Donald Trump’s Attack on Texas Republican Backfires

Donald Trump has triggered a backlash after criticizing Texas Republican Chip Roy.

In a post on Truth Social, the former president called the Freedom Caucus member a “RINO” (Republican in name only) and called on people to stand against him in the primaries, despite the registration for the Texas primaries closing last week on December 11.

The pair have come to the blows in the past. Roy, who has endorsed Trump rival Ron DeSantis in the Republican primaries, voted against overturning the results of the 2020 presidential election and in a speech on the House floor called Trump’s actions before the January 6 insurrection, when Trump supporters stormed the Capitol to protest the election results, impeachable. However, he stopped short of voting with Democrats to impeach the then-president.

“The president of the United States deserves universal condemnation for what was clearly, in my opinion, impeachable conduct: pressuring the vice president to violate his oath to the Constitution,” he said in the speech.

Donald Trump on December 13, 2023, in Coralville, and Chip Roy at the U.S. Capitol on November 29, 2023. The former president was criticized after his Truth Social attack. Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

In 2021, the GOP frontrunner denounced the Texan’s bid to become the GOP conference chair, saying in a statement that “he has not done a great job, and will probably be successfully primaried in his own district.” Elise Stefanik, the New York Republican who Trump endorsed, became the chair after winning a vote.

Now, Trump has stepped up tensions between the pair. He wrote in his post: “Has any smart and energetic Republican in the Great State of Texas decided to run in the Primary against RINO Congressman Chip Roy. For the right person, he is very beatable. If interested, let me know!!!”

Newsweek has contacted representatives for Trump and Roy by email to comment on this story.

But responding to his comments, Republicans criticized Trump on X, formerly Twitter.

“This is a prime example of Trump putting himself before country,” one user said.

Another wrote: “Trumps nasty post proves he thinks he is more important than voters. Chip Roy is one of the best conservatives we have. Trump is all ego and he doesn’t care about anyone but himself.”

Justin Hart, the founder of Rational Ground and author of Gone Viral: How Covid Drove the World Insane, wrote: “Trump is out of him mind. Chip Roy is arguably the most consistently conservative Republican in Congress. But Trump is the Godfather and has ordered a hit on him for personal vendetta reasons. Unbelievable.”

However, he also drew support from some. “Trump is right,” one said. “Chip Roy is all talk.”

While another user named Mila Joy wrote: “Roy sadly turned RINO a couple of years ago.”

Roy has been involved in recent clashes with other members of his own party. In a November speech on the House floor, he accused his own party of having done “nothing” with their majority in the House of Representatives. They have 221 seats to the Democrats’ 213.

He said: “You know, we have had a tumultuous year of sorts, but in the eyes of the American people, they’ve been watching from afar wondering when this body, the people’s House, will stand up in defense of the people who send us here.”

“When are we going to do what we said we would do?” he continued.

“For the life of me, I do not understand how you can go to the trouble of campaigning, raising money, going to events, talking to people, coming to this town as a member of a party who allegedly stands for something… and then do nothing about it,” Roy said.

“One thing: I want my Republican colleagues to give me one thing—one—that I can go campaign on and say we did. One!” He then asked Republicans to come down to the floor and “explain to me one material, meaningful, significant thing the Republican majority has done besides, well, ‘I guess it’s not as bad as the Democrats.'”

He was also among 24 Republicans who voted against Majorie Taylor Greene’s efforts to censure Democratic Representative Rashida Tlaib over her response to the Israel-Hamas conflict. She was later censured in another vote.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

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