President Donald Trump has yet again attacked the intelligence of two prominent women of color in Congress. Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett has responded to the latest insults from the commander-in-chief, turning Trump’s comments about intelligence back at him and questioning his tendency to attack Black and brown women.
Crockett argues that Trump’s success is due to privilege, not intelligence
Crockett was a guest on The Source with Kaitlan Collins on Monday, using her appearance on the CNN show to respond to Trump again referring to her and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as “low IQ.”
Crockett said to Collins, “Listen, I’m waiting on a reporter, and maybe it’ll be you, Kaitlan, to finally ask him what is his IQ, ’cause he is constantly talking about…he doesn’t even know what a low IQ is. He doesn’t even know which scores are low, and I can guarantee you that whatever score, if he’s taken one anytime recently, I’m sure that his qualifies as low.” Crawford also noted that Trump has “never been known to be an Einstein,” and argued that he likely would not have gone to prestigious schools if he hadn’t been “born with a silver spoon.”
Trump challenged Crockett and AOC, bizarrely boasting about cognitive tests
Trump told reporters while aboard Air Force One, “They have Jasmine Crockett, a low-IQ person. They have… AOC’s low IQ.”
He also discussed a recent cognitive test he took, comparing it to an aptitude test.
“Those are very hard — they’re really aptitude tests, I guess in a certain way, but they’re cognitive tests. Let AOC go against Trump. Let Jasmine go against Trump.”
The president also boasted about having undergone a “perfect” MRI earlier this month. While Trump has oddly bragged about these tests as measures of his intelligence, the repeated examinations have occurred amid speculation about his health in recent months. Crockett previously questioned Trump’s “mental acuity” after he gave a rambling speech earlier this year.
Trump’s racist insults against people of color
Trump has a long history of attacking the intelligence of Crockett and Ocasio-Cortez, as well as other people of color. Trump has repeatedly denigrated women of color in Congress, as well as using racist tropes to attack political opponents more generally.
“I wish people would look at the fact that you have a president of the United States who consistently is obsessing over two women of color that are members of the House,” Crockett said about Trump during her CNN appearance. “I don’t know what Black woman hurt him in his past, honey, but it is really taking him through it,” Crockett added. “But I really wish, for the sake of this country and honestly for the sake of the world, that he would focus on his real job and stop worrying about me. My constituents will worry about whether or not I have an adequate IQ, even though that’s not the test that he’s taking, and it’s up to them to decide.”
It remains to be seen if a reporter will take Crockett’s challenge to ask Trump about his intelligence and competence directly. For now, as Trump continues to launch insults at Crockett, the Texas congresswoman remains more than ready to throw his “low IQ” taunts back at him.