Dan Crenshaw Was Caught on a Hot Mic Threatening Tucker Carlson, but Why?

Although the biggest rift in American politics is undoubtedly between Democrats and Republicans, it's important to remember that even some figures who are in the same party don't always get along. Rep. Dan Crenshaw was caught on a hot mic in late February apparently threatening former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

Following the news that Crenshaw has quite negative feelings toward Carlson, many wanted to know what motivated the animus between them. Here's what we know.

In an exchange with a British journalist, Crenshaw said that Carlson was the "worst person" and added that he had never met him.

“If I ever meet him, I’ll f--king kill him,” he continued. These comments came following a formal interview between Crenshaw and the conservative-leaning British outlet GP News, which published the hot mic footage. Crenshaw and Carlson have traded barbs before, though, and it's clear the two have never been fans of one another.

During his GP News interview, Crenshaw criticized Carlson's opposition to providing more funds for Ukraine, a position that President Trump seems to agree with. He said that Carlson “doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

The two had previously traded insults on X (formerly Twitter), where Crenshaw called Carlson a “cowardly, know-nothing elitist," and Carlson suggested that Crenshaw was one of "the dumbest" Republicans.

When Marjorie Taylor-Green confronted Crenshaw on X about the apparent threat, asking him if it was true, Crenshaw said simply, "Lol no."

Carlson, meanwhile, took the hot mic moment as an opportunity to invite Crenshaw to come do an interview. "Why don’t you come sit for an interview and we’ll see how you do? I’ll send you my address,” he wrote.

For the most part, then, it seems that the feud between Carlson and Crenshaw stems from disagreement between them about the direction of the Republican Party.

Because Donald Trump is sitting in the White House, many of those disagreements have been papered over for the time being, in part because most of the people in office either genuinely love Trump or are at least too scared to say otherwise.

The disagreements between them, though, are a reminder of just how unclear the party's future is after Trump leaves the political arena. Trump is a powerful internal unifier, in part because he seems to have a singular influence over his base. It's not clear whether other politicians will be able to recapture that same magic, and it may mean that people like Carlson and Crenshaw go at each other even more in the years ahead.

On the question of Ukraine, specifically, it seems like Carlson's position is winning out. Donald Trump has made it clear he's not interested in providing any further aid to the country and has even taken the Russian stance in suggesting that Ukraine was the ultimate aggressor in a war where their country was invaded.