Defying Trump, GOP members of Congress are rallying for DeSantis
Most Republicans in the House of Representatives operate under an unspoken but ironclad rule: Do what you can to avoid provoking the wrath of former President Donald J. Trump.
But on a recent weekend here in Iowa, just days before the contest for the state’s first nomination, two of Congress’ staunchest conservatives did just that as they crisscrossed the state with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to advocate for a standard bearer of another party.
Over a series of frigid, gray days, Reps. Chip Roy of Texas and Thomas Massie of Kentucky gathered again and again in crowded sports bars and coffee shops, portraying Mr. DeSantis as a leader with a proven track record of conservative victories. In doing so, they issued a surprisingly blunt review of what they said were a series of policy mistakes by the former president — including his failure to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, to complete a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico and to control the US border with Mexico. in the sky-high national debt – and an implicit criticism of his character.
“The main reason I support Governor Ron DeSantis for president is that I want my son and daughter to be able to look up to the occupant of the Oval Office,” Mr. Roy told a packed room of caucusgoers at a convention. sports bar in Ankeny. ‘Someone they can emulate. Someone you would be proud to follow and look to as a leader.”
Mr. Roy and Mr. Massie have always played extraordinary figures in Congress. Mr. Roy, a former chief of staff to Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, has emerged as perhaps the most influential conservative voice on policy in the House Republican conference. Mr. Massie, a libertarian who is by turns thoughtful and mischievous, forced Congress to return to Washington at the height of the pandemic to hold a recorded vote on the $2 trillion stimulus.
But their commitment to breaking with a large majority of their colleagues — including the entire Republican leadership in the House of Representatives — and campaigning for DeSantis even as he trails Trump in the polls may be one of their most charged political steps to date.
Despite the potential political risks, they have remained defiant, not only criticizing Trump’s record – even throwing in one or two impersonations of the famously thin-skinned Republican frontrunner – but also openly complaining about Trump’s choices their Republican colleagues who supported the election. it.
“I would say that a lot of people who have supported Trump in Congress have done so because they sincerely want him to be the president and they prefer him,” Massie said in an interview ahead of an event with Mr. DeSantis at a conference. sports bar in Grimes. “But the majority of them are afraid of their own voters. Not necessarily afraid of Trump, but that he would incite their voters and that they might lose a primary. And that is disappointing for me.”
“It’s a political risk,” Mr. Massie admitted of supporting Mr. DeSantis, noting that two primary opponents had recently filed to challenge him.
He and Mr. Roy are two of only five sitting members of Congress, including Representative Bob Good of Virginia, the newly elected chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, who have endorsed the Florida governor. As of last week, every Republican leader in the House of Representatives stood behind Trump.
Asked about the potential political risks of campaigning against Mr. Trump, Mr. Roy said: “I don’t care what some influencers say on Twitter.”
“Frankly,” he continued, “too many of my Republican colleagues are operating out of fear. I fear the Lord. I’m not afraid of politics. I am not afraid of political retaliation. Worst case scenario, I end up back in Texas? My life is pretty good.”
If Mr. Trump’s coterie of surrogates are MAGA darlings, Mr. DeSantis’s cabal is more of a shaky conservative cabal. During his campaign, Mr. Massie describes how, when Mr. DeSantis was in Congress, the two eschewed black-tie dinners and read the text of the bills they were voting on over a sandwich. Mr. Roy rhapsodizes about Florida’s balanced budget, contrasting it with the rising national debt left behind by Mr. Trump.
Their criticism begins tactfully. Mr. Roy notes that he supported Mr. Trump in 2016 and 2020, points out that many of his “great friends” worked in the Trump administration and underlines his frequent references to the former president “with all due respect.” Mr. Massie has acknowledged that “Trump has done a lot of good things.”
They are not household names, but they were still greeted enthusiastically by many Iowa voters. At a coffee shop, a man loudly cheered Mr. Roy’s name, and at another stop, a woman stopped Mr. Massie to ask if her young daughter could shake his hand.
The Trump campaign has indicated it is unimpressed by Mr. DeSantis’ appearances with members of Congress.
“Wow, what a gamechanger (insert sarcasm here),” Steven Cheung, a Trump spokesman, said in a text message.
But it appears they may have personally confused Trump himself.
“A smart and energetic Republican in the Great State of Texas has decided to run for office in the primary against RINO Congressman Chip Roy,” Trump wrote on his social media platform last month, using the acronym for “Republican in Name Only.” “For the right person, he is very beatable. If interested, let me know!!!”
In fact, the window for filing to challenge Mr. Roy had already closed.
Both Mr. Roy and Mr. Massie have previously defied the former president. She led a letter in the days leading up to January 6, 2021arguing that the Constitution did not give Congress the authority to overturn President Biden’s election victory.
“Both Thomas and I said two years ago, ‘Oh, you’re going to get in trouble for voting for the voters,’” Mr. Roy said in an interview. “I got more votes than anyone in Texas in my district. I will talk honestly to my constituents. They know what I’m fighting for.”
Mr. Massie has already successfully fended off a primary challenge from his right: “I have the Trump antibodies. I have been attacked and have built resistance in my district.”
He regularly tells voters how Trump tried to throw him out of the party after forcing Congress to return to Washington for an in-person vote on the first coronavirus stimulus measure.
Echoing Mr. Trump’s signature style of speech, Mr. Massie regaled the crowd on a recent Saturday with an impression of the phone call he received from the president at the time. “I’m more popular in Kentucky than you are, and you know it,” he recalled Trump saying. “He was! I had done the poll. And he says, ‘I’m supporting your main challenger and you’re going to lose.’
Mr Massie went on to win by more than 60 points.
Yet there are some limits to their criticism.
When Mr. Massie reminded voters at the bar in Ankeny that, as president, Mr. Trump had signed a massive bill to fund the government and vowed never to pass a single major spending measure again, one man exclaimed, “He lied !’
Mr. Massie paused and flashed an ironic grin: “He … has been very tragically deceived.”
Nicholas Nehamas reporting contributed.