By David French
Monday, November 12, 2018
Given the spirit of our times, things could have gone so
differently. On November 3, when Saturday
Night Live comic Pete Davidson mocked Texas Republican Dan Crenshaw’s eye
patch, saying he looked like a “hit man in a porno movie” — then adding, “I
know he lost his eye in war or whatever” — it was a gift from the partisan
gods.
A liberal comic had gone too far. He had mocked a man who
was maimed in a horrific IED attack, an attack that had taken the life of his
interpreter and nearly blinded him for life. He mocked a courageous man’s pain.
And thus Crenshaw had attained the rarest position for a Republican politician:
aggrieved-victim status. He was free to swing away.
Instead, he refused to be offended. He noted that the
joke was bad, but his handling of the whole affair was — as the Washington Post described him — “cool as
a cucumber.” Then Saturday Night Live
called. The show wanted to apologize, and they wanted Crenshaw on-air.
It was the act of grace heard ’round the nation. Davidson
came on the “Weekend Update” set and offered his apology, and then Crenshaw
joined. He took some good-natured shots at Davidson — Crenshaw’s phone had an
Ariana Grande ringtone (Grande recently broke her engagement with Davidson),
and he mocked Davidson’s appearance — but then things took a more serious turn.
Crenshaw briefly spoke of the meaning of the words “never
forget” to a veteran, saying that “when you say ‘never forget’ to a veteran,
you are implying that, as an American, you are in it with them.” Then he
addressed his next words to Davidson: “And never forget those we lost on 9/11 —
heroes like Pete’s father. So I’ll just say, Pete, never forget.”
Davidson’s father was a firefighter. He died trying to
save others when Davidson was a young boy. In one moment, Crenshaw not only
honored a true hero, but also softened American hearts towards Davidson,
casting him in a new light. He’s a man who carries his own pain.
It turns out that there’s a market for grace in American
politics. Within minutes, clips of the apology and Crenshaw’s tribute to
Davidson’s dad rocketed across Twitter. As of this morning, the YouTube clip of
the moment — not even 48 hours old — already had more than 5 million views. And
it seems as if this is no act. This act of grace was an expression of who Crenshaw
is.
In a long Washington
Post profile, Crenshaw spoke of the distinct trail he wants to blaze in the
age of Trump. Speaking of the president, he said, “His style is not my style.
I’ll just say that. It’s never how I would conduct myself. But what readers of
the Washington Post need to
understand is that conservatives can hold multiple ideas in their head at the
same time. We can be like, ‘Wow, he shouldn’t have tweeted that,’ and still
support him. . . . You can disapprove of what the president says every day, or
that day, and still support his broader agenda.”
Crenshaw’s young. He’s 34. And that means that he stands
a good chance of being in Washington long after Donald Trump is gone. If he’s a
voice of the post-Trump GOP, then perhaps the future isn’t as bleak as critics
may fear.
There are those who argued before the election that, to
punish the GOP for Trump, even conservatives should vote against Crenshaw. Vote
against a good man for the sake of beating a bad man not on the ballot. That
would “send a message,” they said.
But it turns out that one of the messages we needed to
hear came from Crenshaw himself. Even in the age of Trump, a Republican
politician can be his own man. He can show that grace isn’t weakness and that
reconciliation can sometimes be more compelling than division.
As the Post
noted in its profile, Crenshaw is at the very start of his “next mission.”
He’ll face the bitter cynicism of Washington, the drudgery of daily politics,
and the festering divisions in a polarized capital. His future is not yet
known. But when faced with a clear political temptation — to indulge in a
period of partisan pugilism — he chose a different path. He (and Davidson) gave
Americans a moment they needed. It turns out it was also a moment they wanted.
Crenshaw’s next mission, then, is off to a very good
start.
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