Republican Congressman Dan Crenshaw of Texas has been a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump, but this perception changed on January 6 when the joint session of Congress certified then-President-elect Joe Biden's electoral college victory.
Though he initially supported baseless lawsuits amplifying Trump's lies against the election results, Crenshaw made clear before the certification that he wouldn't be joining the majority of his fellow House Republicans in voting to throw out the electoral college votes in Pennsylvania, Arizona, and a host of other swing states Trump lost. This resolve only deepened after a mob of pro-Trump extremists stormed the United States Capitol to stop the certification.
In Trump world, only unconditional loyalty is acceptable, and Crenshaw's "No" votes have made him an enemy to an unignorable faction of the GOP base, despite his prior support for the former President's policies.
That fact was on full display during a recent exchange between Crenshaw and a Trump supporter under the delusion the election was stolen.
Watch below.
Dan Crenshaw gets heckled by a MAGA at a recent event for refusing to say the 2020 election was stolen. Enjoy your primaries guys, dealing with the nightmare of your own creation. This is what you signed up for under your cult leader!pic.twitter.com/cOJd5sKq7c— Ron Filipkowski (@Ron Filipkowski) 1628768571
Crenshaw told the supporter:
"Don't kid yourself into believing [election fraud]'s why we lost. It's not. It's not. I'll tell you openly."
The supporter told Crenshaw, "you're wrong," before insisting—like so many Republican media personalities before him—that he had "proof" of widespread election fraud and insisted the state of Arizona and others would flip back in favor of Trump.
Crenshaw responded:
"It won't, and you've gotta flip all five states. ... This is something you've gotta accept. Is there a lot of voter fraud? Yeah, there probably is. [There isn't] Enough that Trump won? No, absolutely not. Absolutely not. Five different states? Hundreds of thousands of votes? You're kidding yourself."
The fiery exchange generated a bevy of commentary on social media.
I agree with\u2026.Dan Crenshaw? https://twitter.com/ronfilipkowski/status/1425784845494636547\u00a0\u2026— The Lincoln Watchman\ud83c\udfa9\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\udff4\u200d\u2620\ufe0f (@The Lincoln Watchman\ud83c\udfa9\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\udff4\u200d\u2620\ufe0f) 1628768959
Dan Crenshaw is about to learn that all the things Republicans say about supporting the military, the police, the Constitution, etc. are really just a big bundle of lies.https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1425784845494636547\u00a0\u2026— Grant Stern is fully vaccinated (@Grant Stern is fully vaccinated) 1628795116
seems a bit too late to jump off the crazy train now partnerhttps://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1425784845494636547\u00a0\u2026— bong juang (@bong juang) 1628793437
And now we reach the part of the story where the monster turns on its maker and destroys everything in its path.https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1425784845494636547\u00a0\u2026— CyberMindGrrl\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6 \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@CyberMindGrrl\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6 \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1628781540
Hard times for the Outrage Profiteer. He'll get primaried for this.https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1425784845494636547\u00a0\u2026— Ma! (@Ma!) 1628781607
Some soon reminded Crenshaw of his and his party's own embrace of Trump's lies that helped fuel the election delusion.
When you let people believe election lies this is what happens. This is your monkey and this is your circus Dan Crenshaw. Sadly, we all have to live under the tent y\u2019all erected!pic.twitter.com/XM7QNE9CmJ— SAM6 (@SAM6) 1628777072
They caused it. A monster has been created by Rs in charge and they can\u2019t control their manufactured crazy cult.https://twitter.com/ronfilipkowski/status/1425784845494636547\u00a0\u2026— PKD (@PKD) 1628769997
When the beast you created becomes too much for you to control!pic.twitter.com/GJQm8krBW7— Hal Stewart for Congress (@Hal Stewart for Congress) 1628776079
I'd feel a lot sorrier for Crenshaw if he wasn't a walking example of the "own the libs at all costs" attitude that helps fuel the stolen election stuff.https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1425784845494636547\u00a0\u2026— Gary Legum (@Gary Legum) 1628777331
Like all of his fellow representatives, Crenshaw is up for reelection in 2022.