Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL who was wounded in Afghanistan, was derided by the left and accused of "playing the wounded victim" after he called for “deference” in discussions of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Crenshaw, 35, who wears an eye patch after losing his right eye in Afghanistan, has received two Bronze Stars, including one with valor, the Purple Heart, and the Navy Commendation Medal with Valor.

He criticized Rep. Ilhan Omar this week for appearing to downplay the Sept. 11 attacks in a recent speech. “It’s terrorists who killed almost 3,000 Americans, we should talk about it that way. We should talk about it with deference,” said the Texas Republican, who

The freshman congressman posted a video of his comments to NBC on Twitter, drawing attacks from numerous critics on Twitter on Saturday.

Talia Lavin, a New York University journalism professor who resigned from the New Yorker last year after she incorrectly identified a U.S. immigration agent as a Nazi sympathizer, slammed Crenshaw as “captain shithead” on Twitter. “The real victim, captain shithead, speaks,” wrote Lavin, linking to Crenshaw’s video.

Freelance writer Rob Rousseau wrote to Crenshaw, “You’re deliberately lying about what [Omar] said you eyeless fuck.” The comment appears to have been removed.

Crenshaw was elected to Congress last November. He joined the U.S. Navy in 2006 and served for 10 years as a Navy SEAL, including multiple deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq. He was wounded by a roadside bomb while on his third tour of Afghanistan in 2012. Crenshaw lost his right eye in the explosion, but he was able to recover eyesight in his left eye through surgery.

Eli Valley, a political cartoonist known for his anti-Israel drawings, suggested Crenshaw was a Nazi. “Wow it’s GOP-Nazy Party Terrorist Incitement Night on NBC,” wrote Valley, linking to Crenshaw’s comment.

Ryan Cooper, a national correspondent at The Week, blasted Crenshaw’s comments as “fascist propaganda” and claimed the congressman was “play[ing] the wounded victim.” “[C]lassic fascist propaganda technique: whip up a storm of murder frenzy, then operatically play the wounded victim,” wrote Cooper.