OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) engaged in an expletive-filled tirade during an interview with The Blaze following Tuesday’s historic vote to vacate the Speaker’s chair in the House and oust California Republican Kevin McCarthy.
In an interview with Steve Deace, Roy did not mention GOP colleague Rep. Matt Gaetz by name, but he appeared to reference the Florida Republican who was responsible for filing the motion to vacate. He also seemed to dare Gaetz and his allies to come to his office to “debate.”
“Some of our brothers and sisters – particularly in the, you know, MAGA camp, I think – particularly enjoy the circular firing squad,” Roy told Steve Deace of The Blaze before ripping into fellow Republicans for supposedly calling him a RINO – Republican In Name Only — after he supported McCarthy.
“You wanna come out me and call me a RINO? You can kiss my a**. Look, I’ve spent a lifetime fighting for limited government conservatism. I have laid it all on the line,” Roy continued.
“I have not seen my family for two days in the last 30 days. You go around talking your big game and you thumping your chest on Twitter? Yeah. Come to my office, come have a debate, mother,” he added.
After Deace suggested withdrawing from the political scene because Republicans can’t seem to move the needle much, Roy pushed back on that idea.
“I’m not gonna go to a nunnery, because godda**it, there were people who are buried over in Normandy [France] who deserve us to stand up for what they fought for,” Roy argued. “So that’s what I’m gonna do. And all of you f**kers out there who are out there saying what you’re saying out on social media, you stick it! I’m gonna go down to the floor and do my job, and I’m gonna stand up for the people who fought for this country.”
Roy then offered an olive branch to Gaetz and the seven other Republicans who joined with all present Democrats to oust McCarthy, saying he only disagreed with the approach.
“Like, I respect what Gaetz and my four, five, six brothers are doing right now because they want to change things,” he added. “I respect friends of mine who went to the mic, who are your heroes out there, ladies and gentlemen, who are taking a different position because we’re trying to figure out how to navigate through a world in which Democrats control the Senate, the Republican conference in the Senate is garbage, the House Republican Conference has a variety of views from all over the country with 221.
“But if people wanna play this out in real-time and deal with this every single minute and every single day on social media, don’t think that that’s somehow going to change the game because what we gotta do is we have to actually define the fight,” he said.
MUST WATCH@chiproytx lays down the law on the Speaker fight, right-wing circular firing squads, and fake tough guys.
Mic drop. pic.twitter.com/ZnelhoUKmw
— Steve Deace (@SteveDeaceShow) October 3, 2023
Roy also backs Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for president, while Gaetz is a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump. To that point, Roy denounced the “parade of personalities, and celebrities and cults” while adding that he believes DeSantis can restore order in America as president after mentioning that a Democratic member of Congress was just carjacked and robbed a few days ago just blocks from the Capitol.
Meanwhile, several Republicans are suggesting that Trump could become the next Speaker since the position does not have to be filled by a current sitting member of Congress.
On Tuesday, McCarthy became the first Speaker of the House to be ousted in the history of the United States Congress in a 216-210 vote.
Soon after, McCarthy announced that he would not run again for the speakership. That led to Texas GOP Rep. Troy Nehls taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, to nominate Trump as Speaker of the House.
“Kevin McCarthy will NOT be running again as Speaker. I nominate Donald J. Trump for Speaker of the House,” Nehls wrote on the social media platform.
