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dan-crenshaw.jpg

Did Dan Crenshaw Run a Nazi Facebook Group? Not Exactly

By Mike Redmond | Politics | November 13, 2018 |

By Mike Redmond | Politics | November 13, 2018 |


dan-crenshaw.jpg

Thanks to Pete Davidson and Saturday Night Live’s penchant for avoiding an advertiser boycott slash lack of a discernible backbone, Republican Congressman-Elect Dan Crenshaw has become a media darling after he graciously agreed to a “Weekend Update” appearance where he got to crack jokes on TV and look like one of the non-crazy Republicans, which sadly, worked like gangbusters. The whole thing was a win-win that only an idiot would’ve passed up.

But it was only a matter of time until the Crenshaw situation reached its Milkshake Duck moment, and this (now-deleted) tweet from Kara Brown became the loudest talking point as liberals justifiably blanched at the sight of way too many media outlets tripping over themselves to write glowing reviews of Crenshaw and Davidson’s “unity” horseshit sandwich.

HE WAS IN A NAZI FACEBOOK GROUP. HAVE YOU PEOPLE LOST YOUR MINDS

There’s just one tiny problem: This tweet isn’t exactly true. But that hasn’t stopped it from spawning a litany of internet comments that either directly embed it or take it to 11 by outright claiming that Crenshaw personally wrote racist Facebook posts. Which is unfortunate because there are plenty of criticisms to be made about Crenshaw’s politics without making shit up.

So here’s how this talking point got started. Back in August, Media Matters for America ran a report on five Republican candidates that were administrators of “Tea Party,” an alt-right, racist Facebook page that unsurprisingly peddles in every insane, conservative conspiracy theory that the internet farts up. However, Crenshaw’s involvement is particularly thin. When the MMFA report ran, he’d literally been an admin for less than 90 days, and his only activity on the Facebook group included sharing two campaign videos. That was it.

However, Crenshaw got pissy when reached by Newsweek to comment, but his story tracks.

“They contacted me once and said they’d sign me up as an admin, in case I ever wanted to post,” said Crenshaw, who removed himself from the group after Newsweek contacted him. “I quickly forgot about the page and never saw it again. How exactly is this news?”

First off, it’s news because you’re a congressional candidate who’s been directly linked to a Nazi-adjacent Facebook page with a history of promoting hate speech. That’s the very goddamn definition of news, Dan. But I’m getting away from my point. In Crenshaw’s defense, his activity with the group does sound innocuous, and the admin process for pages is exactly as he describes it. Should he have done a little research before letting his name get attached to some rando Facebook page? Yup. Did he probably just see the 94,000+ followers along with the surface-level conservative bent and figure, what the hell, I’ll drop in a campaign video or two? That’s square in the realm of plausibility.

What’s getting lost in the mix and bears constant repeating is the fact that neo-Nazis see their values and beliefs reflected in members of the Republican Party. Unfortunately, that’s not as sexy as the specious headline of “Dan Crenshaw Moderates Nazi Facebook Group.” But it should never stop being all kinds of f**ked up that in the year 2018, nationalism has reached such a crescendo that goddamn Nazis have become part of the mainstream political discourse instead of relegated to side plots in Breaking Bad.

If you want to go after Dan Crenshaw, don’t use a thin story that over-exaggerates his short role as a Facebook admin. Instead, go directly to his campaign website where you’ll find policy positions that read like a Proud Boys handbook.

Our country is frighteningly close to violating our Constitution by allowing the left to shout down and shame anyone who disagrees with them. This is happening regularly on college campuses all over the country. From Berkeley to Boston, leftist agitators are trying to “enforce” political correctness by shutting down speeches that they disagree with. Even some liberal commentators are finding this problematic and have called them out for their anti-American ways. College should be a place for the free and open exchange of ideas, not a place where groupthink and political correctness are enforced, and anti-conservative thugs reign supreme.

We need to encourage and inspire young conservatives to stand up to this leftist bullying. I do not back down from fights, and I am not about to back down from this one. The future of our country is at stake.

Psst. You want to know who leftists don’t want on their campuses? Nazis.