New York Times Profiles True Victim Of GOP Gerrymandering, GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw

Seriously, WTF?

 Sunday’s New York Times ran an article about “How Lopsided District Lines Are Deepening America’s Divide,” which heavily features GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw. The Texas GOP has aggressively drawn partisan maps for Congress and the state legislature that drastically dilutes people of color’s political power, but sure let’s focus on the GOP’s “once-rising star.”

Shane Goldmacher’s article doesn’t mention the words “Latino,” “Black” or “people of color.” There’s no reference to Attorney General Merrick Garland’s lawsuit over the state's hyper-partisan maps. These “lopsided district lines” apparently just fell out of the sky.

PREVIOUSLY: Merrick Garland Sues Texas For Bigot Maps 

We’re supposed to somehow empathize with Crenshaw’s “plight,” because his party’s obscene and arguably racist gerrymandering has ensured that he has a seat for life as long as he caters to the extremist loons to his right. There’s been a big media push on framing Crenshaw as a sensible conservative when in reality, he’s just another MAGA creep only slightly saner than Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (not a high bar to clear).

Crenshaw claims the Republican Party’s future should consist of "people who can make better arguments than the left.” This is the same guy who released a 2020 campaign ad that was a cosplay action movie. Alas, now Crenshaw is a target of rightwing cancel culture.

If the intent of this article was for us to take Crenshaw seriously, Goldmacher probably shouldn’t have included this laughable passage:

Today, in Mr. Crenshaw’s campaign conference room, a doctored painting of a Texas Revolution battle scene shows him as a soldier in buckskins, fighting alongside the Trump sons as the former president on horseback pumps a fist.

“I have a great relationship with him,” Mr. Crenshaw said of Mr. Trump.

History professor Seth Cotlar tweeted the winning pun:  “Remember the LMAO”:

Remember the LMAO!https: //twitter.com/shanegoldmacher/status/1498304365626544128 …

— Seth Cotlar (@Seth Cotlar) 1646066196 

Crenshaw isn’t just pleased to have a “great relationship” with the former insurrectionist in chief; he even decorates his office with the Trump family’s stolen valor. Crenshaw is a former Navy SEAL who lost his right eye while serving in Afghanistan. The closest Trump and his useless sons came to combat was watching the movie   Navy SEALS and closing their eyes during the scary parts. Surely some part of Crenshaw resents this insulting painting.

PREVIOUSLY: Super-Christian GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw Won't Have People Questioning His Faith By Directly Quoting Him 

 Goldmacher tweeted Monday morning that he’d received "some questions about the painting in Rep. Dan Crenshaw’s campaign office so here it is, including close ups (seated portrait is by NYT photog Annie Mulligan).” We really don’t need close-ups of that ugly-ass painting. I’d have preferred an honest explanation for why Crenshaw willingly glorifies a man who incited an attack against the US Capitol just last year.

GOLDMACHER: Please do read the story, which is about, in part, how because of new district lines, Dan Crenshaw now only faces a political threat from the right (and the self-styled Trump wing of the party).

Look, Crenshaw is part of the “self-styled Trump wing of the party” and obviously wants to remain in Trump's good graces. Unfortunately, bad taste in paintings isn’t enough for the MAGA cult, who condemn Crenshaw for simply acknowledging the reality that Trump lost the 2020 election.

Crenshaw’s district was already gerrymandered all to be damned, and the new map is worse. This was supposed to protect him from a serious general election challenge. Now, his problem isn’t a Democratic candidate who’s actually tethered to reality. He’ll have to hold off the Big Lie promoters and coup enablers. Oh boo hoo! Let me wipe away the tears with what’s left of our representative democracy.

The GOP’s new Texas map reduces the number of majority Hispanic districts and outright eliminates the single Black majority district. That’s despite people of color driving 95 percent of the state’s recent population growth. That's the real problem, not Poor Dan Crenshaw’s political aspirations.

[ New York Times ]

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