CNN’s State of the Union delivered one of the clearest examples yet of the left’s double standard when it comes to political rhetoric. Sitting across from Dana Bash, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) was asked if, after two assassination attempts on Donald Trump and the assassination of Charlie Kirk, she bore any responsibility to tone down her own language.
Her answer? Absolutely not.
Crockett not only refused to back away from calling Trump a “wannabe Hitler,” she insisted the label was “accurate language.” She claimed the Trump administration was “using Hitler’s playbook” and dismissed Bash’s mild question about responsibility as if it were a nuisance.
The problem here is not just Crockett’s words. It’s the context. This interview aired while Charlie Kirk’s memorial service was taking place in Arizona, and Crockett found it necessary to drag Kirk into her rant — smearing him with the baseless claim that he had once suggested “who should live and who should die.” She offered no evidence. Bash offered no pushback. The lie just hung in the air.
It’s worth pausing on this. Kirk was murdered on stage, assassinated for his politics. His family, including young children, are still in mourning. And yet, even on the very day of his funeral, a sitting member of Congress used her platform to vilify him again, inventing words he never said. That’s not just indecent. That’s cruel.
This is a pattern with Crockett. On Sept. 12, just two days after Kirk’s assassination, she appeared on The Breakfast Club to defend her “wannabe Hitler” rhetoric. Earlier in May, on American Fever Dream, she went further — declaring that Republicans are “inherently violent,” that their supposed violence is tied to skin color, and that conservative voters “attract violent actors.” Meanwhile, she brushed aside the documented record of left-wing extremism, including the destruction of Black Lives Matter riots, as nothing more than propaganda.
Here’s what makes her excuses so hollow: Utah Gov. Spencer Cox revealed that the rifle recovered after Kirk’s assassination had ammunition etched with anti-fascist slogans. In other words, this was a political assassination inspired by leftist ideology. And yet, Crockett refuses to see any connection between her own side’s escalating rhetoric and the violence it fuels.
Compare that with how quickly Democrats and the media lay the blame on conservatives for even unrelated acts of violence. A leftist assassin shoots Charlie Kirk? Silence, denial, excuses. A conservative makes a speech about border security? That’s suddenly “incitement.”
Rep. Crockett’s refusal to tone down her rhetoric, even after the nation has seen what political assassination looks like in real time, is not a show of courage. It’s a show of recklessness. Her words feed a culture of hatred that is already spilling into deadly action. And with CNN playing along — letting her rant unchecked, never demanding evidence — it’s no wonder the temperature keeps rising.
