Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) was in a feisty mood — and for good reason, he told host Kevin Roberts during the Sept. 10, episode of "The Advance."
Roy, who represents Texas’ 21st District, said he was dismayed by what is happening in Washington, D.C., with the federal government amassing $30 trillion in debt and more being added daily. Talk of drafting women also had Roy seeing red.
Roberts, the chief executive officer of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, which describes its mission as building and promoting conservative public policies, asked Roy, a former TPPF colleague, “What in the world is going on in Washington, D.C. right now?”
“We've got a president of the United States right now who is disregarding the constitutional barriers placed on the president, placed on Washington to not overstepped its bounds,” Roy said. “If you are an American who believes in liberty, as you should, and I hope all listening to this do, you should be extremely concerned about what you heard the president of the United States say, blatantly disregarding the constitutional order to say that he somehow has the power as the executive to mandate that businesses over 100 must require that they got people vaccinated or being mandatorily tested. He does not have that power. There is no such power. It is, in fact, unconstitutional.”
He said he is tired of Republicans who want to settle every single one of these questions in the court. There are stronger steps to take, Roy said.
“This is the time right now for every Republican governor and every representative in statehouses and frankly, those of us in Congress, to be standing up and pushing back,” he said. “I've got a letter right now that I've drafted I'm circulating among my colleagues asking Gov. [Greg] Abbott to continue and advance upon what he has already done in terms of mandates and to basically say that Texas is not going to facilitate any federal enforcement of these laws and will take steps to defend Texans from the unconstitutional, illegal, tyrannical overreach by Washington.”
Roy said he spoke with a man in the parking lot of a Tractor Supply in Dripping Springs, Texas, whose dad was one of the men who stormed Normandy during the D-Day invasion in June 1944.
“He was so angry about the state, what is happening to a country that so many of our forefathers fought, died, bled for, and that's the people the [former] President Donald Trump appropriately represented for four years,” Roy said.
Roberts said that is why Trump remains such a guiding force for so many conservatives.
“What Trump captured was the absolute irritation, the frustration that Americans have with the elites in Washington who wake up each day trying to tell us what to do, and if the Texas Public Policy Foundation stands for anything even beyond the specific policies we work on, it is that it is fighting for you,” he said.
Roy, who said he rarely disagreed with Trump during his administration, said the former president spoke for millions who feel left out and ignored.
“Trump represents the people representing the people, and it's still those people who feel forgotten,” he said. “And that's germane to the question you just asked."
Roberts said more elected officials need to emulate Roy and take a bold stand.
“We don't have enough conservatives, so-called conservatives who are willing to fight for what Trump really personified, which is that the elites have run this country way too long,” he said. “And you've got so much evidence of that in the last couple of weeks, not just the vaccine mandate, but think about the ridiculous, tragic, embarrassing withdrawal from Afghanistan. And you've got colleagues in the Republican Party, members of Congress, who won't even force the president's hand to have to answer questions about that.”
Roberts asked how the average person could do something to change the direction of the nation.
“I'd say right now there's two or three things, No. 1, demand that your elected representatives, particularly in Austin, to stand up against the long arm of the federal government,” Roy said. “Let's do whatever we need to do to send a message to Washington that they cannot act unconstitutionally and they can't overreach.
“We need to take over the school board, take over the city councils, reclaim our communities, because that's where we live,” he said. “I'm going to do everything I can to throw my body in front of a tyrannical train coming out of Washington. But we've got to take over our own schools doing this and do us any good to better ourselves on the back for being Texas and how strong Texas is. If we still want to have ownership of our schools, if we still have teachers in Texas teaching that America is evil and teaching critical race theory and doing all the things that we know that are happening at the local level in Texas. We need to reclaim Texas. We need to push hard on our elected representatives in Austin.”
Roy said, people need to do more than comment on social media to hold their federal representatives accountable in the Congress.
“We need to move forward with articles of impeachment, calling out President Biden for abandoning Afghanistan, not faithfully executing the laws of the border, and now exercising abuse of power with respect to overreaching in the state,” he said.
That is how Republicans can regain control of government in 2022 and 2024, Roy said.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) already has announced he will not support any move to impeach Biden.
Roberts asked Roy how to end the massive overspending in Washington, with gushers of money flowing from the federal tap. Roy said it’s not a hot-button issue like health care, the border crisis, Afghanistan and other matters that dominate the news.
“I think we have gotten a little too wonky about dollars and about numbers and about $25 trillion or $28 trillion, $30 trillion," he said.
Roy said there is one central problem.
“It's funding tyranny. Every dollar that you're giving to Washington is that they are then printing more money and then borrowing more money,” he said. “You are funding the bureaucrats that are undermining your liberty right now. That's what you're doing every single day. Why are we funding this? Why are we funding the Department of Homeland Security that is running processing centers?
“And why are we funding schools with local and federal tax dollars to teach our children that America is evil, to follow a flawed Supreme Court decision that we can't acknowledge our creed?” Roy said. “Why are we doing that yet? We just keep doing it. We keep funding more of it. We do it all day long, every day, and we've got to stop it."
Roberts noted that the Texas Legislature passed a law to create a spending framework designed to slow the rate of government growth. The TPPF strongly supported it despite considerable criticism.
Roberts then asked Roy his thoughts on the ugly withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“How do we somehow restore American integrity abroad?” he asked. “What's the answer to families whose loved ones were lost in that conflict? What's the future for American power abroad, used responsibly?”
Roy said in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, Americans wanted revenge, and had blood in their eyes.
“I was watching a documentary on 9/11 last night, and you watch within an hour of that building collapsing and New Yorkers who were there said, ‘I want death. I want to kill people. I want the bad guys. I want to go take them out,’” he said. “And President George W. Bush had that resolved. Let's go get the bad guys. And that's great. And we did that.”
But he said America took its eye off the ball and instead focused on nation building. The message needs to be, we will not allow the Taliban to threaten our national security.
“Recognize the Taliban is our enemy,” the congressman said. “With all due respect, neither Clinton nor Bush nor Obama nor respectfully, President Trump nor the current administration said the Taliban is, in fact, our enemy. We should treat them as such. We should treat them as the hostiles they are and go over, take a position and stand up for us.
"Why are we giving $35 billion to Pakistan and not demanding that Pakistan help us instead of undermining," he said. "What we need to have a real conversation about our footprint around the world. We don't have unlimited dollars and we don't have unlimited blood. We need to stand up and defend our country with a clear mission, unapologetically, strongly in our defense, and not walk away with our tail between our legs.”
They also touched on a proposal to mandate that women register for the draft. Roy said he rejects all the arguments favoring that policy.
“I want to choose how to take care of my family. And I'm not going to allow my daughter to be forced into selective service,” he said. “You have to sit in a foxhole in Afghanistan. Who knows what happened to her because Joe Biden was an incompetent fool who endangers Americans in general, much less are women. And I think that's what's at stake.”
They wrapped up the discussion by looking back on Sept. 11, 2001, and how citizens can help the United States move forward.
“Those of us who were adults remember vividly where we were on that day, what happened on that day,” Roberts said. “The last few weeks, I visited the 9/11 memorials for the first time with my 16-year-old son. It was other than personal things like getting married and having children, the most moving experience of my life.”
Roy urged people to pray for the country, and to take action. He said when he meets with constituents, some tell him they are praying for him and America.
“That is much better than money," he said. "That's much better than emails, much better than coming around prayer. There is power in prayer.”