Thursday night on MSNBC’s All In, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) took a sharp swipe at millions of Americans, declaring that President Donald Trump’s supporters could not call themselves “patriotic” if they approved of the federal indictment of former FBI Director James Comey.
Host Chris Hayes teed up the segment by framing Comey as “the former director of the FBI, a guy who refused to turn the bureau into Trump’s personal plaything, [who] has now been indicted on two federal charge.”
Crockett followed with a sweeping attack, saying, “Yeah, so here’s the thing. I want the American people to know that when you stand up to a bully, you win. Do not back down. Do not bend. You allow them to go and wage their threats. If everybody starts to bend, for sure, what is left of our democracy will be gone. And unfortunately, that is exactly what he wants. And even more sadly, is that many of his followers agree with this. And I am thinking to myself, how is it that you can call yourself American or patriotic when you literally don’t understand who we are as Americans? When you literally are okay with throwing out the Constitution, when you’re okay with someone just deciding, you know what, This is the end result that I’m seeking and so just figure out how to get there versus doing what you are supposed to do.”
Her comments reflect a broader trend in today’s political discourse: Democrats and media allies increasingly try to define patriotism on their own terms—while dismissing dissenting voices as dangerous. What gets lost in this narrative is a basic principle conservatives have long defended: patriotism means holding government officials accountable, not shielding them from scrutiny.
Crockett continued, “Listen, even as Democrats, we had our fair share of issues with James Comey but that’s not a reason to prosecute someone. And so here’s the deal, if he decides that he wants to continue down this path, I think that they’re going to continue to lose. I don’t see the former FBI director saying that he is going to just go ahead and enter into a plea deal, or he’s just going to take this lying down. I think that this is someone who absolutely will fight this to the end.”
The larger question here is simple: since when is questioning powerful federal bureaucrats “un-American”? Conservatives see accountability as not only constitutional but essential to preventing the very abuses of power that erode liberty. If federal officials are immune from prosecution, ordinary citizens lose faith in equal justice under the law.
In the end, Crockett’s attack on Trump supporters reveals more about Washington’s growing double standard than about the people she criticized. For millions of Americans, patriotism isn’t about protecting political elites—it’s about protecting the Constitution from them.
