Conservatives were not happy after President Donald Trump openly criticized Republican Congressman Chip Roy of Texas Monday afternoon. Taking to Twitter, Trump wrote “Can’t believe how badly @ChipRoyTX is doing in his Congressional race. He chokes on everything, and now HE WANTS A DEBATE. Sorry, not much time, I’m sure he will do poorly. He doesn’t show any legislative achievement in Congress, & was horrible on the Impeachment Hoax!”
The backlash came swiftly from fellow conservatives. A longtime aide to Roy, Matt Mackowiak, wrote “This is an inappropriate attack on a good and decent man, a hard worker who loves his family and loves his country. He is an asset and source of pride for the state of Texas. This tweet was out of bounds and wrong.”
Fellow Republican congressman Ken Buck, who chairs the Republican Party of Colorado, also chimed in, stating “Chip Roy is a champion for limited government and it is inappropriate for the President to attack one of our own. A primary challenge would be idiotic and I am glad the President is not going down that road.”
This is far from the first time Trump has gone after Republicans, though it has been a while since he targeted one who was currently running for office. Roy currently trails his Democratic challenger in the polls, thus far receiving an endorsement from the powerful Texas Conservative Council. Roy responded to Trump’s tweet saying “I’ve long said I was sent to DC to speak truth to power — considering POTUS is the most powerful and DC is full of egos — and I’ll continue to stand strong and speak out when I see wrong, seek to serve my constituents in TX-21, advance economically conservative policy.”
This display of anger from conservatives shows that, despite the fact that Republicans widely support Trump during his time in office, there is still tension between some in the party. The question remains whether more conservatives will come to Roy’s defense in the days to come, or if the outrage towards Trump’s comments will die down after the dust settles.