Jasmine Crockett agrees during town hall that 'Republicans want poor people to die'
Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, agreed that "Republicans want poor people to die as quickly as humanly possible," during a town hall event on Monday.
The live town hall, hosted by Jim Acosta of CNN, featured actress Rosie O'Donnell, CNN contributor and former Capitol police officer Michael Fanone and former Trump administration official Olivia Troye. Crockett, dubbed a rising Democratic Party star, was the headliner.
Acosta told the panel he was "astounded" by Sen. Joni Ernst's town hall comment last week that, "We all are going to die," when discussing Medicaid reform.
"I'm thinking to myself, isn't the point of healthcare to postpone that as long as possible, like, we don't want that to happen, isn't that the point?" Acosta asked.
Fanone, who gained national attention for his role defending the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and is now an analyst for CNN, said, "Republicans want poor people to die as quickly as humanly possible."
"I agree," Crockett responded. "I don't think that is a glitch, but that's actually part of the design."
Ernst said, "We all are going to die," during a contentious moment at her town hall in Iowa. She was explaining that Medicaid reform will only remove people who do not qualify for benefits – illegal immigrants, able-bodied Americans who can work but choose not to, those ineligible to receive benefits who are currently receiving benefits, and duplicate enrollees in one or more states.
But Ernst was interrupted by a rowdy crowd, including one attendee who shouted, "People will die!" prompting her comment that drove Acosta's town hall conversation on Monday.
"The idea that you've got someone who has the audacity to say to people that sent her into D.C. to work on their behalf that you're going to die," Crockett said Monday as the crowd erupted in cheers. "I think we all know that, but the reality is that you've decided that you want to be a gravedigger, and I don't think that is who they elected you to be. They elected you to actually breathe life into it."
Crockett did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment, but an Ernst spokesperson dismissed Crockett's criticism as "fearmongering."
"While Democrats fearmonger against strengthening the integrity of Medicaid, Sen. Ernst is focused on improving the lives of all Iowans. There's only two certainties in life: death and taxes, and she's working to ease the burden of both by fighting to keep more of Iowans' hard-earned tax dollars in their own pockets and ensuring their benefits are protected from waste, fraud and abuse," an Ernst spokesperson said.
Crockett is considering a run to lead the House Oversight Committee, which is responsible for holding President Donald Trump accountable as leader of the executive branch.
Earlier this year, Attorney General Pam Bondi accused Crockett of "threatening lives" and said she should apologize for her rhetoric against Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) for saying, "All I want to see happen on my birthday is for Elon to be taken down." Crockett would clarify that her comments were intended as "nonviolent" resistance.
Crockett was also criticized this year for calling Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, who is in a wheelchair, "Governor Hot Wheels." She walked back the comments after her remarks went viral, calling the outrage a "distraction."
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., challenged the Texas congresswoman to a fight in January after Crockett said, "child, listen" during a House Oversight Committee hearing.
And Crockett dominated headlines last year when her campaign trademarked the phrase "bleach blonde, bad built, butch body," after a verbal dispute with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., during a chaotic House hearing.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Los Angeles Times
14 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Can Elon Musk get Tesla back on track? Here are four road bumps
After a tumultuous months-long period by President Trump's side, Elon Musk is turning his attention back to his companies, including the stumbling electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc. Musk announced on X last week that his time as a special government employee was over. Tesla investors welcomed the news, hoping that Musk's departure from Washington would boost his car company's reputation and lagging performance. Since Musk began his role leading the White House advisory team called the Department of Government Efficiency in January, Tesla's stock has fallen roughly 12%. On Tuesday, the shares closed at $332, down 3.5%. The Austin, Texas-based company — which has a significant manufacturing operation in Fremont, Calif., and is the dominant EV company in the state — has been the subject of protests and vandalism as Musk, the company's chief executive, aligned himself with Trump and made controversial spending cuts on behalf of the federal government. The brand damage spread outside the U.S. to Europe, where monthly sales in 32 countries fell nearly 50% in April. 'It was very important for Musk to end this chapter and start working on Tesla's next stage of growth,' Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said. 'Now he can get back to what he's supposed to be doing.' As the executive shifts his focus back to Tesla, here are four challenges experts say he must tackle: By associating himself with the president and the Trump administration's erratic actions, Musk alienated a large swath of his customers. Many Tesla drivers are liberal-leaning, industry analysts said, and were drawn to the company's environmental mission to take gas cars off the road. In protest over Musk's activities, some Tesla drivers, including celebrities, began selling or getting rid of their vehicles. Others sported new bumper stickers that said, 'I bought this before we knew Elon was crazy.' In February, Tesla topped the list of brands that lost the most resale value year over year, according to data provided by Karl Brauer, an analyst with The price of a used Tesla Model S and Model Y each dropped by about 16% in February from a year earlier. 'Price is a reflection of supply and demand,' Brauer said. 'So it could be that nobody wants to buy them anymore, or that there's a massive influx of them available, or both.' Now that he's left Washington, Musk will have to prove that his attention is on Tesla and that he isn't prioritizing political agendas. Ives estimated that about 5% to 10% of the brand damage sustained during Musk's stint in the capital will be permanent. 'Tesla has become a political symbol around the world and that's not a good thing,' said Ives, who has an 'outperform' rating on Tesla's stock. 'But there are much brighter days ahead now that Musk is no longer in the White House.' Musk has made lofty promises for years about the capabilities of Tesla's self-driving technology and plans for a robotaxi service. Though he has often over-exaggerated his progress, Musk has taken important steps toward commercializing autonomous driving technology. The future of his company depends on whether he can follow through, experts said. 'Musk's top priority should be autonomy and robotics,' Ives said. 'With these technologies, I believe Tesla's market cap could reach $2 trillion.' The company is currently valued at just over $1 trillion. According to claims Musk has made, Tesla drivers will one day be able to sleep in their car as it drives them across the country. Tesla's robotaxis will roam city streets, and humanoid robots dubbed Optimus will perform everyday tasks. Brauer compared the emergence of autonomous driving technology to a change on the scale of the internet or smartphones. But it's still far off, he said. Although the driverless taxi company Waymo is already operating in a few cities including Santa Monica, it could take 10 to 15 years for the technology to become widely accessible and integrated into society, Brauer said. Tesla remains the dominant force in the electric vehicle market, but rapidly increasing competition from traditional carmakers and other EV manufacturers have thinned sales, Brauer said. Major manufacturers including Ford and Chevy have released lines of their own electric vehicles, while promising startups such as Irvine-based Rivian have cut into Tesla's market share. At the same time, demand for electric vehicles is plateauing as the market gets saturated, Brauer said. Tesla's profit plummeted 71% in the first quarter to $409 million as the company faced a flurry of setbacks, including a falloff in automotive sales and rising competition. To keep up and remain viable, Tesla will have to reassess aspects of its business model. 'Many people, I think including Musk himself, have realized that the current business model is pretty much played out,' Brauer said. 'He's not going to substantially increase his revenue and his profit selling these same electric cars.' Tesla could receive a boost in sales if it successfully launched an affordable model accessible to more customers, but despite rumors and claims by executives, a release date has not been announced. The company could be further hurt by the loss of a $7,500 federal electric vehicle credit, which encourages sales and is likely to be eliminated by the Trump administration. While chargers for electric vehicles are ubiquitous in many parts of California, infrastructure is lacking throughout large areas of the country — and that's a problem. For the U.S. to rely more heavily on EVs, significant progress has to be made on the network of charging stations, Brauer said. Finding a time and place to charge is an obstacle for many Tesla drivers and limits the range of customers Tesla can reach. The lack of a fully comprehensive charging network would also hinder Musk's plans to operate a nationwide robotaxi service, Brauer said. In California, many chargers are broken or have been intentionally damaged by protesters.
Los Angeles Times
14 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Candidates for California governor face off about affordability, high cost of living in first bipartisan clash
SACRAMENTO — In a largely courteous gathering of a half dozen of California's top gubernatorial candidates, four Democrats and two Republicans agreed that despite the state boasting one of the world's largest economies, too many of its residents are suffering because of the affordability crisis in the state. Their strategies on how to improve the state's economy, however, largely embraced the divergent views of their respective political parties as they discussed housing costs, high-speed rail, tariffs, climate change and homelessness on Wednesday evening at the first bipartisan event in the 2026 governor race to replace termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom. 'Californians are innovators. They are builders, they are designers, they are creators, and that is the reason that we have the fourth largest economy in the world,' said former Rep. Katie Porter., a Democrat from Irvine 'But businesses and workers are being held back by the same thing. It is too expensive to do things here. It is too expensive to raise a family. It is too expensive to run a business.' Conservative commentator Steve Hilton, a Republican, argued that state leaders need to end the 'stranglehold' of unions, lawyers and climate change activists on California policy. 'I've been traveling this state. Everywhere I go, it's the same story, this heartbreaking word that I get from every business I meet, every family is in such a struggle in California,' he said, with a raspy voice he explained immediately upon taking the stage was caused by a sore throat. The candidates spoke to about 800 people at a California Chamber of Commerce dinner at an 80-minute panel at the convention center in Sacramento. The chamber's decision on who to invite to the forum was based on which ones were leaders in public opinion surveys and fundraising. Making the cut were former Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, Hilton, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, Porter and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The sharpest exchange of the evening was between Kounalakis, a Democrat, and Bianco, a Republican. After the candidates were asked about President Trump's erratic tariff policies, Kounalakis cited her experience working for her father's reat estate company as she criticized Bianco for arguing for a wait-and-see approach about the president's undulating plans. 'You're not a businessman, you're a government employee,' she said to Bianco. 'You've got a pension, you're going to do just fine. Small businesses are suffering from this, and it's only going to get worse, and it's driven, by the way, it is driven by Donald Trump's vindictiveness toward countries he doesn't like, countries he wants to annex, or states he doesn't like, people he doesn't like. This is hurting California, hurting our people, and it's only going to make things worse, until we can get him out of the White House.' Bianco countered that Kounalakis and the other Democrat gubernatorial candidates are directly responsible for the economic woes facing Californians because they have an 'unquenchable thirst' for money to fund their liberal agenda. 'I just feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone. I have a billionaire telling me that my 32 years of public service is okay for my retirement,' he said. 'It's taxes and regulations that are driving every single thing in California up. We pay the highest taxes, we pay the highest gas, we pay the highest housing, we pay the highest energy.' The Democrats on stage, though largely agreeing about policy, sought to differentiate themselves. The sharpest divide was about whether to raise the minimum wage. On Monday, labor advocates in Los Angeles proposed raising it in Los Angeles County Atkins reflected most of her fellow Democrats' views, saying that while she wanted to see higher wages for workers, 'now is not the time.' Villaraigosa said that while he believes in a higher minimum wage, 'we can't just keep raising the minimum wage.' Kounalakis, though, said not increasing the minimum wage would be inhumane. 'I think we should be working for that number, yes I do,' she said. 'You want to throw poor people under the bus.' California's high cost of living is a pressing concern among the state's voters, and the issue is expected to play a major role in the 2026 governor's face. Nearly half feel worse off now compared with last year, and more than half felt less hopeful about their economic well-being, according to a poll released in May by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies that was co-sponsored by The Times. Nearly exactly a year before the gubernatorial primary next year, the event was the first time Democratic and Republican candidates have shared a stage. It was also the first time GOP candidates Bianco and Hilton have appeared together. Although the state's leftward electoral tilt makes it challenging for a Republican to win the race – Californians last elected GOP politicians to statewide office in 2006 — Bianco and Hilton are battling to win one of the top two spots in next year's primary election. The pair expressed similar views about broadly ending liberal policies in the state, such as stopping the state's high-speed rail project and reducing environmental restrictions such as the state's climate-change efforts that they argue have increased costs while making no meaningful impact on the consumption of fossil fuels. A crucial question is whether President Trump, who both Bianco and Hilton fully support, will eventually endorse one of the Republican candidates. The gubernatorial candidates, some of whom have been running more than a year, have largely focused on fundraising since entering the race. But the contest to replace termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom is growing more public and heated, as seen at last weekend's California Democratic Party convention. Several of the party's candidates scurried around the Anaheim convention center, trying to curry favor with the state's most liberal activists while also drawing contrasts with their rivals. But the Democratic field is partially frozen as former Vice President Kamala Harris weighs entering the race, a decision she is expected to make by the end of the summer. Harris' name did not come up during the forum. There were a handful of light moments. Porter expressed a common concern among the state's residents when they talk about the cost of living in the state. 'What really keeps me up at night, why I'm running for governor, is whether my children are going to be able to afford to live here, whether they're going to ever get off my couch and have their own home,' she said.
Skift
15 minutes ago
- Skift
Making Sense of the JetBlue and United Partnership
We sort the speculation from the facts, contextualize the JetBlue-United deal, and ask what it really means for the carriers and the wider industry. For this episode of the Airline Weekly Lounge, hosts Gordon Smith and Jay Shabat delve into the recently announced partnership between JetBlue and United Airlines. They discuss the implications of this collaboration, the financial struggles faced by JetBlue, and the potential benefits for both airlines. The conversation also touches on regulatory considerations and industry reaction. Listen to This Podcast Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | RSS Takeaways
