Fox News personality Laura Ingraham is stirring the pot again and catching major heat for her latest jab at Texas Representative Jasmine Crockett. On Friday, Ingraham reposted a clip of Crockett on X (formerly Twitter), slamming her with a dig that’s become all too familiar from MAGA circles. “Another reminder that having a law degree doesn’t mean you’re smart,” she wrote alongside the video, which showed Crockett speaking at a press briefing on GOP redistricting efforts.
It’s far from the first time Ingraham has gone after the congresswoman, who is Black. Back in April, during a segment of The Ingraham Angle, she and Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo teamed up for a round of insults that many found steeped in racial undertones. Arroyo even compared Crockett to “Madea of Capitol Hill,” a comment loaded with stereotypes. Ingraham took it further, mocking Crockett’s way of speaking and saying she now talks in a “very different” way than before, adding that she was going “very… street,” all while performing a mocking head sway.
Unsurprisingly, experts aren’t having it. Tabitha Bonilla, a political science professor at Northwestern, pointed out that these weren’t subtle digs. In fact, she said the remarks were “overtly racist,” explaining that while dog whistles are usually coded, these weren’t exactly hard to miss, reported HuffPost.
There’s a pattern here that’s hard to ignore. Former President Donald Trump, whom Ingraham often supports, has made headlines for years by attacking the intelligence of women and people of color. Who could forget when he told CNN’s Abby Phillip she’d asked a “stupid” question? That comment wasn’t an outlier; it was part of a long-standing pattern of Trump using terms like “low IQ” to insult critics, particularly Black women.
Kari J. Winter, a professor at the University at Buffalo who studies gender, race, and class, didn’t hold back in her reaction to Ingraham’s latest comments. She said the Fox News host is essentially defending a former president who “does not know the difference between an IQ test and a basic cognitive screening for dementia.”
Winter didn’t mince words about the broader implications either. She said that repeatedly attacking the intelligence of accomplished individuals like Crockett speaks more to the insecurities of people like Ingraham and Trump. “Trump in particular demonstrates the wisdom of the adage my grandma told me as a child: ‘When you point a finger, three fingers are pointing back at you,’” she said.
While Crockett likely brushes off the insults, Winter pointed out that what’s more alarming is how this kind of rhetoric is fueling a dangerous cultural shift. “Trump and right-wing media are deliberately propagating forms of hate and sadism that have deep roots in racism, xenophobia, and misogyny,” she warned.
The backlash against Crockett isn’t just limited to Fox News segments. Online trolls regularly go after her for using African American Vernacular English and for simply being outspoken. Last month, after she questioned Melania Trump’s immigration history during a hearing, Crockett was flooded with racist abuse on social media, with some even calling her “ghetto trash.”
Ingraham’s latest tweet triggered a similar wave of hateful replies. Winter summed it up by saying that Ingraham and others like her are “masters of clickbait” who thrive on manufacturing outrage. “They are determined to mesmerize their audience with nonstop spectacles of insults, cruelties, and jeers,” she said.