Civics 101: Democratic Texas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett teaches Civics 101 on the floor of the House

Looking at the United States Constitution and witnessing what we are seeing every day since President Trump was sworn back into office, Crockett says a lot of what our current president is attempting to do goes against the Constitution. She called Trump out on his recent moves, and she called out Republicans. On the floor of the House the week of February 6, the fiery Congresswoman from Texas offered u a lil’ Civics 101 class of her own.
Congresswoman Crockett stated, “We’ve heard a lot about the fact that Democrats have been talking a lot about Elon Musk. And let me give you a news alert. We are not going to stop talking about him. We’re going to keep talking about him until he is out of here. Now, if he wants to be elected, appointed, and confirmed to something, then so be it. But as of right now, we have somebody that, for whatever reason, I don’t know if you all are just trying to play in our face because you think we’re stupid or if you literally just cannot see the difference in a George Soros or a Bill Gates; but let me give you a little bit of the difference.”
“Number one, George Soros nor Bill Gates have ever somehow decided to turn off the spigot of money that was going through to various organizations and agencies, to the extent that it had actually been ordered by law that they should have access to it to the extent that people are dying. Some people have died as a result of this antic, and now farmers are screaming that they may lose their family farms because we have over five hundred million dollars worth of food that is sitting and not going anywhere because of the attempt to shut down USAD.”
“So, let me tell you, that is the big difference between the two of them, and let me also tell you that the big difference between Democrats and Republicans is that we don’t just say we believe in the Constitution. We walk it like we talk it. What does that mean? That means that if we believe in the Constitution, we don’t just pick out the Second Amendment and say it is limitless; nor, do we pick out the First Amendment and say that it is limitless.”
“The thing about the Constitution, Crockett continued, “Is that it has always been a balancing test. There are limits to this, and right now, what we continue to hear from a certain side of the aisle is that there are no limits to this lawlessness. In fact, there are limits. And I can tell you that one of those limits typically is around hate crimes. You may or may not know that when it comes down to it, if somebody decides they want to send something hateful through the U.S. Mail, they can go to prison for up to five years, so yes, there are always going to be limits.”
“Elon Musk boosted false USAID conspiracy theories to shut down global aid. While Musk was boosting those lies about USAID and stopping money from going to save things such as Head Start, somehow, the only money that didn’t stop was the money that he and his organization were getting. I don’t know how you can have him (Elon Musk) be the watchdog as well as the guy that is literally living off of the government. If we want to talk about government welfare, it looks like Elon Musk. It is my understanding that just yesterday, a new contract was approved for approximately three hundred million dollars for Elon Musk.”
“Listen, I just want you all to be honest. You want to sit here. You want to lie because, so often, we hear the admission, well, “Yes we did lie.” In fact, Elon Musk admitted that he lied-when he was in the Oval Office yesterday. If it’s a lie that will get you into office, such as saying I know nothing about Project 2025, yet on day one, you literally do everything that you can to implement it (Project 2025), including making sure that you put one of the main architects of Project 2025 over the OMB, its ok, so long as you get the power that you seek. The problem is that the game is going to be on the American people. When I say the American people, I mean all of us. Unfortunately, I am also stuck in the Twilight Zone because of the lies that were allowed to be propagated, just like when you’re talking about vaccines and all this nonsense. Right now, in my state of Texas, there is an outbreak of measles. What they are finding is that there’s been so much disinformation about vaccines that kids are sick right now with measles that they would not have to have if they just trusted doctors and experts instead of “randoms” online.”
Congresswoman Crockett concluded by saying, “I will end by saying this, Mr. Charman, because I know we believe in Jesus in this Chamber. In John 8-32 it says, “The truth shall set you free.” So maybe we would focus on a little bit of truth in this Chamber.”
As for me, the writer of this weekly column on Civics, civics is everything. Understanding the basic laws of our nation and abiding by them is critical. If we can’t follow our own U.S. Constitution, what’s the point? Congresswoman Crockett is brave and daring and not one to be silent. We need more leaders like her today.
Jasmine Crockett is an attorney and politician who has been a U.S. representative from Texas’ 30th Congressional District since January 2023 as a member of the Democratic Party. Her district covers most of South Dallas County, Central Dallas, Dallas Love Field Airport, and parts of Tarrant County. In the 118th Congress, Crockett served as the Democratic freshman class representative between the House Democratic leadership and the (approximately) 35 newly-elected Democratic members. Crockett was named as co-chair of the 2024 Harris-Walz campaign. Crockett is currently a part of the Democratic Congressional Progressive Caucus. Crockett previously represented the 100th district in the Texas House of Representatives. Before that, she was a public defender for Bowie County, Texas, and had previously practiced law in a private firm.