(Julianna Frieman, Headline USA) Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, attacked conservative social-media influencers, including Phillip “Catturd” Buchanan, on Wednesday night over claims that Crenshaw was the force behind proposed 40% pay raises for members of Congress that helped drive backlash against the stopgap Continuing Resolution.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Tuesday released the full text of the bill funding the federal government until March 14, 2025. It included a provision giving lawmakers a sizable cost-of-live adjustment for the first time since 2009.
But right-wing outrage over the spending concessions promptly forced the bill back to the negotiating table ahead of a Friday deadline that would allow Congress to adjourn for its winter recess.
President-elect Donald Trump weighed in, demanding that GOP lawmakers call Democrats’ bluff about a government shutdown.
“Anything else is a betrayal of our country,” Trump wrote in a joint statement with Vice President-elect JD Vance.
Crenshaw’s profanity-laced rant came one week after he complained on the Free Press that members of Congress had not received a pay raise in roughly 15 years—even though their annual salary remains roughly three times the national average.
🚨 NEW: DC sources tell me that @DanCrenshawTX is spearheading the effort to get a pay raise for Congress
Last week when he was asked about his stock trading, Crenshaw whined that members of Congress haven’t had a pay raise since 2009.
Crenshaw ALMOST got his way, with a pay… pic.twitter.com/YToGixSDb5
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) December 18, 2024
Nick Sortor, an independent journalist and social-media influencer, said “D.C. sources” had informed him that Crenshaw was “spearheading” the pay raise, prompting the Texas lawmaker to respond via X.
“Yeah, or maybe you’re a f**king lying piece of s**t because I’m not even on the YES list for the whip team,” he wrote.
“Never have been,” Crenshaw continued. “But hey, whatever gets you pathetic bottom feeders your click bait. F**king incels.”
Yeah or maybe you’re a fucking lying piece of shit because I’m not even on the YES list for the whip team. Never have been. But hey, whatever gets you pathetic bottom feeders your click bait. Fucking incels. https://t.co/nc0i3NwBub
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) December 19, 2024
Buchanan, a popular online s**t-poster and Army veteran, subsequently slammed Crenshaw in the replies, saying the congressman did not need to be rewarded with more money at the taxpayers’ expense due to his alleged insider trading and support for foreign wars.
“Yeah get it right -Dan Crenshaw is the America-last, Ukraine-first war pig who doesn’t need a raise because of all the money he makes when he miraculously became a stock expert since joining Congress,” Buchanan wrote under his well-known @catturd2 handle.
Yeah get it right -Dan Crenshaw is the America-last, Ukraine-first war pig who doesn’t need a raise because of all the money he makes when he miraculously became a stock expert since joining Congress.
— Catturd ™ (@catturd2) December 19, 2024
Crenshaw took offense at the X influencer’s scathing characterization, so he spewed more curse words and insults in a direct public reply.
“Anonymous coward like ‘catturd’ talking s**t without any evidence. I’m used to it,” Crenshaw wrote.
“Sorry I was guy fighting the wars that little b**ches like you would never dare to,” he continued. “One of us has actually served this country and continues to, while losers like you make money being trolls on social media.”
Anonymous coward like “catturd” talking shit without any evidence. I’m used to it. Sorry I was guy fighting the wars that little bitches like you would never dare to. One of us has actually served this country and continues to, while losers like you make money being trolls on…
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) December 19, 2024
The GOP congressman then took aim at social-media influencers while defending his scale of wealth.
“I live in Atascocita, just outside Houston. If you think I’m ‘rich,’ you’re a f**king idiot,” Crenshaw wrote.
“The people getting rich off politics are the ‘influencers’ like Catturd selling their platforms to the highest bidder,” he continued. “Sorry to break to it yall, that’s the truth.”
How many Ls are you looking to rack up tonight, Dan?
I’m starting to feel bad for you.
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) December 19, 2024
Social media users mocked Crenshaw’s aggressive attack on Buchanan—including original poster Sortor, who asked, “How many Ls are you looking to rack up tonight, Dan?”
According to a September 2023 interview with Tucker Carlson, Buchanan, who reportedly lives on a modest ranch in the Florida panhandle, enlisted in the Army right out of high school.
“I spent my 18th birthday in a foxhole in Fort Dix, New Jersey, in basic training,” he told Carlson.
He stumbled into his unlikely path to success as a Twitter troll in the 2010s due to his memorable name and clever commentary, which garnered retweets from big-name pundits and political figures, including President Donald Trump himself.
“I never thought I’d have 100 followers,” he said. “It just got legs somehow and it took off.”
Ep. 67 Meet the man who made Adam Kinzinger cry. Catturd in the flesh. pic.twitter.com/FBkgJSDsIF
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) January 22, 2024
Crenshaw, once thought to be a conservative rising star, was later exposed to have been one of the globalist World Economic Forum’s recruits for its Young Global Leaders program (along with top Trump allies Tulsi Gabbard, Elise Stefanik and Vivek Ramaswamy).
“The more I think about it, it takes a lot of gall for Eye Patch McCain to attack moms who are worried about baby formula as, quote, pro-Russia,” Carlson said during a 2022 broadcast of his former Fox News show, slamming Crenshaw (who reportedly lost his eye in combat) after he prioritized Ukraine over the needs of American citizens during a critical supply-chain shortage. “That is probably one of the most outrageous things I have ever heard, now that I’m thinking about it.”
Julianna Frieman is a freelance writer published by the Daily Caller, Headline USA, The Federalist, and The American Spectator. Follow her on Twitter at @JuliannaFrieman.
Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.