Phil

As one of the rare people to both be personal friends with @chiproytx, while also desperately believing the @realDonaldTrump presidency must succeed for the future of the country, I have some thoughts I'd like to share on their current fight here on my final work day of the year. Do with them what you will. This fight is long overdue on the Right and needed. We not only shouldn't run from it, but encourage it (albeit with some ground rules). Because it indicates our side, for the first time since the Contract with America, is finally serious about governing on some level. Paradigm-shifts are hard and messy. Becoming the new paradigm even harder and messier. Right after fighting the Red Coats, the Founding Fathers fought each other over what to become next. That turned out alright. Because Trump beat the Democrats, we now get to do the same. And that will turn out alright, too, if we have the right fight -- regardless of who wins. First, no matter the camp you're in, everybody needs to remember why we are here. We are here because the Republican Party prior to men like Trump and Chip ssssssssuuuuuuucccckkkkkkeeddddd. And that's when it wasn't being feckless. People turn to disrupters (Trump) and idealists (Chip) when the system of managers and realists fails them. And the Republican Party before these men was a failure. Each of these men now represent movements (MAGA and conservatism) trying to pick up the pieces of that generational failure and save the country from the Marxist Democrats. Each of these men also represent archetypes of those who forged and sustained America. Trump is a throwback to the iconoclastic captains of industry and disrupters of old (Vanderbilt, Carnegie, Rockefeller, Long, etc.). No wonder his favorite movie is Citizen Kane. What he has built with his life is literally the stuff of legend. Speaking of movies, Chip is like if Kevin Costner's character in Field of Dreams and Jimmy Stewart's in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington had a baby. People think I'm a stubborn idealist. I'm an amoeba compared to Chip freaking Roy. Trump is the man on the wall doing a very great work. Chip is the voice in the wilderness demanding straight paths. Trump is to whom you turn to blow things up, but Chip is whom we need to make sure we don't blow everything up. Both men also literally cheated death to serve the country they love. Chip defeated cancer, and then got elected to Congress. Trump dodged two attempts to JFK him, and got elected president. Trump represents the new and emerging wave of populism that is rightly tired of screw-you-as-usual government and fill-in-the-blank global interest first. Roy symbolizes a long abused and often abandoned conservativism based on our founding principles, which the GOP gave up on even before it actually tried it. Why do I tell you all this? Because it is vitally important for both sides to truly understand where the other is coming from if we are all to succeed in this moment requiring so. Both men, as well as all those they represent. We do not all agree, but we are all on the same side. We all fought the globalists. We all fought the Marxists. We all want to save America. And both sides are actually right. Chip is correct, we must address the fiscal cliff, and government overspending and printing is the primary cause of our inflation problems. Chip is essentially the manifestation of what @elonmusk hopes his DOGE will eventually become. However, Trump is also correct the debt ceiling is a mirage, except as a political tool of leverage. He is right Democrats will use it against him the next four years after disregarding it the last four. For example, did you know we have already increased the debt ceiling MORE THAN 100 TIMES? That's, um, not much of a ceiling. The debt ceiling is the Dylan Mulvaney of ceilings. MAGA is correct we need maximum flexibility now to take advantage of this short window of time the last election bought us. Conservatives are correct that if we do not at least begin addressing our long-term problems this short-term will be even shorter than we all fear. So what's the solution here? Permit me to put on my newfound grandpa hat, and boy I do love the way it fits, and with all the wisdom that comes with age and answer this question with a sturdy....I don't know. But I do know what isn't. Primarying Chip Roy is a fools' errand. He just out-performed Trump in all 10 counties in his district. He's too loved by the people. And even if you produced a poll tomorrow that showed he was toast, he's so damned stubborn he'd just triple down and really show you what zero Fs given means. Most days he questions being in that den of iniquity instead of with his family as it is. You can't intimidate someone who truly doesn't care. Trump also risks fracturing his own base. People are already asking questions like, "Why is Trump going after solid conservative Chip Roy but not Lindsey Graham and Joni Ernst, who are literally blocking his cabinet picks?" Likewise, going right at the king is also tilting at windmills. The hopes of tens of millions now reside with Trump and his mandate. If Trump fails, it's not hyperbole to say it could be the country's last chance. And many of these people are still new to politics so they don't get all the nuance yet and frankly don't care. Thus they feel you're attacking them when you attack their guy. He's the only political hope they have. So even if you ding him (you can't), it would be a Pyrrhic victory since you're also gut-punching your own base, too. Pace yourselves, folks. We aren't even fully in power yet, and already holding existential knives to each others' throats. And the Democrats are absolutely loving it. Waiting for us to fail again, so they can take back power and finish us off. Everyone take a deep breath and step back from the ledge. We need to hash this out, and vigorously. But before we ready, fire, aim, let's all realize where both sides are coming from and that we both want to save the country we all love. And both our perceived leaders have sacrificed a lot themselves to that end. There isn't a villain here. Just mutual heroes trying to forge a path along a narrow road. Remember that, always, and then have your vigorous argument. Oh, and Merry Christmas.