Crenshaw not afraid to ruffle feathers
Congressman goads Dems, fellow GOP as his media star rises
New members of Congress typically keep a low profile as they learn their new jobs.
Not so for Houston’s Dan Crenshaw.
Two weeks into his first term, Crenshaw has already publicly challenged rising Democratic star and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to debate her “dangerous” ideas, and he’s traded Twitter jabs with other new members of Congress over “virtue signaling” about the shutdown. He’s also called Beto O’Rourke “weird,” suggesting O’Rourke should never run for president because of some of his views.
Crenshaw has bristled at fellow Republicans, too. Before he even was sworn in, Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL, penned a letter pub--
lished by the Washington Post disagreeing with President Donald Trump over the consequences of pulling out of Syria. Later, he shamed U.S. Sen. Rand Paul on Twitter for giving Trump “bad” foreign policy advice.
He has been featured on national Sunday morning talk shows and the “Today” show. Conservative social media sites like Townhall, the Washington Examiner and The Daily Caller rave about him nearly daily as their counterpoint to Ocasio-Cortez.
Crenshaw says none of his disagreements clash with his highly publicized call for civility in modern politics, and that he’s not just trying to pick fights. When people look closely at his comments, he said they’ll see he’s never taking personal shots at people, just challenging them on policy.
“I am doing exactly what I said I would do, confronting the ideas of the other side, not taking political cheap shots,” Crenshaw said.
While Ocasio-Cortez gets a lot more publicity, Crenshaw is also violating a long-held belief on Capitol Hill that new members should be seen and not heard from, said Larry Sabato, the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. Of the 33 new Republicans in Congress, Crenshaw stands out, he said.
“He’s riding the wave of his new fame skillfully,” Sabato said.
Sabato said as rare as it is to see a freshman member of Congress get so much attention, Crenshaw’s personal story and his ability to handle television are serving him well.
Crenshaw, 34, gained national political notoriety because of his improbable primary election victory in Houston and its suburbs by prevailing over eight other candidates. But then, Saturday Night Live inadvertently made him even more famous with a joke about his eye patch. Crenshaw wears it because he lost his right eye in 2012 when a roadside bomb nearly killed him in Afghanistan. The resulting backlash led to Crenshaw appearing on the show the next week, on the eve of Veterans Day, to accept an apology. Crenshaw used the moment to call for more civility in politics, awareness of veterans and to crack a few jokes of his own.
He says he is still adjusting to all this media attention.
“In some ways, it’s a little added pressure, but it’s a good thing,” Crenshaw recently told an interviewer with Turning Point USA, a conservative organization.
In that same interview, Crenshaw said he would relish a debate with Ocasio-Cortez, calling some of her policy positions radical.
“These are not well-thoughtout ideas,” he said. “I don’t like being hyperbolic in my language, but they’re dangerous. They’re dangerous ideas.”
Earlier this month, Crenshaw got into it with another rising voice among Democrats in Congress, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. Crenshaw posted on Twitter he was giving up his congressional pay while government workers are on furlough, adding that Democrats could end the shutdown if they came forward with a border security plan. Omar called out Crenshaw for virtue signaling and said Republicans needed to end the shutdown.
Next up: Beto O’Rourke, who told the Washington Post that he questions whether modern problems in the U.S. can “still be managed by the same principles that were set down 230-plus years ago.”
Crenshaw shot back in an interview with the Washington Examiner.
“Anybody who questions the validity of the Constitution — whether it works in the modern era — should never be president,” he said.
Crenshaw added that O’Rourke’s decision to post photos of his teeth being cleaned did not make the former El Paso congressman relatable.
“It just makes you weird,” Crenshaw said.