It’s not exactly a secret that the primary metric Donald Trump uses to evaluate the utility of America’s elected officials is the degree to which they profess to like and support Donald Trump. Those who fail this simple test, he seems to believe, are worse than worthless. They have no place in public life, much less the Republican coalition.
The latest Republican to find himself on the receiving end of Trump’s ire is Representative Chip Roy (R., Texas). A conservative in good standing, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, and a reliable Trump ally in Congress since his 2018 election, Roy’s offense is limited to his endorsement of Florida governor Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign.
“People are thirsty for a new generation and vision,” Roy recently said in support of DeSantis. “Looking forward, not looking backwards, somebody who can serve for eight years.” As punishment for this boilerplate restatement of the DeSantis campaign’s value proposition, Trump seems to believe Roy deserves to be unceremoniously booted from Congress:
Aside from the cathartic spleen-venting, it’s unclear what Trump gains from displays like these. Even if the filing deadline to run against Roy in Texas’s March primary elections hadn’t already passed, Trump’s call for retribution against Roy was never likely to draw a viable challenger into the race — certainly not one with Roy’s conservative bona fides. Even if the Republican voters of Texas’s 21st congressional district were dissatisfied with Roy’s performance in office, which they don’t seem to be, there’s little evidence of any appetite for a purge of Trump-skeptical deviationists within the Republican Party’s infinitesimally small House majority.
What satisfaction does Trump derive from being so easily ignored? Successful politicians tend to avoid scenarios that serve only to highlight their impotence. Trump, by contrast, walks right into them. It’s a strange way to convey authority.