It’s ironic that Dan Crenshaw of all people is talking about “performance artists” in Congress given that he is himself one of the best of them.
The Texas Representative attacked members of the House Freedom Caucus as “grifters” and claimed that he, on the other hand, is a serious legislator and a serious conservative.
Crenshaw cited RINO Rep. Adam Kinzinger as another example of a serious legislator, comparing his voting record favorably to members of the Freedom Caucus.
Crenshaw criticizes Republican colleagues
Interestingly, Crenshaw’s argument that he and Kinzinger are serious conservatives and the Freedom Caucus members are grifters largely depended on his voting record assertions.
Kinzinger, he pointed out, voted with Trump 99% of the time while many of the Freedom Caucus members voted with his positions around 80% of the time.
Crenshaw himself, who opposed Trump before he decided to run for office, is a strange one to be making this argument, which hardly makes himself look good.
If anything, the fact that the Freedom Caucus was willing to oppose Trump when they felt that his agenda was not sufficiently conservative should be to their credit.
The fact that Kinzinger voted so slavishly with Trump while he was in office and then rushed to call for his impeachment when it looked like a good career move is not the compliment Crenshaw thinks it is.
No one could, in hindsight, claim that every single proposal to emerge from the White House during the Trump years deserved to be approved without hesitation by serious conservatives who supported the president in general.
The “serious” politicians
Crenshaw’s argument was that the “serious legislators” do not get enough appreciation from the American people compared to their more attention-grabbing peers.
Truthfully, these serious legislators get plenty of well deserved appreciation from the public, which consistently and rightfully gives Congress as a whole abysmal approval ratings.
These “serious” members are the people who have successfully turned Washington D.C. into a nepotism filled quagmire where nothing noteworthy happens.
Crenshaw and Kinzinger are serious legislators in the same way Biden is a serious president. They accomplish nothing and have no convictions or opinions of their own, but they know how to keep themselves in office and look the part.
Dan Crenshaw himself has expertly cultivated an image as a true conservative candidate without having to be particularly conservative in office.
The most fundamental role of an elected career politician is not to govern, it is to pander just enough to make sure the next election is a victory.
Crenshaw can pretend otherwise but, in truth, he is as much a grifting performance artist as any member of the Freedom Caucus he accuses.
