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On Wednesday afternoon, the United States House of Representatives voted for a Speaker for the sixth consecutive time, but the outcome was far from what had been expected. Kevin McCarthy suffered yet another embarrassing defeat and has now lost six votes since Tuesday and this comes following President Trump's public endorsement of him.
Rep. Dan Crenshaw joined Guy Benshow Show during this tumultuous period to talk about the 20 Republicans who were challenging the GOP establishment, even going as far as calling them terrorists. In an interview with CNN’s Manu Raju he blamed them for their “notoriety over principle”, adding that the debates should have ended when McCarthy was nominated as Speaker by the House Republicans.
Rep. Dan Crenshaw on the 20 Republicans who refuse to back Kevin McCarthy:
"We cannot let the terrorists win."
Yikes.
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) January 4, 2023
Crenshaw also took matters further during an interview with Fox & Friends accusing them of narcissism and threatened to tear down the team just to satisfy their own need for self-importance. He stated that if they believed their opinion was more important than anyone else’s, then they would keep on going regardless of any consequences it might bring to their party or nation in general.
Apart from that, Crenshaw also pointed out that the 20 GOP members have displayed a total disregard for democracy by not supporting McCarthy's bid to become Speaker despite his impressive resume and qualifications for such a prominent position within Congress.
Furthermore, he argued that these individuals have placed their own interests ahead of those of their party or country as a whole which could be viewed as an abrogation of their constitutional responsibilities as members of Congress.
Check out the transcript below:
Crenshaw: It’s almost like, they’re being paid by Democrats to force us into a deal with Democrats. Like I don’t know what else to think at this point.
Guy Benson: One name that gets tossed around is Steve Scalise, whose well-liked member of leadership. It’s like, oh, well, you know what? If you gave him a shot instead of McCarthy, first of all, McCarthy would have to step aside for that to happen. Second of all, if it were Scalise, would any of this dynamic change at all? I don’t know.
Crenshaw: No, no, it would change. And we all know it wouldn’t change, which is why we can’t give in. And so those of us who are standing against this, we’re standing for principle. They are standing for notoriety. They’re standing for that extra news that because nobody ever cares about them and they’re frustrated by that, and they want that extra news that we know that we can’t give in to this because then they will always run the conference and they’ll just get another scalp and another scalp, whether it’s whether it’s Boehner or Paul Ryan or them McCarthy. Scalise would just be next and we all know it. We just can’t allow that to happen. That’s why those of us are saying like, look, you pushed us into this corner. So now we’re now we’re saying we won’t vote for anyone but McCarthy. That’s why we’re saying it, because we cannot let the terrorists win. That’s basically what’s happening. And I do have to go…
Guy Benson: When you’re talking to some of these guys and you say that you’re having these conversations. I know you’re trying to do this in good faith and you’re trying to maintain some level of respect. You also just call them terrorists, like I’m just trying to figure out. It just feels like the animosity is getting visceral and personal, which might make it even harder to get out of this quagmire.
Crenshaw: Yeah. Yes, sure is. I mean, it’s you know, it is obviously, obviously a figure of speech, but it’s you know, it is what it is. I mean, you’re holding a gun to our head. What do you want? You know, and I don’t want to hear. I’ve already I’ve already been attacked by them because I’ve used harsh language and I’m like, you started this fight. If you don’t want to get into the Octagon and get punched in the face and don’t get into the Octagon, that’s how I feel about it. I mean, this is because there’s no good faith here. The good faith has been lost. We keep talking about good faith. And then they want to play victim. No. No. So now I’m not going to apologize for harsh language. You guys know me. That’s how I am. I speak boldly. You know, and this is this is. This is terrorism tactics. It is what it is. You know, I’m not the first one to use that term, by the way. You know, it’s this is getting out of control.