It’s hidden behind a paywall, but a famous Texan named George Foreman spoke candidly about his love of “tomato cans” in his April 1991 interview with Playboy magazine. (Which, of course, was the only reason why I bought the issue, and anyone who claims otherwise is a dirty, filthy liar.)
Foreman wasn’t talking about literal tomato cans: It’s a boxing term.
As Wikipedia defines it, “A tomato can is usually a fighter with a poor record, whose skills are substandard or who lacks toughness or has a glass jaw.” The New York Times added, “The term’s origins are unclear, but perhaps it’s as simple as this: knock a tomato can over, and red stuff spills out.”
Between his March 1987 bout with Steve Zouski (who was already three-deep in an eventual seven-fight losing streak) and his Sept. 1990 showdown with Terry Anderson (who went on to lose six of his next seven fights), George Foreman won 24 fights in a row, “earning” a title bout against Evander Holyfield.
None of his 24 opponents were good fighters in their prime. They were all tomato cans — easy pickings for Big George.
Only one of the 24 fights even went the distance.
That’s because boxing is a business, and part of the gamesmanship is record-padding: Until it’s time for a big-fight payday, matchmaking is a risk-reward proposition.
No boxing manager worth his (smelling) salt would risk derailing a big-money title fight by putting his client in the ring with an overly dangerous opponent. Instead, you wanna feed your fighter safe, reliable, low-calorie tomato cans — popping ‘em open and gobbling ‘em up — until it’s time to cash in your lottery ticket.
Here’s how Playboy described Foreman’s comeback:
In the ring, [Foreman fought] a succession of tomato cans, fighters whose main talent was their ability to get knocked senseless. Foreman accommodated them, and in so doing proved that, though he had lost his waistline, he probably hadn’t lost all of his punch. Unfortunately, he seemed to deliver his haymakers only slightly faster than the U.S. Postal Service delivers mail. Still, that didn’t stop him from starching a nonstop series of stiffs.
That’s why there are so many mismatches in boxing: The sport’s economics incentivize it.
Not so in politics, where the two parties (in theory, at least) nominate the strongest, most capable candidate. You can’t cherry-pick tomato cans because the other side chooses your opponent for you.
Unless, of course, one party convinces an opposing tomato can that she’s actually a world-beater!
And this brings us to Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Tex.) and her bid to be the next senator from George Foreman’s home state.
“I’m done with going along to get along, and it gets us nowhere,” Crockett said during her [Texas senate] announcement Monday. “I’m done watching rural hospitals and public schools close their doors. I’m done watching parents be afraid to send their kids to school or the mall or the movies because Republicans have flooded our streets with guns. I’m done with the Senators sitting around doing nothing, while Trump takes your hard-earned money, skims your Social Security, slashes Medicare, and gives tax breaks to billionaires. I’m done. I’m done watching the American dream on life support while Trump tries to pull the plug. The gloves have been off, and now I’m jumping into the ring. I’m asking for your support to be the next United States Senator from the great state of Texas.”
Jasmine Crockett also boasted that she’s the one that “Trump is afraid of.”
But Republicans, it seems, aren’t exactly trembling in fear. The incumbent Texas senator, John Cornyn, posted on X last summer:
Run Jasmine, run! https://t.co/T12vTDjC8z
— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) July 18, 2025
And it turns out that the reason Crockett decided to run — by her own admission! — was because of polls funded, promoted, and publicized by…
…the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
This article broke on NOTUS (News of the United States) at 5:14 yesterday evening. Because of the late news drop, you probably missed it:
Republicans’ Senate campaign arm has actively worked behind the scenes to encourage Rep. Jasmine Crockett to jump into the Senate Democratic primary in Texas, believing she will be the easiest opponent to beat.
Just a month ago, there was grave concern among Republicans about the Senate race, where incumbent Sen. John Cornyn is running for reelection. Democrats were running two formidable candidates, and Cornyn was caught in the middle of a bruising three-way primary that Republicans were concerned would weaken the eventual nominee.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee put out a poll in July with Crockett’s name included, which showed her as the leading Democrat in a hypothetical matchup.
“When we saw the results, we were like, ‘OK, we got to disseminate this far and wide,’” a source familiar with the process told NOTUS.
The fact that Crockett was included in the poll was no accident.
Instead of being an “accident,” the opposite was true: It was a deliberate GOP attempt to promote a narrative that the weakest, most far-left Texas tomato can was actually an uber-popular, can’t-miss political juggernaut.
The article continued:
Following the NRSC’s polls, other surveys began to include Crockett and showed similar results: She was surging in the primary.
The NRSC then worked to amplify those polls and is taking credit for helping “orchestrate the pile on of these polling numbers to really drive that news cycle and that narrative that Jasmine Crockett was surging in Texas,” the source said.
[…]
But the Republican efforts didn’t stop there. In what the source dubbed an “AstroTurf recruitment process,” the NRSC had “allies that were seeding these new polls pretty aggressively into progressive digital spaces.”
There were several recruitment phone calls and text messages that went out to Democrats and high-propensity voters across the state that would urge voters to contact and advocate for Crockett to join the race, the source said.
“That was really a sustained effort that we orchestrated across the ecosystem for several months,” the source said. “Not only was it getting positive news coverage, but her office was directly having traffic driven to it in terms of phone calls urging her to run.”
The GOP’s “AstroTurf” PR plan was a spectacular success. That’s not speculation: In her senatorial announcement speech, Jasmine Crockett point-blank credited it for motivating her to run!
Crockett herself even admitted she was encouraged to jump into the race by all the positive polling she was seeing ahead of her announcement.
“The more I saw the poll results, I couldn’t ignore the trends that were clear,” Crockett said during her announcement speech.
Crockett did not return a request for comment.
(Gee, can’t imagine why she didn’t wanna comment, eh?)
And that’s the story behind the story of the Quixotic senate bid of Jasmie Crockett, Texas tomato can — and the Republican operatives who made it happen.
Recommended: We’re Gonna Solve the ‘Affordability’ PR Problem by the End of This Column. (Seriously.)
It wouldn’t be the first time Crockett played fast and loose with the truth:
With Jasmine Crockett announcing her Senate run, now feels like the perfect time to revisit our reporting exposing where she’s really from.
She’s built her entire career around the “Ghetto Girl from the Hood.”
The truth? Her upbringing was the complete opposite of what she… pic.twitter.com/bO9kefSFMh
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) December 8, 2025
The Ballad of Jasmine Crockett
Born in a hospital in Missouri
Attended private school — which was not free
Was raised in the lap of luxury
Moved to Texas at the age of 23
Jasmine, Jasmine Crockett, the Texas tomato can!
One Last Thing: The Democrats are on the ropes, but make no mistake: The donkeys are still dangerous. We need your help to succeed!
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