Back in March, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) announced his endorsement of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for president two months before DeSantis officially declared his candidacy. 

In explaining DeSantis as his choice, Roy wrote that "The next President of the United States must be a vibrant and energetic leader with the faith, vision, and courage to chart a new course.” 

“America needs a leader who will truly defend her and empower the people against the destructive force of unrestrained government and corporate excess, profligate spending, and woke cultural indoctrination,” Roy went on to say.

Since that time, Roy, like many other prominent supporters of DeSantis, has been labeled a "RINO" by Donald Trump's influencers and surrogates and even the former POTUS himself, who most recently called for Roy to be primaried in his reelection bid next year even though the deadline has passed for that:

“Has any smart and energetic Republican in the Great State of Texas decided to run in the Primary against RINO Congressman Chip Roy. For the right person, he is very beatable. If interested, let me know!!!” 

Though Trump's disdain for Roy goes back to well before the endorsement of DeSantis, it has clearly fueled Trump's animus towards the Texas Congressman.

Roy appeared on CNN Tuesday and was asked by anchor Kaitlan Collins about the 2024 GOP presidential primary race as well as his thoughts on Trump's remarks and why he won't participate in the debates. Here's a transcript of how that went down:

ROY: Pretty much everybody, in the conservative world, who understands what we do in Washington, knows that I'm a conservative with a strong record.

I have voted against Biden more than virtually everybody, member of Congress. I have a strong conservative 100 percent score from Conservative Review. 98 percent from Heritage Action, pro-life community, I can go down the list. But it kind of doesn't matter. It misses the point.

The point is, this is about, we don't -- we don't have princes in this country. We pursue principles, right? That's what we're supposed to be about. We don't anoint the people, right? We don't coronate people. I've been saying this on Fox, Newsmax, CNN.

Because you know what? I'm in Iowa, where there are people here, who they take very seriously, the job of choosing who the President will be, through the caucus process. And I was just at multiple events, with Ron DeSantis, where he's shaking their hands, and looking them in the eye, while Donald Trump hangs out, in his basement, in Florida, afraid to actually debate. What's he afraid of?

Look, I'm happy to debate him if he wants to anywhere. I'm just a little old congressman. Why won't he debate Ron DeSantis, or any of the other candidates? I think he should.

COLLINS: Why do you think he won't get on the debate stage with the other Republicans?

ROY: Well, I mean, like I can tell you with Ron -- from Ron DeSantis' perspective, is because he would clean his clock. I mean, if you compare the records, they're not comparable. Ron DeSantis, has done a phenomenal job, in Florida. He's stood up to the tyrannical machine of the government, when it shut down the greatest economy, in the history of the world. We've racked up $6 trillion to $8 trillion of debt since then, as a result of the mismanagement that started in that last year of the Trump administration.

President Trump also failed to actually fully secure the border. If we'd gotten the policies in place, if he had worked with conservatives, to get bills passed, in 2018, 2019, we wouldn't be in the mess we're in, right now, where Joe Biden is leaving Texas fully exposed, to have people running over our Border Patrol agents and our DPS. We had six kids in the district, I live in Kaitlan, six kids, who died from fentanyl poisoning, last year. 300,000 apprehensions, in November, on track for 300,000 in December. We should have stopped this years ago.

President Trump could have done that, if he would have led Congress to get something done. That didn't happen. I don't think he wants to debate that record. I don't think he wants to go, through every single issue that he's been a part of. And he knows that Governor DeSantis has done a phenomenal job, in Florida. So, he doesn't show up to the debates.

Watch:

Texas Rep. Chip Roy: “President Trump also failed to actually fully secure the border. If he had worked with conservatives to get bills passed in 2018 and 2019, we wouldn't be in the mess we’re in right now.” pic.twitter.com/FuKxp6jE0C

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) December 20, 2023

As I said over the summer when Roy was getting into Twitter sparring matches with Trump supporters like Leo Terrell over the "RINO" accusation, I’m sure there are some issues here and there that Roy has not always pleased the conservative base on, but he’s about as far from a RINO as you can get, especially on issues like illegal immigration, abortion, gun rights, intrusive government mandates, and the gender identity politics debate.

The word “RINO” doesn’t mean “anyone who doesn’t support Donald Trump,” last I checked, but that appears to be the rationale for why it’s being used in this instance, and it just makes no sense.

As I noted before, reasonable people can disagree on issues related to the candidates, including the differences between the GOP field. But if a solid conservative like Roy throwing his support behind DeSantis – who in my view is the very definition of an anti-woke governor – makes him a RINO, then all hope is lost not just for the real meaning of that term but, more importantly, the future of the GOP and the ability to be able to come together when the need arises against the radical left.

Flashback: Chip Roy Just Lights up Jerry Nadler in Heated Exchange About Title 42 and the Border Crisis