Dan Crenshaw Goes to War with Pelosi on the House Floor, Says She's 'Holding the American People Hostage'
The former Navy SEAL was taking no prisoners.
In the two years since he was first elected to Congress, Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw has established a reputation as one of the Republican Party’s most outspoken opponents of Democratic power games.
But in a floor speech on Wednesday, Crenshaw took things to a new level, not only singling out House Speaker Nancy Pelosi but attacking the regimen of coronavirus lockdowns that mainly Democratic politicians have imposed across the country.
Announcing he was speaking “to unequivocally condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi,” Crenshaw launched an attack that was as politically lethal as it was solidly logical.
And it was grounded in Pelosi’s own admission during a news conference last week that she is open to negotiating a coronavirus relief package because she expects former Vice President Joe Biden to be sworn in as president in January.
“We’ve known for months that Speaker Pelosi was holding the American people hostage for political gain,” Crenshaw said in a four-and-a-half-minute address that deserves to be remembered for as long as Pelosi remains in public life.
“She said the quiet part out loud. This was never about what was best for the American people, never about honest policy disagreements.
“It was about preventing President Trump from getting any credit.”
Check it out here. It’s well worth the time to watch.
. @DanCrenshawTX just obliterated Nancy Pelosi from the House floor. pic.twitter.com/YjlEnp9jsi
— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) December 9, 2020
Echoing criticisms of Pelosi by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell earlier the same day, Crenshaw cited Pelosi’s intransigence on negotiating relief measures for Americans enduring the havoc the COVID-19 pandemic is wreaking on the economy. And as McConnell’s speech noted, Pelosi’s tactics haven’t let up.
“Even when members of her own party asked her to bring common sense, standalone, bipartisan relief measures to the House floor that would easily become law, she refused,” Crenshaw said.
“She would say over and over again that nothing is better than something. She was being honest. She honestly believed that nothing was better than something, but better for who?
“Not for the American people, that’s for sure. She believed that nothing was better than something for her and her party. It’s hard to imagine a more awful and heartless strategy.”
But for Democrats, who long ago abandoned the posture of honorable political opposition in favor of a radical #Resistance to President Donald Trump’s administration (does anyone even remember that sham impeachment effort?), the run-up to the November presidential election was a time to damage Trump in any way possible, regardless of the collateral damage to American citizens.
To Pelosi’s party, political power clearly matters more than the wellbeing of the people.
And for Crenshaw, that’s been evident in the coronavirus lockdowns nationwide — overwhelmingly on the orders of Democratic officials.
“This is unscientific nonsense. We all know it,” Crenshaw said.
“Outbreaks are not occurring because of our small businesses — our gyms, our restaurants, our salons. And yet these small businesses are in the crosshairs of cowardly politicians across the country.
“This madness has to stop.”
On social media, Crenshaw drew plenty of snarky liberal attacks — as usual — but he got plenty of appreciation, too.
Common sense truth from a stand up honorable man who paid severe penalties for his doing the right things. Now, contrast his actions regarding service to the country with the heinous, treasonous behavior of Nancy Pelosi. She is undeserving of anything but contempt.
— Ronald Cullinan (@RonaldCullinan) December 10, 2020
Enough! Stop ruining small businesses! They are probably safer then the big box stores !
— The Mooch (@The_Moochie) December 10, 2020
Thank you for speaking the truth
— Patty C (@pch1p) December 10, 2020
I am not being hyperbolic…that is the BEST thing I have seen in a very long time! God bless you Congressman Crenshaw! Texas is lucky to have you!!!
— Tim Murphy (@tmurf1963) December 10, 2020
The chances of the “madness” stopping largely depends on challenges by Trump and his supporters to the Nov. 3 election results in Democratic-dominated battleground states.
On Tuesday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court accusing officials in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin of violating the rights of all Americans to a fair election through pandemic-related measures that essentially destroyed the integrity of their own elections.
By Wednesday afternoon, 17 other states had signed on to a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the Texas effort. (Technically, it’s known as a “Motion for Leave To File Bill of Complaint.”)
The Biden presidential campaign — such as it was — was built largely on terrorizing Americans with the coronavirus. If he is sworn into office in January, that isn’t likely to change, despite the potential for one or more vaccines being available soon.
And Nancy Pelosi’s power play will have paid off — disgracefully.
As Crenshaw’s speech made clear, Pelosi has already demonstrated to any who cares to see it that she has no hesitation about holding Americans hostage to her political ambitions.
Crenshaw, the combat veteran who lost an eye fighting for his country in Afghanistan, is in a political war now.
He needs the American people on his side. And the American people need fighters like him.
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