Anti-McCarthy GOP’ers: Dan Crenshaw Returns to ‘Terrorists” Label

• On Sunday, Dan Crenshaw reversed his earlier comments that anti-McCarthy Republicans were “terrorists”.
• Crenshaw stated that he wanted to “sincerely sorry” to his colleagues on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
• Jake Tapper told him that he didn’t want them thinking that he believes they are terrorists.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw retracted his comments last week in which he called some of his GOP colleagues “terrorists” following their refusal to support Kevin McCarthy’s House Speakership bid.

During the interviewOn CNN’s “State of the Union”, the Texas Republican explained to Jake Tapper that party infighting had been “heated last week” while also clarifying that he didn’t intend to call McCarthy objectors terrorists.

Crenshaw stated, “Things get heated. Things get said.” “Obviously, to people who took offense by it, it’s pretty obvious it’s a turn of phrase. It’s used in context of intransigent negotiations.

“Look, I have thick skin. I’m called horrible, vile things, by the exact same wing of that party that I was fighting that moment, so it was surprising that I was not more sensitive to it,” he continued. “To the extent that it offended my colleagues, I sincerely apologise to them. I don’t want my colleagues to believe that I think they’re terrorists. This is clearly a phrase you use in an intransigent negotiation.

Crenshaw had last week been strongly critical of conservative anti-McCarthy defenders, telling Fox News Radio that they “cannot allow the terrorists to win.”

Sen. Ted Cruz — a fellow Texas Republican — criticizedThe use of the term “terrorists” in a Friday episode on his podcast, “Verdict With Ted Cruz.”

“My view is to’settle down. The senator spoke of the leadership struggle at the time and said that it would work out and that it would be fine. “That kinda heated rhetoric, calling people terrorists, is not conducive to anything resembling Republican unity.” It’s not conducive for having strong leadership in the House for the next two years, engaging in vitriole and personal attacks.

After 15 rounds of voting, in which McCarthy was opposed by a number of conservative lawmakers, McCarthy won the election on Saturday. won the speakership vote 216-212 over Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York.