President-elect Donald Trump urged Texas Republicans on Thursday to challenge Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) in the next primary election, accusing the lawmaker of obstructing GOP efforts to raise the debt ceiling and hammer out a spending bill.
Trump’s remarks come just after he and other prominent Republicans scuttled a 1,574-page bill pushed by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and others.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump referred to Roy as “just another ambitious guy, with no talent” and said he hopes “some talented challengers are getting ready in the Great State of Texas to go after Chip in the Primary.”
He added: “He won’t have a chance!”
In another post, the president-elect claimed 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 intimated that Roy and other conservative Republican lawmakers are being used by Democrats to defeat GOP lawmakers.
The Democrats are using them, and we can’t let that happen. Our Country is far better off closing up for a period of time than it is agreeing to the things that the Democrats want to force upon us. Biden is President, and it’s his obligation to properly lead. We’re there to do the right thing, and we can’t agree with what Biden and the Democrats are demanding. 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.
Roy, a member of the House Freedom Caucus and the Rules Committee, has been a key conservative voice in Congress and has consistently advocated for tying debt ceiling increases to significant government spending cuts.
In a post on X, Roy gave a concise explanation for his reasoning. “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. I’ve been negotiating to that end. No apologies,” he wrote.
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. I’ve been negotiating to that end. No apologies. CC: @realDonaldTrump @SpeakerJohnson @SenJohnThune @freedomcaucus
— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) December 19, 2024
This is not the first time Trump has placed Roy in his crosshairs. He called for a primary challenge against the lawmaker in 2023 after he backed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for the GOP presidential nomination.
For his part, Roy has criticized the president-elect on multiple occasions over expanding the size and scope of government. In January, he was one of several Republican lawmakers who sought to remove former Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as House Speaker.
I’ll put it simply: Roy is right. Every year around this time, Congress gets into a kerfuffle about how to avert a government shutdown. Republican lawmakers give a cursory resistance to bloated spending bills aimed at further growing the size and scope of the federal government only to give in just before Christmas.
Roy is one of a few in Congress who stands on conservative, limited government principles. If they are going to raise the debt ceiling, they must find other ways to cut spending instead of allowing the state to grow like a weed. After all, we have already seen what happens when there are not enough lawmakers who refuse to maintain the status quo, haven’t we?