“Her incompetence is beastly.”
“She definitely is a psychological poor.”
“She’s a dumb-dumb, and you may’t take her severely.”
“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 occasions in a single rant. However all that petty derision reveals nothing about Congresswoman Crocket and much more about Kennedy’s personal mental chapter, ethical squalor, and her expertise for affordable, performative cruelty masquerading as political commentary. The one actual ability she’s honed is making the shallow sound edgy to individuals 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.
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 onerous she needed to work simply to show she had nothing. And finally, she demonstrated that she’s the one who’s truly mentally poor.
Kennedy’s rant got here after Crockett dared to name out Donald Trump’s “racist and flawed” remarks in regards to the president of Liberia talking “such good English.” When Crockett labeled Trump’s phrases for what they had been, the GOP rapid-response machine snapped into gear. Kennedy merely picked up that baton for Fox Information. She didn’t contest a single reality. She went straight for the oldest, most cowardly trick within the racist playbook: smear the Black lady’s intelligence. Cut back her to a “dumb-dumb.” Make sure that 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 be able to’t out-argue her. Crockett is a civil rights lawyer, a sitting member of Congress, a lady who can dismantle Republican speaking factors together 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 identify being smarmy on MTV within the 90s, who rebranded herself as a libertarian edgelord sneering at working individuals’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 must take Black girls severely. Kennedy isn’t providing critique; she’s providing white people a cushty 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 sort who rails in opposition to authorities overreach however has no drawback with state violence on the border or policing Black communities, the form of libertarian who mocks scholar debt aid however desires her wealthy friends’ taxes reduce.
Kennedy has no coverage chops. She’s not critical. 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 sensible. She’s paid to pander to viewers who wish to hear that even probably the most clearly clever Black lady within the room is a “dumb-dumb,” as a result of that lie is simpler 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 essential considering abilities she as soon as pretended to have for the most cost effective type of white grievance theater. She’s not a critical commentator. She’s knowledgeable 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 keen 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 Court docket 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 colleges, 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 outdated 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 individuals invested in whiteness, a Black lady who’s sensible, articulate, ready, and unafraid is a risk to your complete hierarchy they rely on. She disrupts the lie that whiteness is the pure house of competence and authority.
The psychology behind it’s pathetic. For those who can’t disprove her, it’s a must to degrade her. It’s a must 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 must be listened to or taken severely. It’s about ensuring the viewers doesn’t even take into account the likelihood she’s proper.
That is why 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 nicely 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 referred to 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 sensible in ways in which threaten conservative energy. She is aware of the legislation. She is aware of the way to use it. She is aware of the way to make Republicans seem like the unserious, unethical frauds they’re.
Kennedy is aware of that if individuals truly take heed 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 could begin to marvel why Kennedy and her Fox Information friends by no means have any solutions.
She will be able to’t say: Jasmine Crockett is flawed about Republicans shielding criminals. As a result of Crockett isn’t. She will be able to’t say: Jasmine Crockett doesn’t perceive the legislation. As a result of Crockett demonstrably does.
All Kennedy can say is: Don’t take heed to her, she’s a dumb-dumb. That’s it. That’s your complete mental providing.
It’s the rhetorical transfer of a coward. Of a hack. Of knowledgeable 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 creator of “Spare The Children: Why Whupping Youngsters Received’t Save Black America” and the forthcoming “Strung Up: The Lynching of Black Youngsters In Jim Crow America.” Learn her Substack right here.
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