Republican politicians who have signed on to Donald Trump’s “Great Lie” that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him have, by and large, escaped a deadly insurrection and Trump’s second impeachment unscathed. Rather, the Republicans who have spoken out in favor of shunning Trump have seen consequences, such as Liz Cheney losing her leadership role in the party and being censured in Wyoming.
Every now and again, though, there is pushback in the press and that’s exactly what happened on Sunday to Dan Crenshaw. On Sunday’s edition of Meet The Press, Chuck Todd challenged the Texas representative and battled back after the politician espoused that the “largely liberal” press was misconstruing the truth about, well, everything. Todd pointed out that Crenshaw signed on to a lawsuit that attempted to throw out votes in swing states in an effort to undo election results and hand Trump the election he lost.
Dan Crenshaw doesn't like Chuck Todd bringing up the fact that he signed onto the Texas lawsuit to toss out swing state votes, then says "you guys in the press" like doing this because they're "largely liberal."
Todd: "Don’t start that. There’s nothing lazier than that excuse." pic.twitter.com/FGRS7tF8UL
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) May 16, 2021
“This is the issue that many people had, is that you’re sitting here trying to say ‘no no no, I just had a specific question.’ Yet what you did gets weaponized by the former president,” Todd said, pointing out the “unhinged” rantings that Trump continues to have about the election. “I understand you guys want to put this behind you but he is the leader of your party and he doesn’t stop talking about this nonsense.”
Crenshaw tried to counter by saying there are “many leaders” in the party, stumbling a bit before blaming the “largely liberal” press for misconstruing what Republicans are saying. But Todd wasn’t having that.
“Don’t start that,” he chirped. “There’s nothing lazier than that excuse.” Crenshaw tried to press on, saying that Republicans aren’t all focused on the 2020 election and that he wouldn’t take the “bait” he accused Todd of using here. So Todd got more specific.
“Why do we have a political party that’s rallying around this bizarre lie and mythology that the former president is doing and you guys just want to say ‘Hey, pay no attention to this,'” Todd asked.
As The Daily Beast wrote, at one point in the interview Todd asked point-blank why anyone should believe Republicans if they continue to insist on the Big Lie Trump keeps trumpeting.
“But why should anybody believe a word you say if the Republican Party itself doesn’t have credibility?” Todd asked.
It’s an uncomfortable balance many conservatives are trying to manage, trying to move forward while still staying loyal to an in-Florida exile Trump. Watching it play out on Meet the Press on Sunday shows just how tough that balancing act will be for some, especially the politicians that stumped hardest for Trump’s false claims of a stolen election in the months that followed.
[via The Daily Beast]