Share
Commentary

Dan Crenshaw Blasts Dem Response to Soleimani Killing: 'This is the Blame-America-First Crowd'

Share

Since he arrived in Congress with the Class of 2019, Rep. Dan Crenshaw has made a habit of crushing Democratic complaints about the Trump administration.

On Sunday, he outdid himself.

During an interview with The Daily Caller about last week’s targeted strike that took out Iranian terror mastermind Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad, the Texas Republican and former Navy SEAL outlined, in indisputable logic, why the strike on the general was justified.

And how wrong Democrat arguments are.

“I understand there’s a feeling out there that ‘we don’t want to get into a fight,’” Crenshaw said. “That’s fine, but they’re asking the wrong question.

Trending:
KJP Panics, Hangs Up in Middle of Interview When Reporter Shows He Isn't a Democratic Party Propagandist

“What they should be asking is, ‘At what point do we actually draw a red line?’”

To Crenshaw, ankle-biting attacks from leftists such as Rep. Ilhan Omar, the Minnesota Democrat who wasted no time coming out with criticism of the Soleimani strike, were an example of Democratic logic at work.

“And it seems to me that Rep. Ilhan Omar and many others basically have no red line. They’ll continue to move those back just to avoid any kind of confrontation, and they’ll always blame America first,” he said.

“This is the ‘blame-America-first’ crowd, and they stick by their guns on that creed regularly.

“It’s not a governing strategy. It’s not a national security strategy by any means, because you never set any parameters for yourself. You never stand up for yourself.”

Crenshaw pointed out that the Soleimani strike followed a series of Iranian provocations that had grown increasingly serious, from downing an American drone over the Persian Gulf’s Strait of Hormuz in June to the Dec. 29 missile attack on an Iraqi army base that killed an American contractor.

As ABC News reported, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blamed Iranian-backed militants for that attack.

“And then they orchestrated an attack on our embassy with the help of Iraqi Shiite militias,” Crenshaw said, referring to last week’s short-lived siege of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

“We have to ask ourselves, ‘At what point do we actually respond?” Crenshaw said. “‘At what point do we make it clear there are consequences when you mess with the USA?'”

Related:
Photo of Jesse Watters Sparks Backlash Online After Internet Sleuths Notice Glaring Problem

When President Donald Trump ordered the drone strike that killed Soleimani, Crenshaw said, he answered that question.

“And I think that’s what the Trump administration did,” he said. “I do think it was the right move.”

Making Soleimani’s moves more galling, Crenshaw said, was that the Iranian commander felt free to fly openly into Iraq’s airport to meet with Hezbollah commanders — likely to plot their anti-U.S. strategy.

“At a certain point we have to say, ‘Enough is enough,'” he said.

Now, Crenshaw knows more than most the direct cost of U.S. engagement in the Middle East — that eyepatch he wears is a testament to his willingness to give his life while wearing the country’s uniform.

But he also clearly understands the cost of not engaging in the Middle East — which would be allowing the murderous mullahs of Iran and other bloody-minded U.S. foes to dictate conditions in the region on their terms.

That might be what Democratic rabble-rousers such as Omar and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez want.

Do you think the Democratic vision of Middle East policy is "cowardly"?

It might even be what the party’s elders and presidential candidates want — after they disgraced themselves with attacking Trump’s decision to take out one of the country’s most effective foes.

But it’s not a way for a serious country to make its way in the world, much less the world’s preeminent power to behave.

“Thank God they’re not in power, because it’s a cowardly way to go about international affairs,” Crenshaw said.

“Cowardly” is an ugly, crushing word.

But it’s all the more crushing for being the truth.

Truth and Accuracy

Submit a Correction →



We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.

Tags:
, , , , , , ,
Share
Joe has spent more than 30 years as a reporter, copy editor and metro desk editor in newsrooms in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Florida. He's been with Liftable Media since 2015.
Joe has spent more than 30 years as a reporter, copy editor and metro editor in newsrooms in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Florida. He's been with Liftable Media since 2015. Largely a product of Catholic schools, who discovered Ayn Rand in college, Joe is a lifelong newspaperman who learned enough about the trade to be skeptical of every word ever written. He was also lucky enough to have a job that didn't need a printing press to do it.
Birthplace
Philadelphia
Nationality
American




Conversation