Here’s the saddest part of Trump calling Chip Roy a ‘RINO’ for supporting DeSantis
Timothy P. Carney
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Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) is one of the most conservative members of Congress, not simply by the Reagan-era definition of conservative. He is a social conservative, a border hawk, and a fiscal conservative, and he has the fighting spirit of the current Republican Party.
Roy has voted with President Joe Biden 0% of the time. He has been perhaps the loudest voice calling for better enforcement of the border. He also happens to support conservative Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) for president, and so now, according to former President Donald Trump, he’s a “RINO,” or a “Republican in Name Only.”
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When I came to Washington in 2000, the RINOs were Lincoln Chafee, Jim Jeffords, Arlen Specter, Susan Collins, and Olympia Snowe: elected Republican officials who voted against their party regularly on tax cuts, abortion, and gun control — the three big matters of the day.
The definition of “RINO” steadily expanded and was diluted, as all neologisms tend to. In 2006, a conservative journalist handed me a “RINO Hunter” pin, and he defined “RINO” as anyone opposed to the Iraq war or “enhanced interrogation” of terrorism suspects.
If Trump’s use of the term “RINO” means anything, it is “Republican who does not support Trump.” That is the only possible meaning.
But here’s the sad thing: That’s not a horrible definition of “RINO” these days. Words mean what people understand them mean, for better and for worse. Also, institutions embody not what their bylaws or founders say they embody, but they embody what their recent actions and statements imply.
The Republican Party these days is largely — not entirely, but largely — a cult of Donald Trump. Trump is the least ideological president since Gerald Ford, which certainly helped him politically. Also, Trump has no principles, and he is a narcissist.
The result of Trump’s 2016 win, his presidency, and his 2020 run is that Trump has transformed the Republican Party into a party that stands only for Trump. The only thing that makes you a good Republican is loving and supporting Trump at all times. The only thing necessary to become a RINO, a globalist, or a traitor is opposing Trump in any way.
Ray Owens, a Republican voter from Council Bluffs, Iowa, told me he would never support DeSantis, even if he were the Republican nominee. “No. No way I would.” Owens said, “DeSantis is a backstabber. Look what Donald Trump did for DeSantis and for him to backstab him the way he’s been doing.”
“Backstabbing” is a common term used by Trump supporters. All DeSantis did to earn the title was run against Trump in a primary when Trump wasn’t even the incumbent.
Almost two-thirds of all Republican voters now support Trump as the nominee. That number hasn’t been below 40% during the 2024 race.
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It’s not good, but Trump has made the GOP largely a party that stands for Trump. You may have no other gods but Trump. If, like Chip Roy, you pursue a path aimed at maximizing conservative accomplishments, you are putting policies and principles above Trump, which is blasphemy.
By the current definition of the Republican Party, sadly, anyone who stands for conservatism above Trump is a RINO.