Texas congressman on President Trump’s military deployments and Republican comments on antisemitism

(CBS, KYMA) - Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) spoke with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday about President Donald Trump's military deployment.

According to Brennan, President Trump deployed a few thousand more Marines to join the 50,000 forces in Iran, prompting her to ask Rep. Crenshaw, who was a Navy SEAL, what that signals for him, to which the congressman said:

"I think it signals that there's a seriousness of supporting whatever contingency operations might be needed. I don't think it...People should take that as a boots on the ground deployment, especially with only 5,000 troops. These type of units are, you know. they could be for evacuating American citizens out of Gulf allied countries. They could be for a number of things. So, I take it as a seriousness of committing to the situation, which is exactly what is needed. If you're going to do this, which we have done, you need to see it through. That's what I would be advising the president. I'd be advising the president to take very seriously the Straits of Hormuz. This is something we practice on a yearly basis. This is why he's asked allies to come to our aid, to protect it, because we practice this as an exercise yearly with 30 plus nations. So, I think he's doing what's needed."

During the interview, Brennan and Crenshaw talked about the congressman's last appearance on Face the Nation about him feeling the need for moral clarity regarding antisemitism in the U.S.

Brennan brought up some of the things Republican lawmakers have said last week, with Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn) saying, "America is a product of English Christian culture. Muslims don't belong in American society."

She also brought up Rep. Randy Fine's (R-Fla.) comments where he said, "We need more Islamophobia, not less. Fear of Islam is rational."

When asked what he thinks of the language, and if he thinks Republican leaders should speak up about it, Crenshaw said:

"I still think it's fairly fringe. I mean, the truth of the matter is, radical Islamism is bad, right? We've always known that. That should not be...that should not be a controversial statement at all. There are plenty of peaceful Muslims who live among us...But, you know, that's not a mainstream narrative by any stretch. I think trying to fight it internally will probably gives it more, a lot more air than is necessary. We've seen that to be the case as you know, there's a Republican conflict ongoing right now over Israel and the antisemitism issues, and so, you know, one could make the argument that speaking out against it has only inflamed it. So, look, I still think that's very fringe. I don't think that's certainly not the administration's position. And like, we're going to go after radical Islam, that's why we need to fund agencies like DHS, and that's what we're going to do."

To watch more of Brennan's interview with Crenshaw, click here.