Jasmine Crockett Fires Back at Trump's 'Low IQ' Remark

Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett was pressed about previous statements regarding Latinos who voted for Donald Trump as her visibility increases following her decision to run for the U.S. Senate.

CNN host Jake Tapper read her a remark she gave to Vanity Fair last year, when she appeared to say that the way Latinos talk about immigration reminds her of "slave mentality."

"The immigration thing has always been something that has perplexed me about this community. It's basically like, I fought to get here, but I left y'all where I left y'all," Crockett told the magazine back then.

"And I want no more y'all to come here. If I wanted to be with y'all, I would stay with y'all, but I don't want y'all coming to my new home," she added, noting that it "almost reminds me of what people would talk about when they would talk about kind of like slave mentality and the hate that some slaves would have for themselves."

"It's almost like a slave mentality that they have now about the time that they have." Asked about the remarks, Tapper asked Crockett if all Latinos who voted for Trump "have slave mentality?"

"No, and that's not what that said at all, to be clear. It did not say that every Latino has that type of mentality," Crockett replied. "So, I don't believe that the people that voted for Trump believe in what they're actually getting. That is No. 1." "What Trump said is that he was going to kick out the bad guys. And that's what I was talking about," she added.

Republicans are reportedly happy about the announcement, and a recent report claimed they even executed a coordinated plan to get her to run.

Republicans included Crockett in a July poll showing her as the leading Democrat should she run, NOTUS reported. "When we saw the results, we were like, 'OK, we got to disseminate this far and wide,'" a source familiar with the planning told the outlet.

NOTUS added that the National Republican Senatorial Committee then worked to amplify the poll and is now taking credit for launching Crockett to the top of the political conversation in the state.

In fact, Crockett said she was encouraged to throw her hat in the ring following favorable polling. "The more I saw the poll results, I couldn't ignore the trends that were clear," she said.

Now, after Crockett announced her run, Republicans are openly expressing joy at the scenario. "Am I hiding my glee? I'll try to wipe the smile off my face, I would say it's a gift," incumbent Republican Senator John Cornyn told Semafor.

"Colin, obviously, he wasn't successful before, but he was what I would call closer to a normal Democrat than Jasmine. (She) is something else," Cornyn added in reference to former Rep. Colin Allred, who dropped out of the race on Monday as Crockett was gearing up to announce her run.

Trump also said Crockett's candidacy is a "gift to Republicans," as her progressive and confrontational stance could give an edge to the GOP's candidate.

Originally published on Latin Times