Dan Crenshaw got caught on a hot mic saying he would kill Tucker Carlson if they ever met.
That was February 2025 – fourteen months before Texas Republicans buried him at the polls by 15 points.
What he said about the voters who rejected him should end his political career for good.
Dan Crenshaw Blamed Misinformation While His Own Record Did the Talking
Dan Crenshaw went on Face the Nation and said his loss was "basically a product" of "online smears and conspiracies" – Republican voters had been duped into believing he made millions from insider trading, and Democrats spent nearly a million dollars helping push those smears on television.
Then he turned the lecture on his own constituents: "Are you going to believe everything you read online or that's sent to you in your mail?"
A four-term congressman – a former Navy SEAL – just told the people who elected him four times that they were too dumb to vote correctly.
Trump adviser Alex Bruesewitz watched the same interview and said Crenshaw was auditioning for a left-leaning TV commentary gig following his loss.
He's not wrong.
Ukraine Billions, the 2020 Election and a Death Threat Against Tucker Carlson
Crenshaw's record gave Texas Republicans plenty of real reasons to show him the door.
He voted for $40 billion in Ukraine aid while his own district was being transformed by illegal immigration – and when the entire Texas congressional delegation traveled to the border to interview ICE agents, Border Patrol officers, and ranchers, Crenshaw was the only one who didn't show up.
Toth called it out directly on Tucker Carlson's show: "The only person from the congressional delegation that was not there – Dan Crenshaw. It's like, why don't you want to know about what's going on down here?"
He voted to certify the 2020 election and told his own podcast audience that Republicans who objected "knew their cause was a lie."
He called members of the House Freedom Caucus "performance artists" – his term for the conservatives that voters sent to Washington to fight.
Then he threatened Tucker Carlson on a hot mic – "If I ever meet him, I'll f***ing kill him."
When fellow Navy SEAL and podcast host Shawn Ryan raised questions about Crenshaw's wealth and stock trades on his show, Crenshaw sent him an Instagram message referencing "my boys at 6" – which Ryan, given the Tucker threat still fresh in the news, interpreted as a physical threat.
Crenshaw's lawyers then sent Ryan a formal demand to remove content, issue a public apology, and stop discussing him entirely.
A congressman who silences veterans with legal threats is not a victim of misinformation.
He's a man who picked fights he couldn't win and blamed the crowd for watching.
Texas Republicans Knew Exactly What They Were Doing in the 2026 Primary
The Tucker Carlson interview with Steve Toth racked up over 700,000 views on YouTube.
It wasn't a smear campaign.
It was two men saying out loud what hundreds of thousands of Texas Republicans had been thinking for years – that Crenshaw had been in Washington long enough to forget who sent him there.
Wade Miller, executive director of the Center for Renewing America, said the problem wasn't misinformation but "repeated exposure to information and Dan's own condescending attitude."
Data analyst Ben Larrabee of Turning Point Action put it in plain numbers: as Crenshaw's district was redrawn to be more conservative, "his new conservative base started voting for a more conservative representative. Ain't more complicated than that."
Trump didn't endorse Crenshaw before the March 3 primary.
Ted Cruz endorsed Toth.
Toth won by 15 points in a district Trump carried by 23.
Crenshaw stood up on national television and told those same voters the lesson they need to learn is to stop believing everything they read.
A man with that kind of contempt for his own constituents didn't lose because of memes.
He lost because his voters were paying attention – and now he's on television proving them right.
Sources:
- Anthony Iafrate, "Booted Rep Dan Crenshaw Tells Margaret Brennan 'Misinformation' Played Role In Stunning Loss," Daily Caller News Foundation, March 15, 2026.
- "Dan Crenshaw vs. Steve Toth primary is a fight over who's the real RINO," KSAT, February 18, 2026.
- "Rep. Crenshaw says he'd 'kill' Tucker Carlson in hot mic moment," Axios, February 25, 2025.
- "Podcast host Shawn Ryan says Rep. Dan Crenshaw threatened to sue him for defamation," CBS Austin, December 12, 2025.
- "Crenshaw's Post-Defeat Tour Sparks Fury On The Right," The Blaze, March 16, 2026.