'Why should anybody believe a word you say?' Chuck Todd battles Dan Crenshaw over GOP's slide into Trumpism

It was an unusually contentious Sunday morning on NBC's "Meet the Press" as host Chuck Todd sparred with Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, over reporting on the continued falsehoods being pushed by former President Donald Trump about the 2020 election.

"Why should anybody believe a word you say if the Republican Party itself doesn't have credibility?" Todd asked at one point.

The action really heated up when Todd pointed out that the actions of certain Republicans, like Crenshaw's support for a failed lawsuit that would effectively have tossed out legitimate election results in several swing states, are then weaponized by Trump and spun into a false narrative of unsecure elections.

Just yesterday, the former president released several diatribes lashing out against fellow GOP leaders, including Mitch McConnell and Mike Pence, for not doing more to help him stay in power and overturn last November's election results. "As our Country is being destroyed, both inside and out, the Presidential Election of 2020 will go down as THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY!" he wrote.

Crenshaw, who earlier in the show said that questions over the legitimacy of the 2020 election should be dropped, countered Todd by saying, "You guys in the press love doing this. And I get it, the press is largely liberal."

Todd interjected: "Don't start that. There's nothing lazier than that excuse."

"I'm not going to take the bait," Crenshaw said.

"I'm not trying to bait you" Todd replied.