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.
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.
Some soon reminded Crenshaw of his and his party's own embrace of Trump's lies that helped fuel the election delusion.
Like all of his fellow representatives, Crenshaw is up for reelection in 2022.
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