crocket and way more about Kennedy’s personal mental chapter, ethical squalor, and her expertise for reasonable, performative cruelty masquerading as political commentary. The one actual talent she’s honed is making the shallow sound edgy to folks too dim-witted to note.
If Kennedy had an actual argument, she wouldn’t have wanted to stack 5 private insults on high of one another like a tragic little Jenga tower of insecurity.
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A very clever and competent commentator wouldn’t depend on crude, empty assaults instead of reasoned critique. She wanted 5 insults as a result of she had nothing else. No substance. No proof. No level. No working mind cells. Simply spit and bile. Simply look how arduous she needed to work simply to show she had nothing. And in the end, she demonstrated that she’s the one who’s really mentally poor.
Kennedy’s rant got here after Crockett dared to name out Donald Trump’s “racist and incorrect” remarks in regards to the president of Liberia talking “such good English.” When Crockett labeled Trump’s phrases for what they have been, the GOP rapid-response machine snapped into gear. Kennedy merely picked up that baton for Fox Information. She didn’t contest a single truth. She went straight for the oldest, most cowardly trick within the racist playbook: smear the Black lady’s intelligence. Scale back her to a “dumb-dumb.” Ensure the viewers sees her as unworthy of primary respect.
It’s pathetic and so rattling predictable.
Kennedy is aware of she will’t beat Rep. Crockett on substance. She will’t out-argue her. Crockett is a civil rights lawyer, a sitting member of Congress, a lady who can dismantle Republican speaking factors along with her eyes closed and one hand tied behind her again. She is sharp, fearless, and unbothered by conservative fragility. And that terrifies mediocre bigots like Kennedy.
This is identical Lisa Kennedy who made her title being smarmy on MTV within the 90s, who rebranded herself as a libertarian edgelord sneering at working folks’s wants, and who has constructed a profession in conservative media serving up sarcastic, punchline-level takes for an viewers determined for reassurance they’ll by no means should take Black girls critically. Kennedy isn’t providing critique; she’s providing white people a snug fantasy the place no Black lady is ever smarter than they’re.
She’s the human embodiment of smug mediocrity. It is a lady who leveraged the aesthetics of rebelliousness right into a decades-long gig kissing the ring of right-wing energy whereas pretending she’s too hip to care in regards to the harm. She’s the kind who rails in opposition to authorities overreach however has no downside with state violence on the border or policing Black communities, the type of libertarian who mocks pupil debt aid however desires her wealthy friends’ taxes reduce.
Kennedy has no coverage chops. She’s not severe. She’s a lazy performer who constructed her model on eye-rolling, faux-radical snark that crumbles the second you ask her for precise concepts. She’s the type of TV pundit who thinks being imply is identical factor as being good. She’s paid to pander to viewers who need to hear that even essentially the most clearly clever Black lady within the room is a “dumb-dumb,” as a result of that lie is less complicated for them to swallow than gagging on the truth that she’s one of many dullest minds within the room.
“She is a recalcitrant piece of rubbish.”
That line is a window into who Kennedy is. She’s a smug, washed-up cable clown who traded no matter important pondering expertise she as soon as pretended to have for the most affordable type of white grievance theater. She’s not a severe commentator. She’s an expert bigot-whisperer whose job is to sneer, belittle, and dehumanize Black girls who received’t keep within the roles her viewers finds comfy.
Calling Crockett “rubbish” is Kennedy admitting that she will’t match Crockett’s command of the information, her courtroom-honed intelligence, or her refusal to play good for individuals who despise her. It’s Kennedy revealing that she is aware of precisely what her viewers desires to listen to and delivers it with a wink and a sneer.
She’s not simply smug mediocrity. She’s a prepared foot soldier for white grievance politics, who lacks confidence in her personal mind and the right-wing worldview she’s there to defend. On the finish of the day, she is aware of Crockett was proper. However as a substitute she says, “Take a look at this dumb-dumb.”
Kennedy’s disrespect of a sitting Black consultant was private, and it was additionally common.
Each time a Black lady exhibits up in American public life with simple intelligence, whether or not she’s a Consultant like Jasmine Crockett, a Supreme Courtroom justice like Ketanji Brown Jackson, a Vice President like Kamala Harris, or a scholar, lawyer, physician, journalist, or educator, there’s a reliably ugly backlash ready for her. It doesn’t matter if she graduated from the nation’s high faculties, served with distinction, or just out-argues her opponents in debate. As quickly as her intelligence shines, the slur emerges: “mentally poor,” “low IQ,” “affirmative motion case,” “DEI rent,” “dumb,” “illiterate,” “incoherent.”
This isn’t random name-calling. It faucets into centuries of propaganda about Black inferiority. It’s the identical previous lie that Black individuals are much less clever, particularly Black girls. It’s a deliberate racist technique that’s about policing who will get to be seen as competent, authoritative, or deserving of respect in American public life. As a result of for folks invested in whiteness, a Black lady who’s good, articulate, ready, and unafraid is a risk to the complete hierarchy they rely upon. She disrupts the lie that whiteness is the pure dwelling of competence and authority.
The psychology behind it’s pathetic. In case you can’t disprove her, it’s important to degrade her. You need to cut back her to one thing lower than you so you’ll be able to really feel protected, unchallenged, and unthreatened. Calling her “dumb” isn’t an evaluation of her arguments; it’s an exorcism. It’s an try to expel her from the realm of people that should be listened to or taken critically. It’s about ensuring the viewers doesn’t even take into account the chance she’s proper.
For this reason these assaults are so formulaic and so emotional. They’re not constructed to rebut a Black lady’s logic; they’re constructed to reassure the insecure. They work by triggering a well-recognized, comforting stereotype for white audiences: that irrespective of what number of levels she has, irrespective of how properly she argues or writes, irrespective of how ready she is, she’s nonetheless only a dumb, beastly Black woman who ought to know her place.
Calling Jasmine Crockett “mentally poor” is the white supremacist thoughts doing harm management. Kennedy known as Jasmine Crockett a “dumb-dumb” not as a result of Crockett is something of the kind, however as a result of she’s dangerously good in ways in which threaten conservative energy. She is aware of the regulation. She is aware of how one can use it. She is aware of how one can make Republicans appear like the unserious, unethical frauds they’re.
Kennedy is aware of that if folks really hearken to Jasmine Crockett, in the event that they hear her questions, watch her disassemble Republican witnesses, or see her name out right-wing hypocrisy in actual time, then they may begin to marvel why Kennedy and her Fox Information friends by no means have any solutions.
She will’t say: Jasmine Crockett is incorrect about Republicans shielding criminals. As a result of Crockett isn’t. She will’t say: Jasmine Crockett doesn’t perceive the regulation. As a result of Crockett demonstrably does.
All Kennedy can say is: Don’t hearken to her, she’s a dumb-dumb. That’s it. That’s the complete mental providing.
It’s the rhetorical transfer of a coward. Of a hack. Of an expert gaslighter who’s made a residing comforting racists with the lie that any Black lady who challenges them is definitely an fool in disguise.
Dr. Stacey Patton is an award-winning journalist and writer of “Spare The Youngsters: Why Whupping Kids Gained’t Save Black America” and the forthcoming “Strung Up: The Lynching of Black Kids In Jim Crow America.” Learn her Substack right here.
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