Exposing the Truth Behind Shawn Ryan Fight & Drug Boat Strikes | Dan Crenshaw

Summary

Episode Overview

Podcast: The Rubin Report
Host: Dave Rubin
Guest: Congressman Dan Crenshaw
Title: Exposing the Truth Behind Shawn Ryan Fight & Drug Boat Strikes
Release Date: December 29, 2025

This episode features a candid conversation between Dave Rubin and Congressman Dan Crenshaw. The two discuss topics ranging from recent controversies involving Crenshaw and podcaster Shawn Ryan to U.S. counter-narcotics strikes on drug smuggling boats, the intensifying political climate, and legislative priorities heading into the 2026 election. Throughout, Crenshaw shares behind-the-scenes insights into both national security issues and personal attacks in the media, all while emphasizing his focus on substantive policy work.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Addressing the Shawn Ryan Feud and Social Media Distractions

• Context:
  Crenshaw begins by addressing ongoing social media drama and false accusations made by former Navy SEAL and podcaster Shawn Ryan.
• Main Points:
  • He expresses frustration with the "dumb...ridiculous social media fights" that distract from his work ([00:00]).
  • Crenshaw clarifies allegations made by Ryan, specifically the claim that he threatened to assault Ryan with SEAL Team Six members — which he categorically denies ([00:12]).
  • He reveals efforts to correct the record personally and his reluctance to engage in online tit-for-tat, but notes, "I also have to defend myself...you're accusing me of a crime" ([00:21]).
  • Crenshaw highlights the disconnect between media clickbait and the actual substance of his work for his district.

Notable Quote:

• "I have better things to do...I'm about to go vote on a bill...streamlining permitting that we desperately need in our district...It's just a distraction from, like, real things we're working on." — Dan Crenshaw ([07:40])

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2. U.S. Anti-Drug Operations in Venezuela and the Caribbean

• Context:
  Rubin and Crenshaw turn to recent U.S. military operations targeting drug boats linked to the Maduro regime and Mexican cartels.
• Main Points:
  • Crenshaw discusses a recent intelligence briefing on strikes against drug networks in Venezuela and the Caribbean ([01:13]).
  • He explains the rationale for classifying these cartels and networks as terrorist organizations, citing their direct involvement in trafficking and facilitation by the Maduro regime ([01:13]-[02:14]).
  • Describes U.S. strategic deterrence; after recent strikes, “they're having trouble finding people who will actually pilot these boats now" ([03:15]).
  • Addresses controversy over the legality and morality of "double tap" strikes, defending them as compliant with law and precedent set in previous administrations ([03:44]-[05:57]).

Notable Quotes:

• "You have to target the networks. And these networks we've defined now as terrorist networks...they really run everything." — Dan Crenshaw ([01:13])
• "If you miss the first shot, you take the second shot and that's what's happening here...the legality of it is pretty clear." — Dan Crenshaw ([04:15])

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3. Political Media, Criticism, and Crenshaw’s Record

• Context:
  The conversation shifts back to the nature of political attacks and Crenshaw’s own career and legislative priorities.
• Main Points:
  • Crenshaw rebuts rumors about personal wealth accumulation and implications of insider trading, noting transparency in his finances ([06:16]).
  • He enumerates concrete legislative achievements: flood mitigation funding, infrastructure permitting, Medicaid reform, leading work on cartel and fentanyl legislation, and children’s health care debates ([08:30]-[10:26]).
  • Shares frustration over being accused of crimes and emphasizes the impact these allegations can have on family and reputation ([11:54]).

Notable Quote:

• "You can't lie about me committing a crime, whether it's insider trading or...conspiring to assault you. Like, these are criminal things...My daughter's going to read this stuff one day." — Dan Crenshaw ([11:54])

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4. The Republican Policy Agenda Looking Ahead to 2026

• Context:
  Rubin asks Crenshaw what Republicans must do to avoid electoral losses in the 2026 cycle.
• Main Points:
  • Crenshaw identifies health care as a legislative priority, suggesting that Republicans have an opportunity to put a "very conservative face" on reforms ([12:45]).
  • He previews upcoming votes on health care bills aimed at lowering costs and fixing premium tax credits.
  • Emphasizes border security and price reduction through deregulation.
  • Focuses on the need to better communicate wins from the “Working Families Tax Cut Act” (formerly “big beautiful bill”) and credits Republicans with forestalling automatic tax increases ([14:12]).
  • Criticizes infighting and urges the GOP to “deliver on Trump’s agenda” because "the agenda is popular and it works for the American people" ([15:49]).

Notable Quotes:

• "We really got to sell people better on...the Working Families Tax Cut act...because that's exactly what it was. I don't think people knew really that their taxes were about to go up in December massively. We prevented that." — Dan Crenshaw ([13:30])
• "The agenda is popular and it works for the American people." — Dan Crenshaw ([15:49])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• "I hate these dumb...ridiculous social media fights that media people just like to create."
  — Dan Crenshaw ([00:00])
• "You only need to blow up a couple boats before they get the signal."
  — Dave Rubin ([03:26])
• "Obama did it in Libya. Jefferson did it...pirates. This authority from the executive branch goes back a long way."
  — Dan Crenshaw ([05:41])
• "I've got an opponent...he's voted with Democrats to oppose property tax decreases in Texas. Like what?...And you're telling me that you're coming at me from the right."
  — Dan Crenshaw ([09:19])
• "Politics is really something. But, you know, my first day in politics, I'm on Saturday Night Live. And so you become a target, naturally."
  — Dan Crenshaw ([11:54])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00–01:02: Crenshaw explains origin and frustrations of the Shawn Ryan controversy.
• 01:02–02:14: Briefing on current U.S. anti-drug operations in Venezuela and the Caribbean.
• 03:26–05:57: Legality, morality, and strategic success of boat strikes – “double tap” discussion.
• 06:16–11:41: Dissecting financial misinformation, legislative work, and personal attacks.
• 12:45–15:49: 2026 election strategy, Republican legislative agenda, policy messaging.

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Tone and Language

The tone is straightforward, direct, and sometimes combative—reflective of both Crenshaw’s military background and current political climate. Crenshaw uses specific examples and direct language to rebut critics, while Dave Rubin maintains a conversational, at-times incredulous approach, particularly around the social media drama.

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Summary

This episode provides an inside look at both high-stakes national security policy and the personal toll of political infighting and misinformation. Crenshaw seeks to center the narrative on tangible legislative achievements and policy battles, while pushing back hard on rumors and false accusations. The discussion is sharply focused on substance over spectacle, with both host and guest emphasizing the need to communicate their accomplishments directly to the public ahead of a critical election year.

Transcript

[A]

I hate these dumb. These. These ridiculous social media fights that media people just like to create. Yeah, I get it. Look, it's. That's their livelihood. They need and get. They. And. And Dan Crenshaw equals engagement.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. But I also have to defend myself, you know, so people ask me, well, why do you even engage? Well, I'm like, well, because you're accusing me of a crime. You know, you accuse me of conspiring to. To gather a bunch of SEAL Team six guys and come assault you. So what he said was that I. That that text was that I would get them together and go, quote, unquote, whoop his ass. Never said that. Right. And so I'm like, what are we doing here?

[B]

All right. Congressman Dan Crenshaw. This is my last interview today in D.C. i've done, I think, about a dozen of them. I've asked every question I can ask. So where do you want to start?

[A]

Here.

[B]

You want to do end of year? You want to do Venezuela? You want to do what? What do you want to do?

[A]

You know, we. You. You told us you want to do Venezuela. I think. I mean, it's an interesting topic right now. All right, let's do Venezuela.

[B]

Because, you know a little something about the military.

[A]

Yeah. And also, like, what. You know, justifying what we're doing.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

In the. In the Caribbean and in the eastern Pacific, actually. We just. Just came from a briefing Secretary Hexat, Secretary Rubio, Chairman of Joint Chiefs, gave us. I thought it was pretty good. I think the explanations are good, and I think the intent is good. So where do we begin? I mean, look, we've changed the dynamic here. The war on drugs, you know, making it a law enforcement operation, making it an interdiction operation. It has never worked. You have to target the networks. And these networks we've defined now as terrorist networks. There's a lot of good reason for that. They act as terrorist networks, especially the cartels in Mexico. And they really run everything. You know, there's train that Aragua and Venezuela. There's the Maduro regime itself, which has been indicted by our own courts like him. Plus, a lot of his senior officials at administration have been indicted on drug charges. So it's not like they're allowing this to happen. They actively. They actively manage it. It's the only country that actually does that. Like, not all the countries.

[B]

It's sort of the purposeful driver of their existence.

[A]

It is. I mean, and they. You know, and what else do they do? I mean, they're bring in all of the all of the adversaries that we wouldn't want in our hemisphere. The Russians really control Maduro, the Cubans control Maduro. The Chinese are pushing in. You know, there's hundreds of thousands of Chinese citizens that live there working those oil fields, trying to, trying to uplift that regime. China does that very specifically. Again, they're China's. China's role is more of an economic warfare as usual. So the President is absolutely right to take these kind of bold actions. And he's also within his legal means. You know, once you're, once you're a designated terrorist, as we've seen plenty of times over the course of the last 25 years, yes, we can strike you. And these strikes are, I think, very well planned, very well vetted. There's a very rigorous process that happens with these strikes. Multi source intelligence. We have to know what's on the boat and who's on the boat and what their intent is. Otherwise there won't be a kinetic operation. As the administration said, this is about deterrence. And the proof of it is in the Caribbean part there. There has not been a strike in four weeks. Why is that? Because they're having trouble finding people who will actually pilot these boats now.

[B]

Right, because you only need to blow up a couple boats before they get the signal. Right, right.

[A]

Then they've gotten, I think they're starting to get the message.

[B]

So, okay, so having seen the intelligence having just come from this hearing, did you see the, I don't even know if you're allowed to say, but have you seen the classified video that deals with the double tap that got everybody freaked out?

[A]

I have not seen it.

[B]

But you got an explainer on.

[A]

Yeah, I mean, just, I know from my own history how this works. So let's talk about the double tap quick. And then, you know, people freaked out about that. You can't kill them. They're survivors. And my point would be, okay, guys, let's look at 20 years of war. We're going after Al Qaeda or ISIS or whoever it is. And you know, they're in a building and we blow it up and we see a guy run out of that building, what do we, we're not going to just, we don't like assume that he just should not be killed.

[B]

Right.

[A]

They keep shooting. You take that second shot. If you miss the first shot, you take the second shot and that's what's happening here. You know, these, again, the, these are designated terrorist networks and designated terrorists. And so yes, you can argue the morality of that. All you want, but the legality of it is pretty clear.

[B]

Right. So do you think this is just a little bit of people falling for the mainstream narrative? Like, it just came out so quickly, like, oh, my God, something so illegal must have happened here. And it's like they must have been waving a white flag and da, da, da. Where. To me, it seems, again, putting aside the morality, not. Well, not exactly putting aside the morality, but the basic direction of it is that people agree with Trump. We've just had it with drugs coming to our shores illegally.

[A]

Yeah. And I think Trump derangement syndrome has a part to play here. You know, look, I, I think his opposition is going to be against whatever he does just because it's him. And, you know, there's. I think that's honestly a lot of it. And it's. That's, that's the cynical view. Maybe some people do have a moral question about, about shooting at survivors, but again, that's why I use the analogy. It's like, you didn't have that moral question right before under the Obama administration, doing very similar things. Things. I mean, if they're a bad guy.

[B]

They'Re a bad guy.

[A]

Land, sea, what's the difference? And, and so I think that analogy is important.

[B]

Right. And your argument is, having been to this briefing, that you're confident that they did the right thing within our framework.

[A]

Well, yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I mean, legally, I think it's very defensible. Yeah, I remember, like, you know, yeah, these, these, these kind of measures are very defensible. Obama did it in Libya. Jefferson did it in, you know, Barbara. Re. Pirates. This. Because this, this authority from the executive branch goes back a long way.

[B]

But let's shift altogether. No segue here. Sean Ryan, podcaster, former Navy Seal, guy was kind of in a. In a sort of ancillary way going after you a little bit. I feel like. Yeah, I feel like you've probably got some response on that.

[A]

Yeah, I mean, like, can you give.

[B]

Us the backdrop here for people that don't.

[A]

The backdrop's a little convoluted, but, like, look, what it comes down to is this. He has accused me of the same tired old tropes that you see online that I've seen online for years that have been debunked for years. This idea that I've gotten very rich off of Congress, there's no evidence for that whatsoever. People just make up numbers and they post them. And, you know, Dan Crunch Russell gets. It's clickbait. It's pure clickbait. It's pretty Easy to disprove, you know, since we. Since we actually disclose all of our. Of our trades and all of our financial disclosures. The most I've ever had in a brokerage account is about $40,000, and I have a lot less than that now. So that just puts it in perspective, like, this idea of making millions. And he. He said, I hired the famous DJ Steve Aoki for my birthday party. Not true at all. I reached out to him privately when he said this, like, a year ago, and I'm like, you know, you can just reach out to your fellow team guy. And he never did. Never ask any questions, and. But then recently said that that message was a threat. And it's funny because it's like we can just pull up the message, right? It's not a threat. I was like. I was like, hey, why don't you reach out to me? My. My. My boys at six, you know, I just happen to be hanging out with them. And so he says that, well, because you said Seal Team 6, it means you threatened me. I'm like, no, I just said they told me that. I literally. It's like, we can read this. It's not like. It's not like we misunderstood a conversation here. And, and so, you know, look, man, I. I have better things to do. You know, we're about to go vote on a bill that. That streamlines permitting that we desperately need in our district for. For building oil and gas pipelines, for building infrastructure. On Thursday, I'll be putting up my bill to. To stop funding for hospital children's hospitals that do transgender treatments on minors. Like, this is big stuff that we're trying to work on. I work on flood mitigation. Right. You know, we've been able to get $200 million or so back to my district for flood mitigation projects. Because, remember when I ran for Congress, that was. That was in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. Every single day, we are trying to do something that actually matters. I mean, this month, it's all about health care. And, you know, I'm on the health subcommittee for Energy and Commerce. Like, I hate these dumb. These. These ridiculous social media fights that media people just like to create. Yeah, I get it. Look, it's. That's their livelihood they need to get. And. And Dan Crenshaw equals engagement. Yeah. Yeah. But I also have to defend myself. You know, so people ask me, well, why do you even engage? Well, like, well, because you're accusing me of a crime. You know, you accuse me of conspiring to gather a bunch of Seal Team 6 guys and come assault you. So what he said was that, that that text was that I would get them together and go, quote, unquote, whoop his ass. Never said that. Right. And so I'm like, what are we doing here? And it's just the Internet is blown up all about it. You told me. I envy you that you haven't even seen it. But it's just a distraction from, like, real things that we're working on, right?

[B]

Well, every now and again, you just miss a story, you know what I mean? And you go, boy, I'm lucky I missed that one. And somehow this is one that I just missed.

[A]

Is so ridiculous. It's. It really is. But again, look, we've got real things to work on. I've got an opponent who, whose main argument against me right now, and this is the primary opponent, by the way, the guy who considers himself a real Trump advocate. One of his main arguments, that he put a website up about me, number one, because Dan Crenshaw voted for Trump's big, beautiful bill. It's like, are you crazy? This guy has voted against flood mitigation efforts in our. In our state. Is he a state rep? Sorry, I should have said that. He's a state rep and a politician longer than I have in a state where it's, by the way, very easy to get things done because the Republicans run everything. Right. You should be. You should have a good record. He's voted with Democrats to oppose property tax decreases in Texas. Like what? I don't even know what his reasoning was for that. He voted. This is a guy who voted against bulletproofing police cars. I mean, it's just wild stuff. Like, you're against flooding, you're against Trump's big, beautiful bill, you're against bulletproofing police cars. And you. And you're telling me that you're coming at me from the right.

[B]

It doesn't really sound like it's going to fly in Texas.

[A]

Well, this guy's lost multiple elections. Lost Kevin Brady, he's lost to our Montgomery County's current county, county judge. And he'll lose again. Look, because once people see the record and understand, look, what are we really voting on? We're voting on what I'm going to do for you. Not some stuff that somebody else is making up or what you know, or this tit for tat about reputational assaults, about what I'm going to do. And people know what I'm going to do. I'm the lead on everything that has to do with the cartels and the fentanyl problem. I'm the one who goes and creates that legislation and has led that task force in the past. I work on defense intelligence. I literally chair the subcommittee. It's a huge responsibility, Keeping America safe. I work the energy issues for my state because I'm on energy and commerce and I work the healthcare issues for my state and energy and commerce. You know, I had the chance to, to, to, to be a hugely influential. When we did the Medicaid reform, that really saved us over a trillion dollars in the long term without really hurting the system itself, even though Democrats claim that longer story, we can debunk everything they say about it. So that's real work. You know, that's, that's stuff that, like, that's the reason you run.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Because there's a lot of cons to running in politics, as you well know. Right. Especially if you would go on Saturday Night Live.

[B]

You've been to real war.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. But, you know, then that was at least black and white.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, politics is really something. But, you know, my first day in politics, I'm on Saturday Night Live. And so you become a target, naturally. Yeah. You know, and I expect some of that when it comes to, like, the Sean Ryan things. Look, I expect a huge degree of criticism, people making things up. But you can't lie about me committing a crime, whether it's insider trading or whether it's. It's conspiring to assault you. Like, these are criminal things. Like, you know, and I do have to defend my reputation. My daughter's going to read this stuff one day. And, and so I do it, and I do it with what I. Where I try to put the least amount of effort possible into it so I can continue to do the job that I was sent here to do by my constituents.

[B]

So speaking of that job, what is it that Republicans are going to have to do over the next 11 months to not have a massive loss come November 26th?

[A]

Man, you're getting a million different answers on that one. I think we need to figure out health care this month. Right. Because we're a looming. So we're going to vote on health care bills that I think are really good this week, but they're going to be partisan. They shouldn't be. Democrats should agree with what we're voting on, but they don't. Right. It's all about opposition for them. But we are going to face, just like we faced before, another government shutdown, and it's going to be about these enhanced Premium tax credits. Right. These, these tax credits for Obamacare that came in the wake of COVID And we're going to have to figure out a way to manage that. I'm part of that conversation. I have some really good ideas and I think there's conceptually, I think there's actually a path forward and I think an opportunity to remake Obamacare for the very conservative face on it. And I could get into the exquisite details on that, but I don't think we have time. And it's complicated. Health care is policies complicated. You do that. I think we've got some wins under our belt. We've secured the border. That's what people wanted. Let's get prices down. And you get prices down with deregulation. We've already, we know what we've got to do. We really got to sell people better on, on the big beautiful bill, the working, the Working Families Tax Cut act, because that's exactly what it was. I don't think people knew really that their taxes were about to go up in December massively. We prevented that. Right. So some of this say that a lot.

[B]

So some of this you think will be once the bill kicks in. In essence, that's what several people have said to me today, that people will then start seeing the fruits of it. Right now they don't. They kind of just don't see what it did.

[A]

Well, what the thing is, is what it did was stop your, your taxes from increasing. They were automatically by law going to increase. And I bet you most Americans weren't prepared for that. And I think we need to say that more often. Yeah, we. You know, the Democrats are literally running on the midterms on, on the idea that, that your taxes should have been raised because they all wanted that. They did not want those, those. What would the 2017 tax cuts to be extended. That's effectively what we did. We've got to say that more. I think that's why we, that's why, that's why the president, I think, changed the name from big beautiful bill to I think something more accurate, which was Working Families Tax Cut act, because that's really what it was, you know, and there was more to it than just not increasing your taxes. You know, there's no tax on tips. There was no tax on Social Security salt deductions, but also not for the rich. So when someone Democrats like, well, you just cut taxes for billionaires, I always just say, tell me which provision does that? Because in fact, we managed to make every single tax. If there was a tax cut only apply to the middle class. So, you know, it's. We just got to say that more. We got to say what we're doing. We got to be confident about it and deliver on the agenda, because the agenda is popular and, you know, the infighting is, is terrible and shouldn't happen. And it's, you know, we go into all the things we're watching right now in our own movement.

[B]

I got my own version of it.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. And I'm glad you're in the fight. Yeah. You know, it has to be done. But in the end, our job in Congress is deliver on the agenda, deliver on Trump's agenda, because the agenda is popular and it works for the American people.

[B]

Enjoy the break. Merry Christmas, and good luck in 26.