The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: Jasmine Crockett Says Our Freedoms Are On The Line, Talks Kamala's Running Mate, Supreme Court + More

Episode Date: July 29, 2024

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Wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club. Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy, Jess Alaria, Charlamagne Tha Guy. We are The Breakfast Club. We got a special guest in the building. Yes, indeed. We have Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett. She's back. Good morning. Good morning. How you feeling? It's too early.

You're supposed to be energized, okay? Your party is energized. So be as energized as your party, Congresswoman. You just at Broccoli Festival partying it up? Yes, I was. It was amazing, too. And they let me on stage so I could tell black people what they black job is this November. How did they react to that? Were they energized?

They were energized. It was great. I did a couple of things. I asked them if they had heard of Project 2025. And the crowd was like, yes. So that made me really happy. I also kind of did this call and response where I was like, all right, so your black job this November is to vote.

And so I came back right before May got on stage and I was like, I'm just back to make sure that y'all remember what y'all job is. And they did. So they were engaged the entire time. It was really a great crowd. And it was talking to people that I feel like politicians don't take the time out to talk to. So, yeah, very happy to be there. Where were you when you got the news that Democrats actually, you know, summoned up some courage and said, you know what? It's time for President Biden to move aside, which they should have done a year ago.

But we're not we're not judging. Where were you? I'm not doing this with you. I actually was in bed, so I don't remember where I've been traveling so much. Oh, I had just been to Phoenix with the second gentleman. We had just done an office opening. I had just come back from Africa, actually did over 30 hours to go out there to campaign for the Biden-Harris ticket. And so I had just flown back on a red eye. I got back, like, Saturday morning, wee hours of the morning. And then Sunday I was like, okay, I'm going to take a day of rest. It was nothing like a day of rest.

I'm sure. But I was literally laying in bed when I found out. Because I saw the tweet that you put out and you weren't that happy about them making the decision. So for me it's all about how you do stuff. And you're like, hey, this is a conversation

that should have took place a year ago. If there were concerns, I agree with you that this is something that should have been part of the conversation earlier. But I also felt like it was very disrespectful. This is a man who really does have an exemplary record, like the record that I am going to put out there as I campaign for the vice president. They share this great record of accomplishment.

But for them not to have more attacks about this and not to look as crazy as we look where everything was Democrats kind of doing this infighting. It's like, wait a minute, the Republicans, they have lined up with a rapist convicted, you know, felon,

like they fraud, like they have lined up behind this guy who we know was telling us ignorant stuff, like inject yourself with bleach. And y'all want to tell me because he was stumbling and fumbling over words in a debate when we know that he was born with a stutter i mean these are people that are justifying january 6th i'm like if they can say that those people were just on a little tour and they were good patriots then y'all can stand by this record and you know if you have concerns about the lack of excitement for the base, then this is a conversation that I think it still would have went the same way if it was behind closed doors.

But we really did ourself our own harm. Like, that's where the harm. It wasn't coming from Republicans. It wasn't Republicans attacking us. It was us attacking us. And so I think that it does set a bad precedence. Right. But now a week later, couple hundred million dollars raised,

100,000 plus new voters, people excited. Listen, I mean, you and I have talked about the VP before. You know that like I ride and rock hard with her, always have, right? So the way that I describe it is a rollercoaster of emotions, right?

It was definitely a low, the way that it happened that showed a lack of unity yes absolutely it showed a lack of unity outside the house like you know you know we have that conversation we keep it inside the house i didn't like that either i felt like people were switching sides which i think it needed to be done but i just felt like do that inside the house let me let me let me give you some in-house info. I'm not going to snitch on nobody because I don't. I don't snitch. I don't snitch.

Listen, I don't do that. All right. Most of the time. But here's the deal. You know, it's great that the vice president is the presumptive nominee. Let me tell you something. As people were calling for the president to step down, it wasn't that they were all like, oh, yeah, we want Kamala. I had a lot of coworkers that were like, it can't be either one of them.

OK, so that was another reason that I was riding so hard because I'm like, wait a minute. What we not going to do is, in fact, in that tweet, I made it clear I'm not messing with nobody else. It's the vice president or y'all go figure this out. Like I'm not going out there. I'm not getting out there because y'all are playing games. So what we had to do is like behind the scenes, we had to strategically get ourselves together quickly. So I sent out a letter of endorsement to all of the delegates out of the state

of Texas to make sure that they knew where I stood and tried to get them to stand on business as well. And so we as black caucus members and some other caucus members immediately started getting in touch with delegates, because if there was any daylight between his announcement and her coming out strong, then they would have tried to get somebody else. In fact, they were trying to get other people. I know y'all saw the Joe Manchin talking about, he was talking about, well, I may need to be president. The hell you do not have been,

United States of America. I would have voted third party of Joe Manchin. Child. Child. Are you surprised of the energy, though? Because, you know, like you said, a lot of people necessarily didn't think that that ticket could win.

Now the energy is different, but when they first announced, were you surprised that the energy of people necessarily didn't think that that ticket could win. Now the energy is different. But when they first announced, were you surprised that the energy immediately, she raised so much money immediately and people are coming out in droves immediately? I was surprised. I was surprised. But I was pleasantly surprised because I think that a lot of us, especially like black folk, we get nervous. Right. Because we have seen the level of racism and vitriol that Trump has ushered in and he wins over voters that way. So now when we started talking about people of color, we know that the entire movement started with Obama, right? It was like this backlash type

situation. So yes, I was nervous, but I am happy that thus far we've got the energy. Now the question is, can we keep this energy through November? Can we transform this energy into votes? And I'm hoping that we can. How long do you think this honeymoon phase with the vice president is going to last? Because it's still the same old Democratic Party. So what changes would you like to see in the Democratic Party? Since they made this massive change at the top of the ticket,

what other changes would you like to see to keep the energy going? Yeah, I mean, I think that there's a clear signal that overall we're wanting younger leadership. And there has been a gatekeeping for a very long time throughout every level of government when it comes to the Democratic Party. We don't really allow for the younger voices to get in. The fact that I'm considered young is really a problem, in my opinion. The only young person that I see in Congress is Maxwell Frost.

OK, I know he's Gen Z, so he's super young. But overall, I think that we should start to engage in more partnerships and mentorships where you're actually training somebody up. I think that there's always this fear that if I start to mentor somebody, then they will then try to leapfrog me instead of recognizing like this is your strength. This is your power. You over here. But at the same time, we need an actual pipeline and we need to start promoting like what that pipeline looks like one of the issues that we have in the democratic party is everybody sits around and says okay who's next there is no pipeline right like everybody's sitting around asking questions and we should say this person got next because we've seen them doing this and that so that's one of the things that i would like to see and who's planning the the festivities at the DNC? The DNC gotta be piped up this year.

Seriously, because the RNC, say what you want, it looked live. Did it? Yes. It looked live. It looked live. It looked live. Who did that at the DNC? Are you speaking at the DNC? Not that I know of. That's a problem.

That's a problem. I said not that I know of. That's a problem. I said not that I know of. I'm not saying no. You're correct because if I'm going to have to do a speech, I'm going to have to do a speech. It's going to be a good one. I have no idea.

They have not laid that out. The entire DNC program has to change though, right? Everything. Everything was built around Joe Biden and now it's going to be built around Kamala Harris. And it should be built around Kamala Harris and it should be built around the next generation of Democrats. I want to see Governor Whitmer on the stage. I want to see Governor Shapiro,

Governor Westmore. I want to see you. You know, I want them to go get people like Jon Stewart. Like the same way that, you know, the RNC was using nostalgia and had people like Hulk Hogan. That's what I would like to see. Yeah. Well, I will pass that along. It's the right musical acts.

Now, as we start looking for vice presidents, who do you like? And not just one person, but who do you like and who do you think would be the best fit? Because people are realizing this is like a, I don't want to say like a basketball game, but you have to size up. Who's going to be the best fit and who's going to be the best help for that? It's got to be a white man. You have to do a DEI hire and hire a white man. Do you think it has to be a white man?

Could it be a white woman from Michigan? Could it be somebody else that's black? What are your thoughts? The majority of the picks look like, or the majority of the options look like white men. So I'm going to assume it's going to be a white man. Right. You know, I trust the vice president

and her ability to pick. I think the characteristics that she's going to look for is a good partner, because when it came down to her and Joe Biden, it was more of a partnership. Same thing with him and Barack Obama. It was a partnership. And so I think that that's what she'll look for. I don't know what her relationships are like with some of the governors. I can say that in my mind, Senator Kelly is somebody that she's consistently

worked for or worked with because she has been the president of the Senate. And so she probably understands how he works. She understands his relationships in the Senate. The governors haven't worked in the Senate. So I would think that she has a natural inclination to potentially go with him. But I don't know. In addition to the fact that when we start looking at the map, right, you take a Governor Beshear. Well, I don't know that we don't get another Democratic governor over there in Kentucky. Right. But when you look at Arizona, if for some reason Mark Kelly comes out of that spot, then we have a Democratic governor and she's the one that appoints another Democrat to that spot. So we don't end up messing with the balance of power

in the Senate either. I like Mark Kelly. He looks MAGA white. Oh boy. Ball head. I can't. And he's an astronaut. White people love astronauts.

Black people love astronauts too. No, he's an astronaut and he's a veteran. Yes. And he's very big on gun violence. And it's something that she's very passionate about. And we know that it's something that Gen Z is very passionate about. And honestly, oh, black folk in the hood, we want to get the guns off the streets too.

I'm just saying. So I think that all of those things make for a really decent pick. But I don't know. I don't know what they're looking at. I would imagine that they are also doing some internal polling. I would guess that they're doing some internal polling to kind of try to figure out who moves the scale where and how well known somebody is too, because we're not talking about a lot of time to introduce your vice president.

You got 100 days. That's right. And Mark Kelly is also probably the best known, and he is very strong when it comes to fundraising. He did $90 million to raise for his last Senate race, so I think that that also will end up factoring in. I'm 2A all day, by the way, but I do believe in common sense gun reform. Oh, listen, me too.

I'm licensed to carry. But the fact that everybody and anybody got access to any and everything is a problem. Especially in Texas. Don't worry about my nine. Don't worry about my nine. No. I'm in Texas.

You crazy. Now when you say freedoms are on the line, that's something you say a lot. Explain to our audience what you mean when you say freedoms are on the line. Yeah, and I think that's a theme that you're going to keep seeing with this campaign as we know that the theme song is Beyonce's freedom, right? So when we start looking at diversity, equity, and inclusion,

they keep trying to attack it. But let's be real about it. And I think that it's been good to have the conversation because when we look at things like affirmative action, it's been white women that have benefited more than anybody. So when they start saying things like we're going to get rid of affirmative action, even though they are taking aim at us, we still had not gotten our due when it came to it. So that's why a lot of black folk are like, yo, affirmative action needs to stay in place because we still haven't gotten to where we needed to get to. So that's number one. And when we start talking about affirmative action and diversity, equity, inclusion, it's not just getting into schools. While most people know the Supreme Court case as it relates to Harvard,

it's not just that. They are trying to bleed this over into business opportunities, right? So when we start looking at contracting and whether or not black contractors are going to get contracting opportunities, they're trying to use this as the catalyst for why we can't then say, oh, we've that black women are under invested in no matter what we look at, whether it's politics or otherwise, even though Kamala is breaking all the stereotypes for that one. They said, no, it's not OK for you to go out and decide that you're going to invest in black woman businesses. So we need to understand that they are trying to attack us economically as well as they're trying to attack us economically, as well as they're trying to attack our educational opportunities. When we start looking at reproductive freedom, that also is an economic conversation

if we're going to be real about it, right? Because there are people that decide that they're not going to have children because economically they can't afford to have children. And so then we're talking about potentially holding people back economically, but also we're talking about literally putting women's lives on the line. We know that the black maternal mortality rate in this country has always been abysmal.

And when we look at Texas, we are leading the way in the wrong way. Again, when we look at that, when you look at people like Serena Williams, like this comes down to a situation where it doesn't matter how much money you have. We have a problem in this country. And now you're saying, I am going to take away some of those options that are available to doctors and women as they are trying to basically live. So we're talking about the freedom to live overall. Why are more people talking about the Supreme Court? I've been saying that the Supreme Court is illegitimate. It is completely corrupt because what my fear in November is,

let's just say the vice president wins. Court is illegitimate. It is completely corrupt because what my fear in November is, you know, let's just say the Vice President wins. Donald Trump challenges it. In light of all of their recent rulings, what makes us think they're not going to side with Donald Trump and overturn the results of an election? I have no faith in the Supreme Court, so I'm with you. I don't know, but I

do know that we've got to talk about the Supreme Court in general, and that was actually another concern about who became the nominee, because we already knew that they were going to sue. And so I was like, y'all can play fantasy president all y'all want to. But ultimately, you may end up with a ticket and then your votes may not count because they have already decided they are going to court and the court belongs to Donald Trump. So so that was yet another concern that we had. If for some reason it ended up being a nominee that was not the vice president, I thought that it could get really iffy because this would be the first time in history, which means that they literally don't have any precedence, which means that they start playing in our faces. In addition to that, I think it is a very salient point that we have to make on the campaign trail and that I do make is that it's not just the presidency that's on the line. It's this daggone Supreme Court, because he's already made it clear that he's going to put

two more justices on this court. They get lifetime appointments. So that's why I'm happy that the president started talking about Supreme Court reform. I'm a part of the Supreme Court or the Court Reform Task Force. And so we've got three bills that we are trying to get passed. We know that this Republican House ain't about this life. But so long as we take back the House and hopefully hold on to the Senate, hopefully we can move some of this stuff. But one is term limits. They don't need lifetime appointments.

That's clear. Number two is expanding the court. This court has been expanded seven times, but the last time it was expanded was, I think, over 100 years ago. We've grown a little bit in the last hundred years. So we need to expand the court. And then finally, we need some kind of ethics reform because they just out here wilding. And the only people to get in trouble is everybody but them. So we need to make sure that they have some sort of ethics that they have to abide by but i'm i'm absolutely with you um i think that we are already preparing for the legal challenges as donald trump is out on the stump saying things like if i don't win this state it's because they cheated he is already laying the groundwork but i will say

the good work of say fannie Fannie Willis down in Georgia. Let's clap it up for her. I think that he may not have as many people that are willing to ride with him in his ridiculousness because it may lead them to prison. I think that they may be fearful. We also know in Arizona they just did some indictments. So I think people may say, never mind, I ain't doing fake electors. I ain't doing none of this stuff because I ain't got time to risk my freedom now besides the supreme court do you have any other fears with this election you already know they attacking her as a prosecutor they called her a dei hire they said childless cat ladies what's wrong with that what's wrong with her being a dei listen definitely earned it definitely earned it is what that means but we know i am taking it back

we know she's overly qualified, but if the president said, hey, I wanted a black, a woman of color vice president, what's wrong with that? It's not wrong. Because honestly, that is what it's always been about. When we look at diversity, equity, and inclusion, or when we look at affirmative action type of platforms, what it's been about is saying, hey,

we need to make sure that we look at all the talent because essentially our talent had been limited to what you just said white men right that's the only pool that we were looking at so this this all it's ever been about it's never been about um people that were unqualified it's been about making sure that you were forced to take a look at somebody other than a white man right that's it but you still had to measure up and still when we look at somebody other than a white man. That's it. But you still had to measure up. And still, when we look at it, it's not even a matter of measuring up. You have to exceed the qualifications.

Because again, when you start talking about old boy and the cat ladies, come on now. Like J.D. Vance has what? What does he have? Listen, I am older than J.D. Vance. And everybody's like, oh, look at the young baby in Congress, right? But when you look at the Republicans, they're like, oh, yes, this can be the next vice president of the United States. And the reality is that this dude has never done anything.

He just got elected for the first time a year and a half ago. Wow. Well, Jasmine Crockett, we appreciate you. Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, we appreciate you for joining us this morning. Thank you so much. Have you spoken to the VP? Did she call you this week? She called me the day that it happened. Okay. Amazing. And you can stay us this morning. Thank you so much. Have you spoken to the VV? Did she call you this week? She called me the day that it happened.

Okay. Amazing. And you can stay up with us. Please let us know. Keep abreast of what's going on. You can check in anytime. If you in town, pull up on us.

Thank you so much. And give me your website so they can buy the t-shirts and all that. Yes. Go to the clapbackcollection.com to grab your shirt. All right. It's Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett. It's the breakfast club. Good morning.

Wake that ass up in the It's The Breakfast Club. Good morning.