Rep. Dan Crenshaw on Sunday defended President Donald Trump’s efforts to oust Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro but stopped short of endorsing land strikes on the country.
Speaking with CBS’ Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation,” the Texas Republican said the administration’s pressure campaign shows Trump is taking Venezuela “much more seriously.”
“Deterrence almost always works, especially when you are dealing with dictators like Maduro,” Crenshaw said. “They only listen to one thing, which is power. And Venezuela has been largely left alone by American administrations. The Western Hemisphere has been left alone, and I think this president is taking it much more seriously.”
In recent weeks, the Trump administration has engaged in multiple strikes of boats they say are full of drugs being smuggled into the United States.
Last month, the president hinted at expanding military operations from the sea to the land, an idea Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) last week said he would support.
On Sunday, Crenshaw wasn’t quite ready to back that idea, telling Brennan there would have to be “a longer conversation about doing something to that extent.”
“Talking hypotheticals about invading Venezuela, I mean, that’s not really what we’re talking about right now,” Crenshaw added.
But while Crenshaw praised Trump for the steps he has taken so far, he drew a line between himself and another prominent Republican: Tucker Carlson.
The Fox News anchor-turned podcaster recently invited Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes to his show. The interview was soon widely condemned as antisemitic by much of the GOP after the show aired.
During the interview, Carlson said Republican supporters of Israel — including U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) — suffer from a “brain virus,” while Fuentes said the “big challenge” to unifying the country was “organized Jewry.”
“I have had a long-standing feud with Tucker Carlson,” Crenshaw said Sunday. “I’m glad everyone else is also waking up now to how bad of a person he is. He’s changed a lot over the last 20 years.”
The GOP is still dealing with the fallout of an explosive review of a string of antisemitic texts POLITICO first reported last month.
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