As the House of Representatives prepared to vote on a $2 trillion emergency stimulus bill for relief from the economic impact of the deadly COVID-19 outbreak, Chip Roy was quick to defend his friend Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky), who took a page from Chip’s playbook and demanded a roll call vote. Massie’s action required all Representatives to fly back to Washington to vote on the bill in person—at a time when curtailing travel is vital to control the pandemic’s spread across America.
Roy took to Twitter to praise Massie’s stubborn endangerment of his fellow Americans, calling him “one of the most principled men in Congress.” Roy also took the opportunity to portray himself as a maverick who is even willing to oppose the President, telling Donald Trump to “back off” his criticism of Massie.
But as usual, Chip’s tough-talking defense of the Constitution was just posturing, intended to get him in the news. He did not even bother to return to Washington, and did not vote on the bill. He claimed he could not get a flight, even though readily available flights were pointed out to him on Twitter. He was happy for Massie to endanger other Representatives, but too much of a coward to expose himself to the same risk.
Chip Roy clearly loves media attention even more than he loves the Constitution.