Right-wing Congressman Dan Crenshaw of Texas was welcomed by Republican voters when he first joined Congress in 2019. Outlets like Politico Magazine painted him as the potential future of the Republican party. Despite critiques of Trump during the 2016 campaign, Crenshaw assured during his own 2018 campaign that he was a supporter of then-President Trump's agenda.
Now in his second term in the House of Representatives, Crenshaw is falling out of favor with the MAGA base. For starters, he committed a cardinal sin of accurately acknowledging the validity of the 2020 presidential election results. After Trump's election lies prompted a deadly failed insurrection, Crenshaw acknowledged the role Trump's delusions played in sparking the riot, but stopped short of voting in favor of his impeachment.
And in recent comments, Crenshaw took aim at the most pro-Trump wing of Congress: the House Freedom Caucus, whose members include such darlings as conspiracy theorist Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, gun enthusiast Lauren Boebert of Colorado, suspected child trafficker Matt Gaetz of Florida, and others.
Watch below.
Wowie! Dan Crenshaw trashes ‘Freedom Caucus’ members Greene, Brooks, Gohmert, Gosar, Jordan, etc, as “performance artists” while defending Kinzinger. “We have grifters in our midst .. lie after lie after lie.” 🍿 pic.twitter.com/hoaGOcOx9s
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) December 7, 2021
Crenshaw said:
"There's two types of members of Congress. There's performance artists and there's legislators. The performance artists are the ones that get all the attention. ... In the first two years of Trump's presidency, when Republicans were in control, when we were voting on Donald Trump's agenda, who do you think was at top of that list voting with Trump and who do you think was at the bottom? ... You know who was at the bottom? Everybody in the Freedom Caucus. All of them. ... We have grifters in our midst."
Crenshaw also noted that anti-Trump Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois—who's long been reviled by the conservative party for his opposition to Trump—voted with the former President 99 percent of the time during his first two years in the White House.
Conservatives didn't take kindly to Crenshaw's dose of reality.
Who told you this was a good idea @DanCrenshawTX?
Neo-Conservative is just another way of saying “not conservative”
Every actual conservative scorecard exposes these lies. Actual conservatives oppose bankrupting America, spying on Americans, and crony surveillance capitalism. https://t.co/Uu7dqiBsWc
— Warren Davidson (@WarrenDavidson) December 7, 2021
Cyclops RINO https://t.co/K2LthI61FM
— BarelyMissedMe🩸 (@BarelyMissedMe) December 7, 2021
Many of us have been calling Dan Cringeshaw a cuck and fraud for eons now. https://t.co/BCR5gFf3IR
— Ames (@RestingTwitFace) December 7, 2021
Imagine people still supporting Dan Crenshaw. https://t.co/krM0zJSTwG
— I Shame Liberals (@NotAPajamaBoy) December 7, 2021
I too am totally confused by the mixed messages and behaviours of @DanCrenshawTX ... Is he a patriot or a RINO? If we are not sure, maybe he needs replacing - we do not need another last-minute Judas. https://t.co/8GN68LxORK
— Patriot Ken (let's go Brandon) (@ken_stamper_sr) December 7, 2021
Crenshaw is a snake https://t.co/xyUzVyJgnT
— X Nascar Fan (@BevG03) December 7, 2021
Democrats were surprised at his comments, but stopped short of commending him.
Have to question his motives. He’s as greasy as any of the republicans. https://t.co/cCdquzTMwq
— The Cheesesteak Guy (@WorksGrill) December 7, 2021
Please stop trying to normalize a cretin like Dan Crenshaw just because he's saying one *nice* thing... https://t.co/mQyuSH7laU
— World’s #375th Yankee fan (@ArmchairBrain) December 7, 2021
Somewhat refreshing, but he still has a very large mountain to climb. https://t.co/LA26ohdVD1
— Pete Mullen (@seagullnotes) December 7, 2021
The GOP infighting continues.
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Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images