Representative Chip Roy is one of the most conservative and least accommodating Members of Congress.

Generally speaking, if there is a controversy among Republicans where some want to give in to Democrats and others want to stick to conservative principles, Roy is on the good guys’ side. You might criticize him for being inflexibly conservative, but until today I never heard a single person call him a RINO.

That’s because the “Republican” in RINO used to mean “principled conservative.” Now, apparently, it means a willingness to lick Donald Trump’s boots.

I keep reminding myself that Trump was a generally good, sometimes excellent president. From 2017 to 2019, he proved to have startlingly good judgment regarding public policies, especially foreign affairs. I defended him at great personal cost (losing friends and alienating family members), even though Trump often got himself into unnecessary PR messes because he can’t STFU.

Unfortunately, Trump’s kryptonite is his ego. He is truly a narcissist, and far, far too many people are willing to feed that massive ego and enable his worst instincts. And one of those instincts is to destroy anybody who doesn’t lick his boots clean after a trip through the pig pen.

Chip Roy has run afoul of Trump by choosing to endorse Ron DeSantis for president, and in return, Trump has attacked Roy as a RINO and asked for a Republican to jump into the Texas primary to take Roy out.

The filing date for the primary, by the way, has passed. It was last week. Trump couldn’t even bother to check that because, well, details. Something as silly as the rules shouldn’t get in the way.

Trump calls for a primary of Chip Roy because Roy is supporting someone else in the primary and accurately describes Trump’s numerous failures last term.

Only problem for Trump, who has never been big on rules, is the primary filing deadline has already passed. pic.twitter.com/qQPzFgzAFV

— AG (@AGHamilton29) December 19, 2023

With Trump, loyalty goes only one way, and let’s face it: Trump has proven time and again that he has zero loyalty to Republicans or even to those who have jumped on grenades for him.

His supporters’ case is as simple as it is silly: Trump is the only candidate who can save America. If that were true, then America would be doomed already since the maximum time that Trump could be in office is another four years. Given how quickly Joe Biden turned things around (in the wrong direction), it’s clear that four years is not enough time to right the ship.

Eight years may not be enough, but four years is demonstrably not. Trump proved that, and there is ample reason to believe that the Deep State knows how to run circles around Trump.

Want proof? Two words: Anthony Fauci. There are other examples, but Fauci was able to convince Trump to do the wrong thing time and again, and Trump still won’t admit to all the mistakes he made during COVID.

.@RonDeSantis is a proven winner who will stand athwart tyranny, not give it a medal.

I’m proud to stand alongside my friend

#PrinciplesNotPrinces pic.twitter.com/diZn625Hmz

— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) December 19, 2023

It is shocking to me that Trump’s supporters are unwilling to acknowledge that the man has flaws and that one of those flaws is that he is desperately afraid of strong Republicans. Trump says more nice things about Stacey Abrams and Gavin Newsom than Glenn Youngkin, Ron DeSantis, and Brian Kemp. Kim Reynolds, Iowa’s governor, is public enemy #2 despite turning her state solidly Red.

One of the biggest shifts in my view of Trump was the realization that Trump has no loyalty to Republicanism whatsoever. He will turn on anyone no matter how strong a conservative they are which has conditioned me to distrust him. Idc where you fall on the spectrum, Chip Roy is… https://t.co/gQIiVjCkuo

— Philllosoraptor (@RealPhillyP) December 19, 2023

There are many reasons to oppose Trump’s renomination, but perhaps the most important one is that once he is gone, he will have destroyed the Republican Party. He will do so despite needing its support and will have done so for personal reasons. Trump wants–even needs–to be the sole person in the spotlight, which explains his crusades to destroy people like Chip Roy.

Look around and ask yourself who will be left to carry on the electoral coalition Trump is trying to build. Will it be Mehmet Oz? Trump has no coattails, and his movement will die when he does.

Reagan, who reshaped the Republican Party for the better and turned it into a durable electoral force, did so by promoting others who could be his allies in reshaping the country. Trump keeps dumping his allies–he seems to hate everybody he ever appointed to the White House staff, and few things are more sure than career death when Trump accepts you as an ally.

I am not now, nor have I ever been a Never Trumper. All I want is to reverse the trend toward decline.

To do that, we need to elect a president loyal to the cause, not himself.

And one who has the courage to look bureaucrats like Anthony Fauci in the eye and tell them ‘No.’