Dan Crenshaw is Not The Future of the GOP
Jose Nino
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As CPAC unfolded, Conservative Inc. Golden Boy Dan Crenshaw received praise from Politico Magazine as the future of the GOP.
As seasoned political observers, we have come to learn that when any elected official receives any favorable press from legacy institutions it spells trouble.
This entire piece was simply filled with bromides hyping Dan Crenshaw as the future of the Republican Party and positioning him as the next generation of “leadership”. Indeed, this movie has been played before and it always ends the same way.
As if social media clout should be a sign of good governance, this fluff piece gushed over Crenshaw’s social media metrics:
“He might not have Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s millions of Twitter followers, but his more than 500,000 total followers make him the most popular Republican House member on Twitter, where his tweets—whether he’s slamming his Democratic colleagues, speaking fluent Spanish in a video supporting the Venezuelan people or humble-bragging about his double ax-throwing skills—are frequently shared and “liked” by thousands or tens of thousands of people.”
The aforementioned video of Crenshaw lending his support to the people of Venezuela, is perfectly in line with foreign policy advisor John Bolton’s actions, who has done everything he can to undermine President Trump on both North Korea and Venezuela.
Given some of Crenshaw’s other foreign policy statements, there is reason for America First supporters to remain concerned.
Crenshaw was one of the most vocal critics of President Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan and Syria.
“We strongly urge the president to maintain an appropriate military presence in both Syria and Afghanistan. The disastrous consequences of a premature and precipitous withdrawal haunted the previous administration, and America cannot afford to make the same mistake again.”
However, this did not matter to Politico Magazine who was enthralled by Crenshaw’s popular appeal:
“That “pop-culture brand” is something Crenshaw attained last November, when his gracious response to “Saturday Night Live‘s” mockery of his war wound went viral. In just the few months since, he has established himself as one of his party’s most prominent communicators.”
Politico Magazine also noted Crenshaw’s adept skills with legacy media:
As comfortable on “Face the Nation” and “Morning Joe” as he is on Fox News, Crenshaw has written op-eds for the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal.
Additionally, Politico Magazine brings up a good point about Crenshaw’s initial foray into Never Trumping in 2016:
“He describes himself as a “plain old conservative”—he supports free trade, wants to reform Medicare and Social Security, and thinks American troops should stay in Afghanistan (where an IED took one of the veteran’s eyes) as long as they’re needed to prevent another 9/11. That puts him at odds with Trump, whom Crenshaw has been unafraid to criticize, going so far as to call his rhetoric “insane” and “hateful” during the 2016 presidential campaign.”
Now Politico Magazine claims that Crenshaw “is more “Sometimes Trump” than “Never Trump”.
And to top it all off, neocon gatekeeper Ben Shapiro had nothing but kind words for Crenshaw:
“He has taken, from what I can see, the same approach that I have taken,” Ben Shapiro says of the congressman. “He’s not going to be in the business of pretending Trump is something he’s not, but he’s also not going to dump on Trump for the sake of a little bit of strange new respect from the left.”
In light of this praise, any America First advocate should remain very skeptical of Crenshaw. This “Sometimes Trump” is a new breed of Never Trumper who will pretend to support the president’s agenda publicly but undermine it behind the scenes.
Let’s be honest, how many times have we seen Republicans promoting cliché talking points like “good governance” or “small government” sell out to the establishment?
As Ivan Eland of Recarving Rushmore has pointed out, “warfare state leads to welfare state” logrolling has taken place numerous times in American history.” Considering that Crenshaw is willing to continue the same failed military adventures in Afghanistan and Syria, an eventual sell-out is to be expected.
So it’s safe to say that under his legislative tenure you won’t see any concerted efforts to repeal our burdensome income tax system, rollback the welfare state, or even bring us close to establishing sound money.
We must always do our homework when it comes to holding our politicians accountable. History is always the best guide to understanding politics.
Track records are the greatest indicators of how a politician will act. From what we’ve seen in the few months Crenshaw has been office, there isn’t much to get excited about.
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