Republican Representative Chip Roy lashed out at his far-right colleagues over their efforts to terminate Kevin McCarthy‘s role as House speaker.
Eight Republicans, led by the efforts of Representative Matt Gaetz, joined House Democrats to oust McCarthy by a vote of 216-210 on Tuesday. The motion to vacate was filed by Gaetz, of Florida, on Monday after months of brewing tensions in the House GOP, which came to a head after McCarthy’s deal with Democrats over the weekend to narrowly avoid a government shutdown. Gaetz and other hardline Republicans demanded budget cuts but McCarthy instead backed the 45-day deal. The removal of McCarthy, a historic first, comes as Congress has just over a month to figure out a long-term federal budget.
Roy announced he would be voting against the motion on social media before Congress sealed McCarthy’s fate, explaining his decision in a series of posts on X, formerly Twitter, that he disagrees with the “tactical play call.”
“I do not believe that you pull the coach at the beginning of the fourth quarter, which is where we currently stand,” Roy posted. “I remain focused on laying out the possible paths to secure wins.”
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Newsweek reached out via email on Tuesday night to Roy’s spokesperson for comment.
While speaking with Steve Deace of The Blaze, the Texas Republican took aim at the “MAGA camp” over the vote, saying the “speaker reflects the Republican conference.”
“Some of our brothers and sisters—particularly in the, you know, MAGA camp, I think— particularly enjoy the circular firing squad,” Roy said, before rebuffing critics who referred to him as a Republican In Name Only (RINO). “You want to come at me and call me a RINO? You can kiss my a**.”
Roy went on to defend his voting record, saying he’s spent “a lifetime fighting for limited government conservatism” before calling out one unnamed MAGA ally.
“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 said.
Roy then went on to say that he “respects” that Gaetz and the other seven Republicans who voted to remove McCarthy want to change things, but disagrees with their method.
In the nearly five-minute clip of the interview with Deace, shared on X, Roy said going “in a fit of rage to go down and just blow stuff up I don’t think is the right path.”
Representative Patrick McHenry, a North Carolina Republican, will be speaker pro tempore until a new one is elected.