Freedom Caucus extraordinaire Rep. Chip Roy has found himself in Donald Trump’s crosshairs after the Texas Republican balked at raising the debt limit, as part of a bipartisan spending bill to avert a GOP-created government shutdown.
“The very unpopular ‘Congressman’ from Texas, Chip Roy, is getting in the way, as usual, of having yet another Great Republican Victory - All for the sake of some cheap publicity for himself,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday. “... Weak and ineffective people like Chip have to be dismissed as being utterly unknowledgeable as to the ways of politics, and as to Making America Great Again.”
“Chip Roy is just another ambitious guy, with no talent. By the way, how’s Bob Good doing? I hope some talented challengers are getting ready in the Great State of Texas to go after Chip in the Primary. He won’t have a chance!” Trump added in a separate post.
Rep. Good, the former chair of the Freedom Caucus, lost his primary to state Sen. John McGuire, who was endorsed by Trump after showing fealty to him during his New York trial. Trump supporters subsequently treated Good like a pariah, who was even thrown out of a Trump store while campaigning.
“My position is simple - I am not going to raise or suspend the debt ceiling (racking up more debt) without significant & real spending cuts attached to it,” Roy responded on X, tagging Trump, the Freedom Caucus, and the soon-to-be Republican Majority Leader Sen. John Thune. “I’ve been negotiating to that end. No apologies.”
When asked about Trump’s threats, Roy told reporters that “we're working right now on how to actually cut spending, which is what the voters sent me to Washington to do.”
Roy then went to the House floor Thursday evening to trash his party. "Congratulations. You've added to the debt since you were given the majority again on November 5th. It's embarrassing." Roy said, calling House Republicans' new version of a spending bill "asinine."
Roy has frequently made headlines along with other right-wing lawmakers prone to histrionics. He was recorded saying that the best strategy for Republicans under the Biden administration is to create “chaos and the inability to get stuff done.”
In 2023, Roy clashed with fellow chaos agent Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia after he voted against her racist attempt to censure Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan for her pro-Palestinian statements (Tlaib is a Michigan native born to Palestinian immigrants). The two later made up, appearing together in March at a ludicrous forced-birther symposium to fear monger about harvested baby parts.
However, Roy’s original sin could simply be that he was one of only a handful of Republicans who challenged their fellow lawmakers’ attempts to overthrow the 2020 election results.
In Trump’s feud with Roy, it’s hard to choose a side when they’re both covered in pig shit and mud.
