Is the Republican Party Worth It?

Dismantling radical ideologies.

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Jamie is joined by Rep. Dan Crenshaw to discuss the state of U.S. foreign policy and why he isn’t overly concerned by a second Trump term.

The Agenda:
—Israel’s move into southern Gaza
—How we should view Qatar
—Bipartisan support for Ukraine aid
—Has Ukraine achieved a strategic victory?
—The death of Alexei Navalny
—The state of the GOP and Tucker Carlson
—Concerns over a second Trump term

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Comments (161)
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  1. Avatar photo
    SeanM76

    Great interview I would love to hear an interview with No Labels. Or maybe Gov Chris Sununu to see if he is considering a No Labels run.

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    Ben Connelly

    Great interview. Strongly disagree with him on J6 and Trump but politics is hardball. Great interview questions.

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  3. Hartzlk

    Me listening this today, I feel a real lack of urgency from Rep. Crenshaw in passing funding for Ukraine asap.
    Hopefully this has changed since this episode first dropped. Every day delayed has realtime effects in Ukraine. We're seeing it already.

    Fund Ukraine now.

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      Ben Connelly

      I’m not sure what you’re talking about. He sounded strong on Ukraine.

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      1. Hartzlk

        I didn't hear any timelines or dates offered. It's possible I missed it. (If so let me know, that would be really encouraging.)
        "Don't worry, were working on it" with no immediate deadline is worrying. Seriously worrying. It's not a done deal until all of the votes are in. If this drags on for too many weeks, let alone months, it may very well be too late. Is he waiting for Trump to become president?

        All US politicians need to see their feet held to the fire.

        Fund Ukraine now.

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          Ben Connelly

          Ok fair

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    John Lewis

    I just don’t understand the republicans’ excruciating will to excuse Trump. Unlimited will to excuse. Just an angry mob that got a little out of hand? He used procedures? What procedure? The procedural mob? This is utterly ridiculous.

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    Christophe

    Great interview. Dan makes the most realistic case for supporting Ukraine, without platitudes or delusions.

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    1. Matt

      And then utterly discredits himself by saying he'd prefer another Trump term to Biden. Do you believe in democracy or not?

      Then says Trump was supportive of Ukraine. I mean wtf.

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        Ben Connelly

        Well, I don’t support Donald Trump. But do I believe in democracy?

        Well, if a majority of Americans vote for Donald Trump over Joe Biden in November, that would be democracy…

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        Christophe

        He was, he armed them to a much greater extent than Obama following 2014. I wouldn't vote Trump in a million years but you can still point out facts.

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        1. Matt

          Trump's admin did that. Trump tried to undercut Ukraine and extort them for his own re-election purposes. We all saw it, and he basically (if not entirely) admitted to it.

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    Patrick

    I enjoyed this one. I agreed with a lot of his foreign policy positions. I do not like Trump, but I do think we too quickly gloss over that Ukraine and Israel were not invaded on his watch. I’m not sure what that says about Trump, but I do think it says Biden’s attempts at deterring Russia and Iran could have been stronger.

    I don’t like Crenshaw’s attempt to thread a needle on J6. Any president who is not actively attempting to quash violence done on his behalf is complicit in that violence. People died that day, and Trump could have stopped it at any point.

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    Patterico

    What a load of crap. If you’re going to have apologists like this on you have to push back a lot harder.

    Asserting that Trump was supportive of Ukraine without mentioning that he held up aid to Ukraine to extort them? Without mentioning his wild conspiracy that they are the actual bad guys in the election interference?

    Saying “in the end” there was a peaceful transfer of power? Yes, there was some pushback here, but not enough. Follow the thread. What if indeed Pence had done what Trump had asked? Crenshaw says that would have been laughed at. Well, a majority of Crenshaw’s worthless House delegation wasn’t “laughing” at the idea; they were busy voting to invalidate what the voters did. LOL what a laugh riot! He mostly got away with trivializing as laughable something that was far from it.

    If this guy is the best the GOP has to offer, it just illustrates why the GOP must be defeated.

    Meanwhile letting him babble his inanities and trivialize Trump’s attempt to steal an election as “procedures” is not what I want from this site or this podcast. I needed to hear someone pressing Crenshaw *mercilessly* on this and it only halfway happened, in fairness because the discussion had strayed from where the host expected it to go, but still. This sort of nonsense has to be squashed.

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    Todd T

    Clown. Doesn’t take transferring power seriously.

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    John1717

    Crenshaw rightly believes that our foreign policy should aim to put an early stop to aggressor's chaos and mayhem. As for the mayhem and damage Trump would bring, he is strangely passive. Odd to say the least.

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      Patterico

      And not pressed on this enough. I was told i would like this section of the podcast the most! It actually infuriated me the most because the pushback was far too anemic given the outrageous nature of what Crenshaw claimed.

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    George.Skinner

    Dan Crenshaw's description of the GOP electorate sounds a bit like a ranger in a wildlife preserve who's gotten comfortable being around the wild bears. Yeah, they're not as dangerous or fierce as you'd think, he says. I go out there and have to interact with them every day, and as long as you respect their space, I haven't had any problems. Until the day comes when the bear is having an off day (who knows? Maybe it got stung by some hornet while digging for grubs...) and the ranger discovers that yep - they're still wild bears and they deserve their reputation for ferocity.

    Crenshaw is tiptoeing carefully around GOP voters, trying to nudge them in sensible directions without offending their sensibilities too much. So far, he's been able to avoid too many problems, but the day is going to come when he's going to cross some barely perceptible line and face the choice of either fully embracing Trump and MAGA, or getting eviscerated.

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    1. Bobby D

      I agree with you. But he’s a politician, not a pundit. And he’s a politician who’s actually trying to accomplish a few needed things. So, I’m willing to cut him some slack.

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      1. Matt

        Not cutting anyone slack on not condemning January 6th, full stop.

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      C C Writer

      I noticed that honor isn't a part of the binary choice you give him. Honor would have been a third option. That's because problem avoidance is not the honorable choice. As for the other one, some are starting to realize that getting metaphorically "eviscerated" can only happen if you've previously given the eviscerator any leverage over you.

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