One month after starring in a political ad where he jumps out of a plane to beat the shit out of Antifa (other Americans), Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Houston says the country “must tone down the rhetoric and calm tensions.”
Crenshaw’s plea for cooler heads came as part of a lengthy statement released Wednesday explaining why he would not vote to impeach President Donald Trump on charges of inciting an insurrection.
“We can’t ignore the President’s behavior leading up to the violence in the Capitol last week,” Crenshaw wrote on Twitter sharing the statement. “He bears enormous responsibility for it. But impeachment is not the answer. We all need to deescalate, lower the temperature, and move forward together as a country.”
Crenshaw was among 16 Texas Republicans who did not vote to impeach the president on Wednesday. The statement, signed by three other Republicans including Rep. Chip Roy of Austin, said Democrats pushed hasty and legally weak articles of impeachment.
“We must down the rhetoric and calm the tensions, something that impeachment will not achieve,” they wrote.
In an interview with the Houston Chronicle last week, Crenshaw critcized fellow Republicans for their rhetoric leading up to the pro-Trump attack on the Capitol. “All of the members who called for everyone to come and fight and make their last stand, all of those members were scattered like cowards while the Capitol Police had to do the fighting,” Crenshaw said.
But it’s clear Crenshaw shares some of the blame in stoking tensions too.
Leading up to the Georgia U.S. Senate runoff elections, Crenshaw released a political ad called “Georgia Reloaded” wherein he skydives off a plane and lands Avengers-style atop a car belonging to Antifa. Crenshaw punches through the car window as the Antifa protesters scream in terror and the screen cuts to photos of Georgia GOP candidates David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler. The ad makes little sense. And it’s far from the tranquil rhetoric Crenshaw pretends to embody.
Crenshaw has also tirelessly worked to paint Antifa, Biden supports and the left with the same paranoid brush.
“The left uses violence,” Crenshaw wrote on Twitter in November. “The right uses their voice. The difference matters.”
“Biden supporters, faced with a loss, geared up for riots,” Crenshaw wrote a week earlier. “Businesses boarded up in fear. Trump supporters, faced with a loss, geared up to fight in court.”
The former Navy SEAL went as far as accusing FBI director Christopher Wray of “downplaying” Antifa because Wray disagreed with classifying them as a terrorist organization.
Despite Crenshaw’s objections, the Democrat-led House impeached President Trump Wednesday, the only time in U.S. history a sitting president has been impeached twice.
The impeachment trial will now head to the Senate, where it appears Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is stalling.
Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images
Fernando covers Texas politics and government at the Texas Signal. Before joining the Signal, Fernando spent two years at the Houston Chronicle and previously interned at Houston’s NPR station News 88.7. He is a graduate of the University of Houston, Jack J. Valenti School of Communication, and enjoys reading, highlighting things, and arguing on social media. You can follow him on Twitter at @fernramirez93 or email at fernando@texassignalarchive.com
