How truthful are Dan Crenshaw’s truths?
Not as true as his love for tacos but as thick as the +11 prescription glasses he needs because of his sacrifice for his country.
There’s nothing more dangerous in government than an intelligent, charismatic politician with a star-studded military record who preaches empathy and bipartisanship while knowingly spreading misinformation that defeats the mission at hand.
US House of Representative Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) is one of these people.
I am in awe of Dan’s military service and having a conversation with him seems a bit daunting to me. After all, he’s a skilled politician and I’m not. But I plunged ahead and decided to invite him for a virtual dialogue over Tex-Mex. I was thinking through the ingredients I needed for my meal when Dan texted me and said he couldn’t make it so it’s going to be a one-sided conversation in which Dan talks to the masses on Zoom, and I respond.
Watch this video to get Dan’s side of the story, or skip ahead and read our chat. I’m paraphrasing Dan here but I’ve taken care in my work.
DAN: On Jan 15th the first person who later tests positive with COVID-19 enters the US from Wuhan and Pelosi hands out impeachment pens.
THE PARROT: Yes, she handed out impeachment pens to rally support to impeach Trump. Are you suggesting Pelosi and other members of the Democratic party were not focused on the threat of the virus at this time? I don’t have all the facts so you might be onto something. Can you share evidence instead of irrelevant facts?
DAN: On Jan 17the Trump helped set up the implementation of screenings at our primary US airports.
THE PARROT: Yes, but what took place at these screenings? From my research, there is evidence — including direct comments from inbound US travelers from China and third-party analyses of airport screening processes — that indicates many of the designated US airports, which still receive Americans traveling inbound from China to this day, were implementing rudimentary screenings in mid Jan — a simple set of questions and no testing or support to ensure the passengers could find shelter to quarantine themselves upon departure from the airport — and that this is still true today, in mid-April. How were the screenings implemented then, and the ones in use today, effective? And what did the federal government do to provide assistance to the airports and state agencies to ensure people’s safety at the airports? Photos taken in mid-February at the Dallas Fort Worth airport show thousands of people in gridlock as a result of the screenings, and no one is more than a foot away from each other.
DAN: The next week health experts were saying the virus wasn’t a big threat and then Trump issues a travel restriction on China. Then after the travel restrictions were put in place, the WHO kept saying not to limit trade and movement of people between countries. Pelosi proposed a No Ban Act that would have prevented the federal government from implementing these life-saving travel restrictions.
THE PARROT: Thanks for calling it a travel restriction and not a ban. You are one of the first Republicans to refer to the restriction correctly, considering it wasn’t in fact a full ban on inbound travel from China to the US. But didn’t the WHO declare a global health emergency on Jan 30? Doesn’t the federal government have a direct line of communication with the WHO? Sure, the WHO made a choice to treat China with kid’s gloves because the WHO has full dependence on nation states to implement the WHO’s health policy recommendations. The WHO was clearly, on some level, fearful that by probing China, China would have resisted to support the WHO’s recommendation. That said, I agree with you — the WHO made a mistake here, in my opinion, and they should have taken the risk and probed the situation in China promptly and thoroughly.
Beyond this, do you think the travel restriction did any good? Any evidence yet? Many leading health policy experts and epidemiologists declared in late Jan and early Feb and declared for years prior that the primary focus in a time of a threat of this nature should be on foundational efforts like testing and social distancing, not on international travel restrictions, of which there is still no evidence to show their effectiveness in containing the spread of a virus of this caliber, but there is a mountain of evidence to show the damage travel restrictions have on the US economy. Dan, you know about the Red Dawn emails, right? The ones in which a group of top infectious disease doctors and medical experts in the federal government and academic institutions nationwide discussed on lengthy threads the incompetence of the Trump administration’s handling of the virus?
DAN: On Feb 4th, Trump gave the State of the Union in which he talked about the virus and what did Pelosi do? She ripped up the speech.
THE PARROT: I remember it well. Boy did she rip that speech up. Something must have really taken her over the edge, huh? I wonder what it could have been for her to do something so un-American? I also remember Trump vowed in his State of the Union Address to “take all necessary steps” to protect Americans from the coronavirus. Clearly, you believe he has. Can you provide 10 facts to back that up? I can provide a wealth of evidence to the contrary, and I’ll admit, I have my own moments when I behave out of turn after people in power positions fail over and over again but claim they are succeeding over and over again. I can empathize with Pelosi for ripping up that document.
DAN: In late Feb Trump and his administration submitted an emergency spending request for $2.5B to combat the virus but instead Pelosi submitted a bill to ban flavored tobacco.
THE PARROT: I remember that, too. Tobacco? In honor of tennis legend John McEnroe, “You cannot be serious?” (Pause) But wait, Democrats were quick to slam the funding request as too small for the scope of the outbreak. And that e-cig bill was in motion a long time before late Feb, and House Democratic leaders spent that week trying to pull together votes from some of its members — including Majority Whip Jim Clyburn — who felt the bill went too far. Are you suggesting Congressional leaders drop legislation they’ve been working on for months — if not years? And does Pelosi’s focus on that day mean she was negligent about the COVID-19 threat? How? Do you know what else she worked on that day?
DAN: Days later Pelosi went to Chinatown in San Francisco and proclaimed people should come and visit.
THE PARROT: I remember seeing information online about that, too. Do you have the video? Several fact checking organizations dug deep and weren’t able to find such a video in existence. If you have it, how do you know it’s real? You’re aware how easily people can alter videos, right? Here, let me show you one we made of you saying The Parrot should run for President. And didn’t Trump also claim that Pelosi said “Let’s all have the big parade — Chinatown parade.”? Fact checking organizations couldn’t find evidence of that either, and that parade Trump referred to took place on Feb 8th, more than 2 weeks before Pelosi visited Chinatown.
DAN: I’m not blaming the Democrats. We’re all working with the same information.
THE PARROT: I don’t think we are working with the same information. If we were, I don’t see how you could be saying the things you’ve said. After all, you’re a bright guy. Aren’t you blaming the Democrats when you share this misinformation? Dan, stop twitching. It’s ok to be nervous. I’m not going to bite you. I’m just going to ask you questions and I expect answers, and not the types of answers politicians are trained to give. Real, honest answers.
Look Dan, I’m glad we could talk, and forgive me for cutting this short and not engaging with the rest of your statements, but there’s a FedEx delivery person at my front door and I need to sign for the package. I also want to thank him for his service.
Correction: Nancy Pelosi did in fact visit Chinatown in San Francisco and proclaim that people should come visit.
