Republican finds creative way to blame US leadership for submersible implosion

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Prominent House Republican Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) knows exactly who was responsible for the implosion of a submersible that was on a high seas sightseeing trip in international waters away from the US coast. Was it the company that built that rickety miniature submarine? Oh no! It was clearly the fault of the Biden administration and possibly the White House itself.

What appears to be the case is an epic failure of leadership, Crenshaw told reporters Thursday. Where exactly is this leadership failure, I don’t know. Is it the White House, the Coast Guard, the Navy? I am not sure.

His reason for laying the blame for this tragedy on the feet of the Biden administration and not, say, on the people who decided to take this risky trip, the engineers who designed the craft or the company that built it. exploited knowing that it was a potential death trap, is simple: if only the American government had authorized the deployment of two specialized pieces of equipment, perhaps things would have gone well.

It should be noted that Crenshaw is a former Navy SEAL and probably knows a lot more about it than the average person. And, as a Republican, he’s also an expert at blaming the US government for everything.

Asked about his assessment on Fox News, he offered a more detailed explanation.

If you had just deployed these assets [immediately upon hearing about the crafts disappearance]they would have arrived at the scene by Wednesday morning at the latest, Crenshaw said.

At this time, there were still reports of tapping noises coming from the ocean floor.

This tapping continues to be heard and discussed on all these channels throughout Wednesday. Then it stops late Wednesday, Crenshaw added. They finally deploy this 6K ROV, the only thing that can actually get to that depth and see what’s down there this morning. It deployed there and the wreckage was exactly where they thought it would be. So where is the failure here? Failure is not putting all your options on the table.

It seems pretty ridiculous to point the finger at the US government for not doing enough to address a problem that resulted from questionable decision-making at every other level. And, of course, that didn’t happen in US waters. The implosion took place at the site where the Titanic sank, hundreds of miles from the US coast.

At the same time, Crenshaw’s response is right on the Republican mark.

This tragedy was the direct result of corporate greed, lack of government oversight, and the rich doing rich things. And then, when it went wrong, it was of course the fault of the government, which should have used all available taxpayer-funded resources to immediately bail out these wealthy people.

But at least Crenshaw found a sympathetic audience for his mental gymnastics at Fox News.

When lawmakers debated whether these people should be in charge of future clawbacks, host Trace Gallagher pulled off an impressive leap of logic and connected this tragedy to other issues plaguing conservatives.

I think that’s a fair assessment, because this administration has been criticized from the start, from Afghanistan to the Chinese ball, for responding slowly to a lot of these things, Gallagher said. And a lot of people said it should have been an on-deck event, and it wasn’t.

Klaus Marre is a writer, editor and former congressional reporter. Follow him on Twitter @KlausMarre.

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