Texas GOP chair advises Rep. Chip Roy to 'engage the brain before firing the mouth'

Rep. Chip Roy's (R-Texas) own state party officials would like him to watch his mouth.

The Republican garnered heavy criticism for comments that "glorified lynching" during a Thursday hearing. "There's an old saying in Texas about 'find all the rope in Texas and get a tall oak tree,'" he said. "You know, we take justice very seriously, and we ought to do that."

On Friday, the Republican Party of Texas issued a statement that called Roy's comments awful, but also argued critics across the aisle "shouldn't make mountains out of molehills."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Chairman Allen West said Roy's remarks "were inappropriate and unfortunate ... While his comments about hanging were dumb, they're not grounds for resignation."

West then pivoted to criticize Democrats, saying that it should instead be Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Cori Bush (D-Mo.) who should resign. Even as he claimed Democrats are guilty of worse offenses, he didn't let Roy off the hook entirely.

"My recommendation to Congressman Chip Roy would be to engage the brain before firing the mouth," wrote West. "It would avoid embarrassing situations such as this."