The very last thing that the Republican Party needs heading into what is likely the most crucial election to decide the fate of the country in our lifetimes was an internal war that divided members, but it looks like that’s what has happened. And temperatures are at a boiling point.
Anger within the party reached fever pitch on Tuesday after eight Republicans sided with all present Democrats to oust now-former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from his chair, an effort that was led by Rep. Matt Gaetz, who filed a motion to vacate earlier this week.
In an interview with The Blaze’s Steve Deace, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) did not mention Gaetz by name, but he appeared to reference the Florida Republican during a heated back-and-forth with the host.
“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.
Deace suggested potentially withdrawing from the political scene because Republicans can’t seem to move the needle much, but Roy pushed back.
“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,” he 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 of sorts to Gaetz and the other Republicans, saying he only disagreed with their approach to ‘fix’ things by ousting one of their own.
“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.
WATCH:
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
