You Can’t Take the Heat”: Jasmine Crockett Slams Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Exit After Trump Turns on Her

When Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene stunned Washington by announcing she will resign from Congress on January 5, the reaction from one of her fiercest critics was instant — and brutal.

Appearing on CNN, Representative Jasmine Crockett of Texas didn’t hold back when asked what went through her mind after hearing Greene’s plan to step down following a public fallout with President Donald Trump.

“Honestly, I was like, you’ve got to be kidding me,” Crockett said. “You’re on the other side of the president for one week and you can’t take the heat. Imagine what it is to sit in my shoes.”

For Crockett, a Black woman representing Texas’s 30th Congressional District and a frequent target of Trump’s rhetoric, Greene’s sudden decision was more than a personal drama. It was a window into the broader reality of politics in 2025 — a reality she says she cannot simply walk away from.

“Imagine What Those Threats Look Like for Someone Like Me”

Crockett contrasted Greene’s reaction to a short burst of pressure with what she experiences on a regular basis.

“Imagine what those threats look like when you literally are someone like me,” she said.

Crockett pointed out that Trump has attacked her repeatedly, and that the climate of hostility around national politics has intensified in recent years. The interview host echoed that sentiment, noting that even as a straight white man living in California, he feels less safe than ever before — and that he can only imagine what Crockett faces as a Black woman in Texas repeatedly singled out by the president.

For Crockett, however, the threats and the harassment don’t change her sense of duty.

“At the end of the day, I know that I serve the people of Texas 30,” she said. “My job isn’t to be there and do whatever is going to make the president not be on my back, but to push forward policies that are positive for Texas 30.”

Life Under Threat: “We’re in a Different Political Environment”

In a longer conversation, Crockett described how dramatically the atmosphere around public service has changed in the decade since she first got involved in politics.

“We are in a much different political environment than we have been in the past,” she said. “Ten years ago, it was a much safer world than I think we’re in right now.”

Her strategy for staying functional in that world is part psychological, part practical. She deliberately limits her exposure to online hostility.

“I minimize how much I know,” she admitted. “I have no notifications on my phone. None.”

She acknowledged having large followings on multiple platforms, but said she largely avoids reading replies or engaging directly.

“Every once in a while, I may look at the comments and just troll somebody or block them — because my block game strong,” she joked. “But for the most part, I just don’t engage.”

Crockett also pointed to the role of coordinated disinformation and foreign interference in creating a sense of chaos and danger.

She referenced bipartisan conversations in which lawmakers have discussed concerns about foreign governments using social media to fuel division and distortion in modern democracies. A key part of protecting her own mental health, she said, is remembering that much of the noise is artificial — but the real-world consequences are not.

“I know that a lot of it is not real,” she said. “But what they do is create this alternate reality for some people, and it’s becoming so real that people get activated.”

A “Gun-Toting Texan” Who Refuses to Be Afraid

Crockett also made it clear she is not defenseless.

“I’m a gun-toting Texan,” she said, noting that she has never hidden the fact she owns firearms and holds a license to carry. “They can’t ever be like, ‘Oh, she’s one of them Democrats.’”

But even with that layer of personal security and confidence, Crockett stressed that her courage is rooted in something deeper than self-protection.

“I come from a lineage of people that… they didn’t risk their lives for me to then be able to be in a position of power and be afraid,” she said.

Still, the reality of the threat environment is undeniable. She described the U.S. Capitol Police as overwhelmed by the volume of threats directed at members of Congress.

While she said she trusts Capitol Police, she was less certain about the follow-through from other agencies that would ultimately be responsible for prosecuting serious threats.

She outlined a process in which Capitol Police do initial work on cases and then those cases should be handed off to the FBI and ultimately to the Justice Department — and suggested that it is this “follow-through” that worries her most.

“They’re Not Providing Us the Security That We Should Have”

Crockett also highlighted what she sees as a major gap in how security is allocated to elected officials.

“They are not providing us the security that we should have,” she said. “They don’t provide us any, actually.”

According to her, only a small handful of leaders in the House — the top figures in each party — receive formal security details, and that protection is determined by leadership position, not by the level of threat that member faces.

For everyone else, safety becomes a personal responsibility.

“I have to raise money,” she said, referring to the need to fund her own security measures. She credited small-dollar donors for helping her stay safe, telling supporters that just as she has their backs in Washington, they are literally helping protect hers.

On Marjorie Taylor Greene: “What’s Her Angle?”

The conversation later returned to Marjorie Taylor Greene, whose resignation prompted the original question.

Crockett admitted that she’s often asked whether she thinks Greene is unintelligent. Her answer was more nuanced — and more cutting.

She said that, recently, Greene had started “connecting the dots” on certain issues, in contrast to some Republicans who quietly acknowledge privately that things are “messed up” but won’t say it out loud.

Crockett noted that other GOP members sometimes reach out to her privately — including after high-profile incidents — to check on her safety, even when their own base might be the source of threats.

But when it comes to Greene, Crockett said:

“Marge never comes across like one that gets it. So I’m trying to figure out what her angle is.”

She admitted that, in a strange way, she appreciates that Greene is now vocalizing some of the same criticisms of Trump and the far right that Democrats have been making for years. There are people, Crockett said, who would never listen to a message if it came from her — but might hear it if it comes from Greene.

“There are certain people that if I say it, they just won’t listen because it’s me, because of the messenger,” Crockett said. “But there are people that will listen to her. Same message we’ve been trying to tell you, but whatever.”

At the same time, Crockett made it clear she sees political calculations at work. She mentioned that Greene had been interested in running for Senate, but that her polling numbers “weren’t looking good.” Crockett speculated that Greene might once again consider higher office if she believes she can rehabilitate her image or reshape the race.

A GOP in Turmoil — and a System Turning on Its Own Creators

The broader commentary framed Greene’s resignation as part of a much bigger story: a Republican Party in the middle of a messy internal reshuffling.

Greene’s decision to walk away after just a week on Trump’s bad side was described as ironic, given her years of amplifying the same forces that now threaten her. The host played a clip from January 5, 2021, where Greene promoted the effort to overturn the 2020 election and encouraged supporters to pressure members of Congress ahead of January 6 — the day that would end in a violent attack on the Capitol.

Now, years later, Greene cites the toxic environment and Trump’s constant attacks as reasons she no longer wants to stay in Congress.

The contradiction wasn’t lost on Crockett or the commentators. The same ecosystem of aggression and disinformation that Greene helped build is now turning on her. What she feels for a week, Crockett suggested, is what many Democrats — and particularly women and people of color — have been living with for years.

“The More People Who Acknowledge It, the Better”

Despite the sharp criticism, there was one cautious note of optimism.

If Greene — a figure closely associated with some of the most extreme rhetoric in recent politics — is now willing to publicly admit that Trump lies, that he failed to deliver on his promises, and that his base can be roused toward dangerous behavior, that admission could matter.

The takeaway was simple:
If more of the people who helped build this climate now begin to acknowledge the damage, perhaps the country can start to move away from it.

For Jasmine Crockett, that doesn’t mean the threats disappear or the work gets easier. It just means that, for the first time, cracks are starting to show in the coalition that normalized the very hostility she has had to endure.

And unlike Marjorie Taylor Greene, Crockett made one thing very clear: she has no plans to walk away.