Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) caught heat on Tuesday after he posted what appeared to be the screenshot of an Atlantic article that turned out to be fabricated.
"That doesn't sound very 'Democratic' #ConstitutionalRepublic" Roy posted to X, displaying a headline in The Atlantic stating "To Save Democracy Harris May Need To Steal An Election," with the subheading, "Constitutional scholars are already worrying about another January 6 crisis, and they warn that the next election might be harder to save."
In reality, this is a fake image that has been circulating online. The real article the image was modified from was titled "Kamala Harris Might Have to Stop the Steal," published in 2021, and the article itself doesn't advocate for "stealing an election" — it actually argues she would be in a critical position to intervene if Trump and his supporters try to overturn the election results, and it was written long before there was any expectation she would be the nominee.
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"Hey @chiproytx, do you not have enough media literacy to know you’re sharing a fake headline or is that the whole point?" wrote political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen in response to Roy's post, which has already been debunked in a Community Note.
Roy, who previously served as chief of staff to Sen. Ted Cruz, has generated controversy several times over the years, including calling Kamala Harris a "DEI vice president."
He has also often clashed with fellow members of the Republican caucus. After he signaled interest in ousting House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) earlier this year, fellow MAGA Texan Ronny Jackson said that despite "lov[ing]" Roy, he was a "pain in the ass" who could use a "Code Red beatdown."