Texas Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw said that “left-wing” violence in U.S. cities is “well-coordinated” to hold Americans “hostage” in order to obtain power through the Democratic Party.
Appearing on Fox News’ “The Story with Martha MacCallum” to react to ongoing violence in Portland and other cities, Crenshaw told viewers to “calm down and take a step back and look at the big picture.”
“What are we seeing?” the Texas congressman asked rhetorically. “I think fundamental what we’re seeing is a hostage crisis. You have a lot of violent left-wing mobs, Antifa mobs saying that if you don’t give us power, if you don’t give our political wing, the Democratic Party, power we’re gonna keep terrorizing your cities.”
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Crenshaw explained his contention that antifa’s “political wing is the Democratic Party” by pointing out that “Democrats can’t for the life of them condemn antifa and these violent mobs.” He then cited several examples.
“Whether it is sugarcoating their behavior as mostly peaceful or Jerry Nadler saying antifa is a myth. Remember Eric Swalwell said he’s never heard of antifa. Remember the governor of Washington refused to even acknowledge that CHAZ existed at first. There’s a pattern here.”
“And here’s another thing,” he said. “You look at words from Nancy Pelosi. What did she say? She says, you know, this is all Trump’s fault. If we were in power, none of this left-wing terrorism would be happening right now. So their messaging is coming from different angles, but it is very well coordinated and it is this: They’re gonna hold you hostage, hold you the American people hostage until you give them power.” (RELATED: Sen. Tom Cotton: Denying Antifa Is In Portland Is Like ‘Denying There Were American Tanks In Baghdad’)
The Texas congressman said that proof of his argument lies in the fact that normally protesters “have some kind of demand.”
“There’s something that would stop their protest, maybe a policy change,” he concluded. “But that never happens. Even when Portland defunds their police it doesn’t stop the mob. They continue because it’s the power that they’re after.”