WHAT GOES AROUND: GOP Congressman gets a taste of his own MAGA medicine
Congressman Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) finds out the hard way what happens when going against MAGA.
The Texas Republican lost his bid to chair the House Homeland Security Committee to Freedom Caucus member Rep. Mark Green (R-TN), after referring to never-McCarthy representatives as “terrorists.”
Crenshaw – who’s been trying to distance himself from the fringe wing of the party – called those blocking Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) run for Speaker “enemies.”
The former Navy Seal tried to walk back his statements, but it was too late.
In a historical – and not so proud – moment in the country’s democratic process, the vote for who would wield the gavel in the lower chamber went an embarrassing 15 rounds. Rep. Crenshaw wasn’t pleased.
“They are enemies now,” the congressman said.
Leaving a closed-door session, Rep. Crenshaw expressed his frustration with the 20 Republican House members bringing the legislative process to a standstill with their performative politics.
“This handful of members is very clearly looking for notoriety over principle, and that’s where it is. Anyone who thinks differently is in some kind of make-believe reality,” he said.
Rep. Dan Crenshaw on bloc of hardliners determined to block McCarthy: "They are enemies now," he told me. "They have made it clear that they prefer a Democrat agenda than a Republican one." pic.twitter.com/w0LFmbFEED
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 3, 2023
Though Crenshaw didn’t join his 139 chamber colleagues in objecting to the certification of President Joe Biden’s electoral victory, he signed onto the Amicus Brief initiated by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that challenged the election results, the Republican Accountability Project reported.
The Texas representative didn’t support the creation of a congressional committee to investigate the January 6th attack on the Capitol.
Elected in 2018, Rep. Green has been vocal about his plans to investigate Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ handling of the “border crisis.”
The retired Army Major is the second Freedom Caucus member to be given authority over a major committee – after ranking House Judiciary Committee leader, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH).
In November, Rep. Crenshaw went on a rehabilitation tour and criticized 2020 election deniers on his podcast, Hold These Truths.
“It was always a lie. The whole thing was always a lie. And it was a lie meant to rile people up,” Crenshaw said, deriding some of his peers as “political personalities” rather than “politicians.”
He did not name the members he was referring to.
