Texas Democratic Representative Jasmine Crockett spoke out on CNN against "white supremacist" President Donald Trump and his attacks on diversity initiatives, saying she is "tired of white tears" from "mediocre white boys" abusing their power.
Crockett responded after host Laura Coates brought up Darren Beattie's appointment to a senior position under Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Beattie, a former speechwriter for Trump, was reportedly dismissed during Trump’s first term after it was revealed that he had attended a conference alongside white nationalists.
In particular, Coates brought up an October 2024 tweet in which Beattie said:
“Competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work. Unfortunately, our entire national ideology is predicated on coddling the feelings of women and minorities, and demoralizing competent white men.”
To this, Crockett said:
“He needs to go. This is very simple. We right now we have a white supremacist that is sitting in the White House. He is backed up by other white supremacists.”
"If you really want to know who the criminals are in this country, you can Google it, you don't have to trust me, but the people that commit 80% of the most violent crimes in this country are white supremacists."
"Yet for whatever reason sit and they serve at the pleasure of the president. ... They were the ones there on Jan. 6 tearing our democracy down physically and now we have them tearing us down from within.”
When Coates noted that Trump has—despite all the credible evidence—denied being a white supremacist, Crockett laughed and said:
"I don't care what he said."
You can hear what she said in the video below.
Crockett added that "coddling for the white boys is what's happening right now," adding:
"I am tired of the white tears. Listen, if you are competent, you are not concerned."
"When I walk into Congress every single day, you know why I don't feel a way and why you can't make me doubt who I am is because I know that I had to work 10 times as hard as they did just to get into the seat. When you look and you compare me to Marjorie Taylor Greene or me to Lauren Boebert, there is no comparison. And that is the life that we have always lived."
"So, the only people that are crying are the mediocre white boys that have been beaten out by people that historically have had to work so much harder."
Crockett argued that the plan is to deny Black people access to education “because they don’t want any more Kamala Harrises, they don’t want any more Jasmine Crocketts.”
You can hear what she said in the video below.
Many praised Crockett's remarks.
The discussion of DEI follows Trump’s fulfillment of a campaign promise on his first day in office, when he signed an executive order titled "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing."
The next day, the administration issued a memo to department heads overseeing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) offices, instructing them to notify employees that they were being placed on paid leave due to the offices' closure.
DEI programs are organizational strategies aimed at ensuring fair treatment and full participation for everyone, with a special focus on historically marginalized or discriminated groups. These frameworks strive to create an environment where all individuals, regardless of their identity or abilities, are valued and included.
Critics argue that DEI programs are discriminatory and try to address racial discrimination by disadvantaging other groups, particularly white Americans. However, supporters and industry experts maintain that DEI practices, which have been in place for decades, have been politicized and are often misunderstood.
Crockett herself said as recently that last month that attacks against these initiatives are happening because of a refusal to "open it up and recognize that other people can be qualified."
