title: Chip Roy

text: Roy continued to call for roll call votes for each of the dozens of amendments offered. This caused members of both parties to voice displeasure with him and have to cancel their evening plans. Roy himself had to cancel his plans for his 15-year wedding anniversary (his wife was in Austin, but he had taken their two children to D.C. to give her a full week of relaxation). He tweeted to her, "You know - I figured the most romantic thing I could do today is spend the day and night on the floor of the U.S. House. I'd apologize and say I love you…but you knew what you were getting into and you know that." He told reporters, "I planned on certainly talking with her and frankly, I mean, I was planning on getting off and sending her some flowers, but I just got sucked into this thing on the floor and just couldn't get away, so I'm texting her from the floor saying, 'Happy anniversary, honey!'"


title: Chip Roy

text: Roy was unmoved by fellow members' complaints, saying, "The interesting part is listening to the complaints on the floor. I was really entertained. It's like, 'Cry me a river. Go down and walk and talk to the migrant who's being abused, look that migrant in the eye and tell me that they should care about you missing your dinner.'" The House finished at 4 a.m.


title: Chip Roy

text: The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said of Roy's actions, "It's clear Congressman Roy is more concerned with partisan showboating and causing gridlock than actually doing his job." Roy explained his tactics, saying, "For me, use the tools at your disposal". He said he did not care about "old-guard types who didn't and never would love a strategy that causes [the] swamp pain. I'm not interested in playing every angle in this town for politics as much as I am trying to do my damn job.…You should know the rules and you should use them." At a news conference Roy said, "Until we have addressed the border crisis legitimately, Congress should not be conducting business as usual. Congress should not be on autopilot while the American citizens and migrants, who seek to come here, are being harmed." The "Texas Tribune" reported that by such tactics Roy within "a span of just three weeks…established a reputation as the leading obstructionist in the House."


title: Chip Roy

text: On June 28, 2019, in response to the humanitarian crisis involving migrant children at the southern border, Roy proposed legislation to amend the Antideficiency Act (ADA) to allow the United States Border Patrol to accept donations from people who want to help migrant children directly. The bill was filed after Border Patrol officials turned away people attempting to donate supplies such as diapers, toys, and hygiene items, saying they could not accept donations due to the ADA, which prevents the government from accepting "any donations other than what Congress has allocated to it."


title: Chip Roy

text: In July 2019, Roy was one of the few Republicans to condemn then-President Trump's tweet that Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib should "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came". (Of the four, only Omar, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was born outside the United States.) Trump's tweet was widely condemned as racist. Nevertheless, Roy also criticized the Squad for opposing immigration reform and said they should be voted out in November, tweeting, "POTUS was wrong to say any American citizen, whether in Congress or not, has any 'home' besides the U.S. But I just as strongly believe non-citizens who abuse our immigration laws should be sent home immediately, & Reps who refuse to defend America should be sent home 11/2020."


title: Chip Roy

text: Roy then retweeted Trump's statement "the many terrible things they say about the United States must not be allowed to go unchallenged."


title: Chip Roy

text: On October 5, 2020, while campaigning for reelection, Roy called for Paxton's resignation after seven senior leaders within his office (including Roy's replacement, Jeff Mateer) accused him of bribery, abuse of office, and other charges. Roy noted that rather than address the charges and demonstrate their falsity, Paxton had attacked the staffers' character. Roy released a statement that concluded, "The Attorney General deserves his days in court, but the people of Texas deserve a fully functioning AG's office." He took particular issue with Paxton's choice "to attack the very people entrusted, by him, to lead the office—some of whom I know well and whose character are beyond reproach."


title: Chip Roy

text: Hours after Roy's call for him to step down, Paxton released a statement saying, "Despite the effort by rogue employees and their false allegations I will continue to seek justice in Texas and will not be resigning." The charges arose from Paxton's relationship with Nate Paul, an Austin real estate developer who donated $25,000 to Paxton's 2018 campaign. Paxton claimed that his office had been referred a case investigating an FBI raid in August 2019 of Paul's offices and home which had "allegations of crimes relating to the FBI, other government agencies and individuals". He charged his accusers of wrongdoing: "Because employees from my office impeded the investigation, and because I knew Nate Paul, I ultimately decided to hire an outside independent prosecutor to make his own independent determination." He said the complaint against him "was done to impede an ongoing investigation into criminal wrongdoing by public officials including employees of this office. Making false claims is a very serious matter and we plan to investigate this to the fullest extent of the law." When it was brought to Roy's attention that Paul had donated $2,700 to him the same 2018 electoral cycle, Roy said he did "not recall meeting Mr. Paul and it shows as an online contribution."


title: Chip Roy

text: Over 100 text messages gathered by the January 6th Commission revealed the coordination by Roy and Utah's U.S. Senator Mike Lee with Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to overturn Trump's defeat in the 2020 election.


title: Chip Roy

text: On November 7, 2020, before traveling to Georgia to help fight the election results there, Roy texted Meadows: “Dude, we need ammo. We need fraud examples. We need it this weekend”: two days earlier, he had texted Meadows: "We have no tools / data / information to go out and fight RE: election / fraud. If you need / want it, we all need to know what's going on." On the same day, he also appealed to Meadows to have "The President tone down the rhetoric, and approach the legal challenge firmly, intelligently and effectively without resorting to throwing wild desperate haymakers, or whipping his base into a conspiracy frenzy." On November 19, 2020, he texted Meadows to express his concern for the lack of evidence, writing: "Hey brother - we need substance or people are going to break."


title: Chip Roy

text: On December 10, 2020, Roy wrote in opposition to Paxton's lawsuit "Texas v. Pennsylvania", demanding four other states' election results be overturned as part of Trump's false claims that Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election was the result of widespread voter fraud. Despite 106 of his fellow House Republicans filing an amicus brief in support of the lawsuit, Roy wrote, "I will not join because I believe the case itself represents a dangerous violation of federalism & sets a precedent to have one state asking federal courts to police the voting procedures of other states. ...I cannot support an effort that will almost certainly fail on grounds of standing and is inconsistent with my beliefs about protecting Texas sovereignty from the meddling of other states. Our remedy must be, from this day forward, to decline to allow the usurpation of our authority as people—through our states—to govern ourselves in all respects." Cornyn also questioned Paxton's lawsuit, telling reporters "I, frankly, struggle to understand the legal theory of it." After the Supreme Court declined to hear the case, Roy told a reporter, "It was clearly evident and obvious that it would have zero chance of success for anybody who understands the law and understands the Supreme Court and understands how these cases are going to go."


title: Chip Roy

text: On December 31, 2020, in reference to attempts to challenge the results of the 2020 election, Roy texted Meadows: “The President should call everyone off. It’s the only path. If we substitute the will of states through electors with a vote by Congress every 4 years, we have destroyed the electoral college”; the next day he texted Meadows that if Trump “allows this to occur, we’re driving a stake in the heart of the federal republic.” Roy joined fellow Republican Legislators Thomas Massie, Kelly Armstrong, Ken Buck, Mike Gallagher, Nancy Mace, and Tom McClintock in issuing a statement on January 3, 2021, against their colleagues' efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 election. They signed a letter that, while giving credence to the idea that "significant abuses in our election system resulting from the reckless adoption of mail-in ballots and the lack of safeguards maintained to guarantee that only legitimate votes are cast and counted," held that "only the states have authority to appoint electors, in accordance with state law. Congress has only a narrow role in the presidential election process. Its job is to count the electors submitted by the states, not to determine which electors the states should have sent." They pointed to the Twelfth Amendment in support of their position, and wrote, "As of this moment, not a single state has submitted multiple conflicting slates of electoral votes. …Unless that happens between now and January 6, 2021, Congress will have no authority to influence the outcome of the 2020 presidential election." Congressional action despite this "would amount to stealing power from the people and the states. It would, in effect, replace the electoral college with Congress, and in so doing strengthen the efforts of those on the left who are determined to eliminate it or render it irrelevant." The letter called on Republican legislators to remember their oath: "We must respect the states' authority here. Though doing so may frustrate our immediate political objectives, we have sworn an oath to promote the Constitution above our policy goals. We must count the electoral votes submitted by the states."


title: Chip Roy

text: On the same day as the joint statement, Roy objected to the seating of 67 incoming representatives from states that Trump claimed rigged their elections against him: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Roy held that if his Republican colleagues (including Gohmert and Cruz) were going to hold that ballots should be questioned about the presidential race (calling for an emergency 10-day audit), then no certainty could be granted for any race. He said "a number of my colleagues...have publicly stated that they plan to object to the acceptance of electors from those particular six states due to their deeply held belief that those states conducted elections plagued by statewide, systemic fraud and abuse that leaves them absolutely no way for this chamber or our constituents to trust the validity of their elections. ...Such allegations, if true, raise significant doubts about the elections of at least some of the members of the United States House of Representatives that, if not formally addressed, could cast a dark cloud of suspicion over the validity of this body for the duration of the 117th Congress." He added, "It would confound basic human reason if the presidential results were to face objection while the congressional results of the same process escaped without public scrutiny." Roy apologized to those who had come to the swearing-in ceremony and said that if a colleague objected to his own seating in response he would welcome a vote.


title: Chip Roy

text: Due to Roy's actions, the House held a vote on the matter and the result was 371 to 2 in favor of moving ahead with the swearing in of all members. The "Dallas Morning News" wrote that Roy's actions were "a dramatic escalation in the GOP feud" over the counting of electoral votes, noting Roy was in the minority of his party but "a conservative firebrand...[who] has developed a reputation for a damn-the-consequences approach to doing what he thinks is right, even if it means irking his fellow Republicans."


title: Chip Roy

text: Roy spent most of January 5, 2021, working on the remarks he planned on giving on the House floor the next day. He called constitutional scholars as well as other members to sharpen his writing. At the end of the day, when returning to his Virginia apartment, he stopped at a sports bar and was troubled by what he saw: "The place was filled with MAGA Trump supporters. Absolutely filled. ...I kept hearing people say, 'Liberals are going to be upset tomorrow when the vice president stops this steal and gives this election back to the president.' I heard that repeatedly from people in that bar. I had called the Sheriff of Hays County earlier that day to tell him to look after Carrah and the kids and I told friends here in town to look after Carrah and the kids because I could tell things were getting a little amped up. And that night I re-texted the sheriff and said 'Please be keeping an eye out for Carrah and the kids' because the temperature was so high."


title: Chip Roy

text: The next day, when there was an objection to counting Arizona's electoral votes, Roy went with the other members of the House to debate their acceptance. He began seeing notifications on social media of an angry mob outside the Capitol and began texting his staff to try to ensure their safety in the Longworth office building. Legislators paused the debate when the Capitol police announced a breach in the building, but thinking it isolated, resumed debate. Roy was in the well of the lectern about fourth in line to the microphone, where he planned to object to those objecting to the electoral votes. After Capitol police instructed members to hunker in place and make use of their emergency gas masks, Roy tweeted, "To those storming the Capitol - I am on the House floor and I will not be deterred from upholding my oath, under God, to the Constitution by mob demand." Roy felt to stay in the chamber would be like a "sitting duck" and was able to get Capitol police to direct representatives to a secure exit. Upon receiving their instructions, Roy went to the indicated door and called for his fellow members to exit through it while he held it open.


title: Chip Roy

text: During the mayhem of the insurrection, Roy was in the House chamber. He tweeted to Trump, "Mr. President - get to a microphone immediately and establish calm and order. Now. And work with Capitol Police to secure the Capitol. It's the last thing you'll do that matters as President." He later told a reporter, "We must enforce the law. People have breached the Capitol, they need to go to jail. It's dangerous. A lot of people there with a lot of emotions running high. Look, I wish the president had spun people to—as I said, on the floor of the House of Representatives [Wednesday] night—to believe things that were not going to happen, and that was unfortunate." As Congress prepared to return to the chambers, Roy tweeted, "We will reconvene. We will vote to accept the electors from the states, as instructed by the Constitution. That is our job."


title: Chip Roy

text: Returning to the chamber once safety was restored, Roy addressed the House, "Many of my colleagues were poised this afternoon to vote to insert Congress into the constitutionally prescribed decision-making of the states by rejecting the sole official electors sent to us by each of the states of the union. I hope they will reconsider. I can tell you that I was not going to, and I will not be voting to reject the electors. And that vote may well sign my political death warrant. But so be it. I swore an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States—and I will not bend its words into contortions for political expediency and then claim I am honoring that oath." In the two House votes that challenged the electors of Arizona and Pennsylvania, Roy voted to certify the electors appointed by those states.


title: Chip Roy

text: Even as Roy's favorability dropped significantly in his district, he said he had no regrets: "I did not take an oath to the political expediency of either Donald Trump or any other member of a political party. I took an oath to the Constitution of the United States. My view is immovable in that regard. And for those raising questions about it, I want to know where they were—precisely where they were—when a Capitol Hill police officer was getting his head bashed in by a fire extinguisher by an angry mob spun up in no small part by the president's irresponsible actions." Roy told a reporter that Republicans were "being fed misinformation" and that one of his responsibilities was to counsel voters on just how they were misled.


title: Chip Roy

text: In February 2021, a month after the Capitol riots, Roy told reporters he was considering bringing a lawsuit over a new rule putting metal detectors in the House and Senate buildings: "It's an outrage. I believe it deprives us of our Second Amendment right to defend ourselves. On January 6, I was sitting on the floor of the House of Representatives. The only thing between me and an angry mob was a handful of Capitol Hill police officers who had their hands full." He said of the policy: "This isn't making us safer. This is a political show." He added: "This is an unconstitutional deprivation of my right to defend myself. Period. Full stop. I do not care what Speaker Pelosi says about it. I do not care what anybody says about it. That is what the Second Amendment means. That is why it is there."


title: Chip Roy

text: He said that under the U.S. Constitution (Article one, Section Six) members of Congress cannot be arrested on their way to or from voting except for treason, felony, or breach of the peace and that it was an open legal question whether they could be fined. He also said that as the fines ($5,000 for the first offense, $10,000 for the second) are deducted from members' pay, the policy could be a violation of the 27th Amendment, which requires that changes to members' pay only go into effect as of the next Congress.


title: Chip Roy

text: During the second impeachment of Donald Trump, Roy held that Trump's behavior "was clearly, in my opinion, impeachable conduct, pressuring the vice president to violate his oath to the Constitution." Still, Roy opposed impeachment. He held that the Democratic leadership in the House "drafted articles that I believe are flawed… focusing on the legally specific terms of incitement and insurrection. Even noting impeachment does not require meeting a certain legal standard – the danger for open speech & debate in this body and for the Republic generally is high – if the House approves the articles as written." If accepted, he said, "The language of this impeachment will be used to target members of this body under section 3 of the 14th Amendment. It will be used to suggest that any statements we make are subject to review by our colleagues and send us down the perilous path of the cleansing political speech in the public square."


title: Chip Roy

text: Roy joined all of Texas's House Republicans in voting against impeachment. When asked whether he or any of his fellow Republicans had been threatened with violence if they voted to impeach, Roy said, "I'm not aware of any specific threats against me or anybody else. Honestly, if somebody would have threatened me, I probably would have said FU and voted to impeach. I just don't react well to that sort of thing."


title: Chip Roy

text: In events leading up to the insurrection at the Capitol, reporters observed an ideological split between Roy and Cruz. On January 5, Roy forced members of the House to go on record in a voice vote concerning the seating of 67 representatives-elect from the six states that Trump asserted had invalid elections, a move "The Washington Post" called a "gutsy step" that was "putting a spotlight on the hypocrisy of his fellow Republicans" for contesting the presidential results in those states but not the results for other races in those states, though the same methods were used to tabulate votes.


title: Chip Roy

text: That same day the media learned that Cruz would join Representatives Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar in objecting to the certification of Arizona's electoral votes, despite Attorney General William Barr's declaration that there was no evidence of fraud and despite every lawsuit put forward to challenge the outcome in Arizona having been dismissed or dropped by Trump's legal team. Cruz led a coalition of 11 Republican senators demanding an audit. Cruz's objections to Arizona were joined by Senator Josh Hawley challenging Pennsylvania's electoral votes and Senator Kelly Loeffler those of Georgia. In contrast, Roy called on his fellow legislators to recall that "we have sworn an oath to promote the Constitution above our policy goals" and that they had a duty to follow its text.


title: Chip Roy

text: The "Post" contrasted Roy with Cruz, who it said "is stoking his 2024 presidential hopes by helping to lead a dishonest drive to question the electoral college results." James Tilove of "Texas Monthly" wrote of Cruz and Roy, "Their paths on January 6 could not have been more divergent, with Roy denouncing the president and the elector challenges, and Cruz continuing that night to press his objection to certifying the Biden electors from Arizona—the first of two states voted on—even after witnessing the terrible passions the doomed maneuver had stirred." Roy acknowledged that he and Cruz disagreed on how to honor their oaths to the Constitution, but said, "My friendship with Senator Ted Cruz is immovable. I think everybody needs to dial it down on both kinds of extremes. Those attacking [Cruz and some others] and calling them seditionists, it's absolutely absurd. We can agree to disagree on these things and we need to. I'll have more to say on that later but my friendship with Senator Ted Cruz is not up for negotiation."


title: Chip Roy

text: On January 28, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez expressed a desire in a tweet to "know more" about the stock trading app Robinhood, which had blocked some retail investors' trading while hedge funds faced no such constraints. When Cruz tweeted his agreement, Ocasio-Cortez rebuffed him, holding that his calling the Electoral College votes into question had helped incite the January 6 insurrectionists, some of whom called for violence against her. She tweeted: "I am happy to work with Republicans on this issue where there's common ground, but you almost had me murdered 3 weeks ago so you can sit this one out. Happy to work w/ almost any other GOP that aren't trying to get me killed. In the meantime if you want to help, you can resign."


title: Chip Roy

text: Roy objected to Ocasio-Cortez's assertions in a letter to Pelosi demanding that she be forced to apologize or face sanctions, saying "she accused Senator Ted Cruz, in essence, of attempted murder. it is completely unacceptable behavior for a Member of Congress to make this kind of scurrilous charge against another member in the House or Senate for simply engaging in speech and debate regarding electors as they interpreted the Constitution. …It is my sincere hope that we all stop this heightened rhetoric and move forward to actually do the work the American people sent us here to do."


title: Chip Roy

text: On February 1, Ocasio-Cortez detailed her experience on January 6, which was compounded by the trauma of being a sexual assault survivor, saying, "Ted Cruz and Representatives Chip Roy, and, oh, by the way, some of the other representatives who actually encouraged people to threaten members of Congress, or tweeted out the location of the Speaker, are now telling me to apologize for saying and speak truth to what happened. These are the tactics that abusers use. The folks who are saying, 'We should move on,' 'We shouldn't have accountability,' etc., are saying, 'Can you just forget about this so we can do it again?'" Roy replied that he was saddened to learn she had been a victim of sexual assault, but "I will not be swayed from my beliefs about right and wrong—regarding this or anything else." He took issue with being accused of using abuser tactics: "Her comparison of my defense of colleagues to her circumstances were again inappropriate…It does not change the fact that her allegation against Sen. Cruz was completely unacceptable for a Member of Congress to make against another member for engaging in free speech and debate about what our Constitution says about electors. Nor does it change my position that she should apologize for and retract those remarks."


title: Chip Roy

text: On March 8, 2021, 13 suspension bills—bills brought up under suspension of House rules—were scheduled to be put forward on the House floor, including a measure with overwhelming Republican support to present the U.S. Capitol Police with a Congressional Gold Medal. These plans were scrapped because Roy and Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene expressed their intent to demand recorded roll call votes for each bill. As this parliamentary maneuver would have forced voting to go into the early morning, the leadership rescheduled the voting.


title: Chip Roy

text: Of the delay, Roy said, "We need to continue to have conversations about every bill that's moving through the floor." He held that instead of the suspension calendar being "done right", the Democratic leadership was "jamming through 10 Democrat bills [and] three Republican bills on a Monday we fly back, while we're jamming through a $2 trillion bill which we have no say in, while we’ve got fences around the Capitol, we've metal detectors, etc. …We need to have a conversation in this town about how to make the House work again. That's what we're doing." He said his motivation was to force conversations over how to make Congress "work better" as "This place is completely dysfunctional."


title: Chip Roy

text: Roy also criticized the Democratic leadership for doing away with the "motion to recommit", which Republicans in the previous Congress had used to force last-minute changes to legislation on the House floor. House Minority Whip Steve Scalise made clear the House Republican leadership had not planned or approved Roy's remarks, but also said he too wanted "to see an open process."


title: Chip Roy

text: Not all of the GOP Leadership opposed Roy; Conference Chair Liz Cheney said, "This process is not going to be able to continue smoothly as long as the Democrats continue to try to ram pieces of legislation through without adequate hearings, without adequate debate and discussion, without adequate ability to offer amendments, without a motion to recommit. …The majority needs to understand we are not interested in a situation where they have taken away so many rights of the minority and they expect things are going to operate smoothly. It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that this is going on." Democrats characterized the moves as producing nothing but pointless delay and agitation. They singled out Greene as merely attention-seeking due to having been stripped of her committee assignments in February, and her repeated disruptions of the legislative process (such as discussion of the Equality Act) by use of "motions to adjourn debate", forcing members to hurry to the House floor to vote to remain in session.


title: Chip Roy

text: The Republican caucus, increasingly annoyed by Greene's tactics, were more supportive of Roy's, as the timing allowed both the protest to gain attention, along with a rescheduling that prevented mass disruption. Hoyer and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy held talks on how to address Roy's and Greene's maneuvers. In its coverage of the episode, "Politico" called Roy "a master of procedural delays on the floor." Due to changes in the rules on account of the COVID-19 pandemic, each roll-call vote took at least an additional 45 minutes longer than under normal circumstances, and a growing number of Republicans joined with Democrats in complaining about the delays.


title: Chip Roy

text: Among the bills that were rescheduled due to Roy's procedural protest was one giving Congressional Gold Medals to the Capitol Police and the assisting police forces who withstood the January 6 attack on the Capitol. When the measure received a roll call vote on March 17, it did not pass with unanimous support. Twelve Republicans voted against it, objecting to the use of the word "insurrectionists". Roy, who had earlier said, "These words all matter, right? …I have to study the language fully", supported the measure. The final vote tally was 413-12.


title: Chip Roy

text: The bill moved to the Senate, which had passed its own version. A new bill was created to resolve the differences between the two versions. The largest change was the addition of having a medal displayed inside the Capitol itself, and lines that added those Capitol Police officers who suffered under the car ramming attack on a Senate security barricade on April 2, 2021. The revised bill returned to the House and was put up for a vote on June 15. Despite his vote in March, Roy joined 20 other Republicans in voting against this version, which passed 406-21. Roy released a statement saying the original "legislation has since been amended to include events that have absolutely nothing to do with January 6th. Instead of honoring our men and women of law enforcement, Democrats are playing political games with the tragedy of April 2, 2021."


title: Chip Roy

text: Roy defended Representative Liz Cheney when the House voted to strip her of her position as chair of the House Republican Conference over her criticism of Trump. On January 13, 2021, he said: "It has come to my attention that a number of my colleagues are circulating calls for Liz Cheney to step down from, or to be removed as, chair of the Republican Conference for her position in support of impeachment of the president. I reject this call, and offer my support. …there can be little debate that, among other things, the president's pressure exerted on Vice President Pence to violate his oath, and the false hope it sent to emotionally charged supporters, was wrong, troubling, and impeachable. Liz should be commended, not condemned, for standing up in defense of the Constitution and standing true to her beliefs."


title: Chip Roy

text: On May 11, Roy released a memo calling the conference to be clear that the controversy over Cheney was not about her position that the election "was not stolen", but rather that she had "forfeited her ability to be our spokesperson by pulling us into distraction. …looking backwards while repeatedly and unhelpfully engaging in personal attacks and finger-wagging towards President Trump rather than leading the conference forward with a unifying message." He said the conference should be "fighting to stop the radical Democrat agenda" rather than "falling prey to the high drama of swamp politics." Roy and other conservative Republicans had discussed concerns over Stefanik's comparably moderate voting record, with Roy taking the lead in this group. His May 11 memo accused Representative Elise Stefanik of campaigning as a Republican but supporting the Democrats' agenda once sworn in. He added: "let us contemplate the message Republican leadership is about to send by rushing to coronate a spokesperson whose voting record embodies much of what led to the 2018 ass-kicking we received by Democrats."


title: Chip Roy

text: Representative Lance Gooden told a reporter that with the amount of support Stefanik had gathered, her victory seemed virtually assured, so "One of the problems of those who had issues with Elise were that no one had really stepped forward to run against her, they were being critical, but no one really seemed to have the nerve to put their name down. So it seems as if Chip Roy is that candidate." Roy's fundraising campaign sent out donation requests saying that "he was the FIRST to call Cheney out on her anti-Trump and self-serving hysterics" and that "his bold leadership will hopefully lead to a big change."


title: Chip Roy

text: Cheney was ultimately ousted from her position as chair by unrecorded voice vote with no one, not even Cheney, objecting.


title: Chip Roy

text: By May 13, shortly before a scheduled candidate forum, Roy officially announced his candidacy for the position. He cited what he saw as Stefanik's lack of conservative qualifications and the rapid pace of the process as his reasons for running. (After Cheney was ousted that Wednesday, McCarthy had scheduled the forum for Thursday evening, and the vote for Friday morning.)


title: Chip Roy

text: Previously, Trump released a statement in opposition to Roy: "Can't imagine Republican House Members would go with Chip Roy—he has not done a great job, and will probably be successfully primaried in his own district. I support Elise, by far, over Chip!" Minutes after Trump's release, the conservative group FreedomWorks came out in support of Roy, saying they were pleased to hear of his nomination, and that "Rep. Roy has a lifetime 100% voting record on our scorecard. He has demonstrated that Republicans can legislate based on conservative principles and also get elected in competitive districts."


title: Chip Roy

text: Around 60 House Republicans gathered for the candidate forum to hear pitches between Roy and Stefanik to take over the position. The forum was described as a friendly and formal back-and-forth, with Roy contending that he was the more conservative choice, and Stefanik emphasizing her work to elect GOP women along with her ability to fundraise. Both promised to set aside their personal views to better deliver party messaging. Some attendees told reporters that they felt many in the audience had previously decided who they would support before the forum was even held. Roy did not respond to any questions after the forum: "We are going to have a vote tomorrow in the Republican conference." When asked whether Trump's endorsement of Stefanik and bashing of him concerned him, Roy likened the reporters to "vultures" and said: "This is all D.C. swamp business."


title: Chip Roy

text: In contrast, Stefanik called the forum a "great discussion", said she had cross-conference support and "we are in a strong position." On May 14, the day of the election, Representative Ken Buck of the Freedom Caucus formally nominated Roy, and his nomination was seconded by Boebert. Roy lost the election to Stefanik in a secret ballot, 134-46. Afterward he released a statement congratulating Stefanik, but taking pride in being able to "provide an alternative with a proven record of standing up not for politicians—but for freedom, the Constitution, and the conservative principles Americans hold dear."


title: Chip Roy

text: Roy did not support the House measure to create a bipartisan commission to investigate the causes of and governmental response to the January 6, 2021 storming at the U.S. Capitol. He held that forming a commission was not "a responsible and proper way" to investigate the issue, and that "The proposed commission does not have powers that existing law enforcement and existing congressional committees don't already have; however, it does have an unlimited budget and a vague mandate." The bill passed the House on May 19, 2021, by a vote of 252 to 175.


title: Chip Roy

text: On May 13, Roy and Representative Thomas Massie sent Attorney General Merrick Garland a letter expressing concern that those facing federal charges for participation in the January 6 rioters would be subject to "overly aggressive tactics, overcharge, and abuse of power of the federal government in order to satisfy favored political groups." They claimed that they had heard reports that Assistant U.S. Attorneys were not allowed discretion to "enter into plea deals without permission from political appointees" at the Department of Justice. They also wrote, "there are disturbing reports of heavily armed teams of federal agents bursting into family homes to arrest individuals with no history or likelihood of violence", and demanded congressional oversight of the prosecutions. When Massie's office was asked their sources for the reports, they responded, "Mr. Roy's office has spoken with attorneys handling these cases and we can't comment any further than that."


title: Chip Roy

text: Roy, Andrew Clyde and Thomas Massie were the only House members to vote against The Emmett Till Antilynching Act, which passed the 117th United States Congress.


title: Chip Roy

text: On March 13, 2020, Trump declared the COVID-19 pandemic a national emergency, allowing access to billions in aid. The same day, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Speaker Nancy Pelosi concluded negotiations for a COVID-19 relief bill. The $2.2 billion measure included funding for free testing for the uninsured, paid sick leave, $1 billion for food aid, and extended unemployment along with other measures to address Americans affected by the pandemic. The next morning, Roy was among the Republican representatives who voted against the bill, calling it "welfare". He mocked the measure on social media, tweeting, "The only thing missing from the #PelosiDeal is free toilet paper for all" (he later deleted the tweet). He expanded on his opposition, tweeting, "I voted no because this bill will cause more harm for more Americans than the good it purports to offer. …we were given a take-it-or-leave it bill with zero chance to amend it or debate it. …Despite it being well-intentioned, it puts onerous burdens and mandates on main street employers, while picking winners and losers by carving out big business!" The bill passed 363-40.


title: Chip Roy

text: As the pandemic began to spread, Maine Governor Janet Mills released an executive order on April 3 calling on out-of-state visitors to self-quarantine for 14 days after entering Maine, "To slow the spread of this deadly virus and prevent our health care system from being overwhelmed." This was seen as a response to Mainers, especially in coastal communities, who were complaining that non-residents were trying to escape more crowded urban areas and endangering the community. Mills made a point not to authorize investigating people solely due to out-of-state license plates, so that military or health care workers who had come to the state would not feel harassed. Maine's law enforcement held that the order would be difficult to enforce due to limited staffing and that it was mainly an effort to have neighbors encourage each other to comply with the rules. Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin Joyce told reporters, "If we receive a complaint we will send a deputy to educate the person about the quarantine but trying to build a case or enforce the order is unrealistic."


title: Chip Roy

text: On April 6, Roy guested on "The Mark Levin Show" and criticized governors like Mills who had responded forcefully to the pandemic, saying that they were following projections about infections that were mere guesses "not even [based on statistical] models, they are fingers in the air. And they are throwing them out there and they are causing the American people to freak out and panic instead of going through this logically." Roy agreed with Mark Levin that governors in "states who barely have this virus" who were issuing stay-at-home orders were overreacting, saying, "Well, I am glad that there's a number of governors who haven't. …And there was a Maine sheriff today who basically told the Maine governor to pound sand. He is not going to go around and check people when they are driving around the state of Maine. And we need more of that. We need more rational human beings who are going to step back and say 'No, this isn't a police state. This isn't Nazi Germany. This isn't Russia. We are not going to do that. What were going to do is have common sense discussions on what we can do to make things better.'"


title: Chip Roy

text: Roy also said that state authorities defining which businesses were essential was a form of tyranny: "I always get entertained or really frankly ticked off at these local county judges and mayors and these little tinpot dictators that are making decisions about peoples’ lives when they declare what is and is not an essential business. ..You know what? Any business is essential to its owner and the people who work there. Every single one of them… and all the central planners effectively are deciding how we live our lives."


title: Chip Roy

text: In May 2020, Roy said, "We need immune systems that are strong. We need immunity systems that can fight this... We need herd immunity." Asked whether acquiring such immunity would entail unnecessary deaths, Roy said that the countrywide stay-at-home orders and attendant delays in accessing cancer screenings or entering into addiction treatment, as well as mental health problems precipitated by unemployment, had increased indirect deaths and suffering.


title: Chip Roy

text: In July 2020, Roy blamed surging coronavirus cases in Southern Texas on "people coming across our border" from Mexico. At the time, the border with Mexico had been closed for all nonessential activity since March.


title: Chip Roy

text: In a July 28 appearance with talk show host Steve Deace, Roy suggested that the stay-at-home orders imposed in response to the pandemic were a part of "a fraud being perpetrated on the American people of fear. We are literally, purposely allowing the government...we are purposely causing fear among the American people by virtue of the actions or inactions of our government leaders and then allowing the media to spin up that fear. That is unfortunate and it is costing lives and it's costing economic activity, it's costing jobs and it's costing mental health, and it's frankly undermining our national security and the health of our nation, and frankly I don't think that's accidental. I think that is all about design and all about reclaiming power in November and I think on November fourth there'll be a magic awakening of how we can suddenly beat the virus. …[We need to] start raising a fuss, say 'this is my country. I want my country back, and I want to live healthily and I don't want a bureaucrat government or insurance or otherwise standing between me and my doctor; me and my ability to stay healthy; me and my ability to live free.' And that's what's happening and we need to stop it."


title: Chip Roy

text: Roy said that Texas was holding COVID-19 cases down; in fact, cases were surging in Texas at the time. Later that month, after Representative Louie Gohmert tested positive for COVID-19, Roy said he did not plan to isolate himself even though he had had a recent maskless interaction with Gohmert on the House floor.


title: Chip Roy

text: Roy retweeted a comment by Deace on November 13 that said, "We are not going to honor any of these CDC Thanksgiving guidelines, and instead will intentionally violate them all. But thanks." Roy's tweet added, "I will do whatever I want to do on Thanksgiving. Period. #StandUpForAmerica". Two days later, Roy retweeted his earlier tweet and added, "I apologize to the folks who have raised concerns that I said 'I will do whatever I want to do on Thanksgiving. Period.' I should have been more clear, so here it goes: 'I will do whatever I want to do on Thanksgiving … or any other day … Period.'"


title: Chip Roy

text: On December 23, 2020, Roy joined Trump's opposition to a recently passed $900 billion COVID-19 relief package, saying, "This bill is an irresponsible swamp bill. It is the merger of an omnibus bill that is bloated with typical wasteful spending, on top of a relief bill that has a whole lot of things in it that frankly aren't all that focused on relief. The president's right to call B.S. on this ridiculous bill. Both parties are at fault. …The American people don't just want another check, they want us to do our job like they have to do when they sit around their kitchen table and small businesses have to do when they are trying to make ends meet and America's leadership in Washington refuses to do what they have to do." After Republican leadership pushed back on Trump's claim that the bipartisan legislation was a "disgrace", Trump signed the bill, which was attached to a $1.4 trillion spending measure to keep the government running through September 2021.


title: Chip Roy

text: On January 12, 2021, the House implemented a rule about wearing masks on the floor, with violators to receive a warning and then fines that would be deducted from their salary and could not be paid out of campaign funds or expense accounts. Roy joined about a dozen Republican House members, led by Marjorie Taylor Greene and including Thomas Massie, Lauren Boebert, Ralph Norman, Beth Van Duyne, Louis Gohmert, and Mary Miller, in a protest against mask wearing in the chamber on May 18, 2021. They positioned themselves in front of C-SPAN cameras, grouping together to take selfies and posting them on Twitter. Despite House Republicans' formal effort to set the rule aside on May 19, 2021, it was kept in place, with the Capitol physician reiterating, "Extra precautions are necessary given the substantial number of partially vaccinated, unvaccinated, and vaccine-indeterminate individuals."


title: Chip Roy

text: Roy was among the Republican House members reprimanded for not wearing a mask on the House floor. He was warned that additional instances would result in $500 fine (with fines going up to $2,500 thereafter). He did not respond to reporters asking whether he had been vaccinated.


title: Chip Roy

text: Roy was one of three House Republicans to vote "present" on a resolution condemning Trump's action of withdrawing forces from Syria. Along with Matt Gaetz and a handful of Republicans, Roy broke with his party and voted to end Saudi assistance to the War in Yemen.


title: Chip Roy

text: In March 2021, Roy was one of 14 House Republicans to vote against a measure condemning the Myanmar coup d'état (Paul Gosar voted "present"). After the vote, "The Washington Post" noted a pattern of a small group of House Republicans, including Roy, who on several occasions "objected to what would seem to most observers as an unobjectionable proposal." It described them as an "emerging far-right 'no' caucus …a consistent cohort of House Republicans who are uniting to constitute much of the minority on measures that otherwise pass overwhelmingly. …[united by] staunchly right-wing politics and, in many cases, a penchant for media attention."


title: Chip Roy

text: In June 2021, Roy was one of 49 House Republicans to vote to repeal the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002.


title: Chip Roy

text: In September 2021, Roy was among 75 House Republicans to vote against the National Defense Authorization Act of 2022, which contains a provision that would require women to be drafted.


title: Chip Roy

text: Roy was among 19 House Republicans to vote against the final passage of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act.


title: Chip Roy

text: In July 2022, Roy was one of 18 Republicans to vote against ratifying Sweden's and Finland's applications for NATO membership.


title: Chip Roy

text: During a congressional hearing held in the wake of a mass shooting in Atlanta that killed eight people, including six Asian American women, Roy questioned whether the committee's attempts to prevent hate crimes and hate incidents against Asian Americans would hamper free speech. His opening statement also included a remark that appeared to advocate lynching: "There are old sayings in Texas about find all the rope in Texas and get a tall oak tree. We take justice very seriously. And we ought to do that. Round up the bad guys." His statements prompted criticism from Democrats, including Representative Grace Meng, who said, "This hearing was to address the hurt and pain of our community, to find solutions. And we will not let you take our voice from us."


title: Chip Roy

text: After the hearing, Roy declined to apologize for his words and complained about "Chinese Communists who seek to destroy us" while clarifying that he meant the discussion should focus on "taking out bad guys" instead of also addressing issues like hate speech. Texas GOP chair and former Florida congressman Allen West wrote that Roy's remarks "were inappropriate and unfortunate ... While his comments about hanging were dumb, they're not grounds for resignation ... My recommendation to Congressman Chip Roy would be to engage the brain before firing the mouth ... It would avoid embarrassing situations such as this."


title: Chip Roy

text: On May 18, 2021, Roy was one of 62 Republicans to vote against a bill that ordered the Department of Justice to expedite the review of COVID-19-related hate crimes reported to law enforcement and help establish ways to report indictments online. The bill also directed the Department of Justice to perform public outreach on the issue, and instructed the Attorney General and the Department of Health and Human Services to issue best-practice guidance on how to mitigate racially discriminatory language for describing the pandemic.


title: Chip Roy

text: Roy explained his opposition before the vote, saying, "We can't legislate away hate. The perspective of many of us is that we don't need new laws, we don't need more committees, and we don't need more bureaucracy. We need to give our police the resources they need to do their job. We need to make sure that we are rooting out crime wherever it may exist between whatever communities it may exist. We need more emphasis on family, more emphasis on community, more emphasis on the Lord Almighty, and less reliance on the federal government to make our communities better. …The concern of many on my side of the aisle is in this continued sordid business of divvying us up on race and focusing on race. We have spent the better part of the last year rightfully concerned, focused, and outraged on what we saw with respect to Mr. Floyd. But we have had a continued focus on race over the last year, and I think one can look at the impact on communities and the impact on Black communities throughout the United States' cities, businesses that have been closed down, and crime sprees that have occurred and wonder what this continued focus on race is doing to better our great nation."


title: Chip Roy

text: Roy was one of 14 Republicans to vote against the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, which passed 415-14. The bill recognized as a public holiday a commemoration of June 19, 1865, the day slaves in Galveston, Texas, learned that two and a half years earlier President Abraham Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing any slave held in rebel states. Roy took issue with the bill's name, saying, "Juneteenth should be commemorated …[but] the holiday should not be called 'Juneteenth National Independence Day' but rather 'Juneteenth National Emancipation (or Freedom or otherwise) Day.' This name needlessly divides our nation on a matter that should instead bring us together by creating a separate Independence Day based on the color of one's skin."


title: Chip Roy

text: On June 28, 2019, Roy responded to stories of people being turned away after attempting to donate goods (such as diapers, soaps, sanitary wipes, and toys) to migrant children and families being held by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The rejection was due to the Antideficiency Act, which mandates that government agencies cannot accept donations or spend any money other than that allocated by Congress. Roy put forward a bill called the Charitable Donations Freedom Act, which would amend the mandate to allow donations of goods. In response to worries that the wording may be too broad and limit Congressional oversight, Roy said he was willing to "work to make sure it's not either too narrow or too broad." On June 28, 2019, the bill was referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.


title: Chip Roy

text: In a July 2019 hearing on border detention conditions, in order to emphasize that she was telling the truth, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez asked to be sworn in, taking the role of a witness at a House panel before relating a story about a migrant woman who said she had to drink water from a toilet because her sink broke. In response, Roy accused her of political theatrics and playing to her Twitter followers.


title: Chip Roy

text: On February 10, 2021, Roy coauthored a letter with 50 other members of Congress criticizing President Joe Biden for refocusing treatment of immigrants under Title 42 health regulations, rather than Title 8, which deals with asylum claims, primarily Homeland Security and Executive Office for Immigration Review matters.


title: Chip Roy

text: Roy voted against the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019 which would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to eliminate the per-country numerical limitation for employment-based immigrants, to increase the per-country numerical limitation for family-sponsored immigrants, and for other purposes.


title: Chip Roy

text: Roy voted against the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020 which authorizes DHS to nearly double the available H-2B visas for the remainder of FY 2020.


title: Chip Roy

text: Roy voted against Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 1158) which effectively prohibits ICE from cooperating with Health and Human Services to detain or remove illegal alien sponsors of unaccompanied alien children (UACs).


title: Chip Roy

text: In 2022, NumbersUSA, which seeks to reduce both legal and illegal immigration, gave him a 99% score; in 2019–20, the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which also supports immigration controls, gave him a 100% rating.


title: Chip Roy

text: Roy voiced strong opposition to a March 2021 House Republican secret ballot of 102-84 to return earmarks to internal rules, saying, "It is the currency of corruption in Washington. We shouldn't do it. The Republican party should be ashamed of themselves. …I think we've got $30 trillion in debt and people are tired of the swamp and the GOP should be ashamed of itself, if it jumps headfirst right back into the swamp." He signed and circulated a letter along with 17 other members of his conference promising never to request earmarks for their districts.


title: Chip Roy

text: In 2022, Roy was one of 39 Republicans to vote for the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2022, an antitrust package that would crack down on corporations for anti-competitive behavior.


title: Chip Roy

text: Roy met his wife, Carrah, at the University of Texas. They have two children. Roy was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2011.


title: Chip Roy

text: Roy has said his religious faith informs his political positions, including his opposition to the Equality Act, which he has characterized as trying to prevent his family from being able to "carry out our beliefs without penalty". He has pointed to his generational connection to the Baptist faith, which includes his great-grandfather working as the janitor for the First Baptist Church.


title: Femme Fatale (Britney Spears album)

text: Femme Fatale is the seventh studio album by American singer Britney Spears. It was released on March 25, 2011, by Jive Records, and was her last album with the label before they shut down later that year as she was moved to RCA Records. Musically, Spears wanted to make a "fresh-sounding" and "fierce dance album", thus incorporating dance-pop, electropop, EDM and synth-pop styles with elements of dubstep, techno and electro in its sound. Spears began working on the album during the second leg of her tour The Circus Starring Britney Spears (2009), while also contributing to her second greatest hits album "The Singles Collection" (2009). Spears collaborated with various producers including Max Martin, Dr. Luke, William Orbit, Fraser T Smith, Rodney Jerkins, Bloodshy, will.i.am, Stargate, and Travis Barker.


title: Femme Fatale (Britney Spears album)

text: Upon its release, the album received generally favorable reviews from music critics, who complimented its production and dance-pop style. The album debuted atop the charts in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Russia, South Korea and the United States, and peaked inside the top ten in 24 countries. In the United States, it was her sixth number-one album on the "Billboard" 200, extending her record as the artist with most consecutive number-one albums in the US. "Femme Fatale" is certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). As of February 2014, it had sold 2.4 million copies worldwide.


title: Femme Fatale (Britney Spears album)

text: Four singles were released. It became Spears's most successful era in the US charts, being her first album to score three top ten singles on the US "Billboard" Hot 100, with "Hold It Against Me", "Till the World Ends" and "I Wanna Go" peaking at numbers one, three and seven, respectively. The fourth and final single, "Criminal", peaked at number one in Brazil and within the top 20 in five countries. A resurgence in popularity for "Criminal" occurred when it went viral on TikTok in 2020, becoming one of her most streamed songs and fourth most liked music video on YouTube.


title: Femme Fatale (Britney Spears album)

text: Spears promoted the album with television performances, the Femme Fatale Tour, and collaborations (remixes) with Kesha, Nicki Minaj, and Rihanna.


title: Femme Fatale (Britney Spears album)

text: On July 12, 2009, Spears confirmed through her Twitter account that she had begun recording new material, stating she was going into the studio with Swedish songwriter and producer Max Martin, while she was in Stockholm during the European leg of The Circus Starring Britney Spears. The recording sessions resulted in several album cuts as well as the song "3", which would be released as a single from Spears's second greatest hits album "The Singles Collection" (2009).


title: Femme Fatale (Britney Spears album)

text: In June 2010, during an interview with "Rap-Up", Danja commented that he was working with Spears in the pre-production of "Femme Fatale". Darkchild, who was also reportedly working with her, said during a Ustream session in August 2010, "Britney fans are gonna be so happy in a few weeks", hinting about the release of new music. However, this was denied by Spears's manager Adam Leber, who stated, "No new music news right now...Wish people wouldn't mislead you guys with info. Not cool! PS- The guys that ARE working on Brit's next album ARE NOT talking about it..." Leber later spoke with "Entertainment Weekly", calling the sound of the record "progressive" and "a departure from what you've heard." In November 2010, Dr. Luke announced that he would be the executive producer of the album, along with Max Martin. Spears explained in an interview with "Rolling Stone" that she had worked with Luke during the production of "Blackout" (2007), stating that he was "incredible" during that time and that his skills have improved. She also said that Martin was with her since the beginning of her career and that there is "nobody [she] feel[s] more comfortable collaborating with in the studio". On December 2, 2010, the day of her 29th birthday, Spears thanked her fans for the birthday wishes and announced, "I'm almost done with my new album and it will be coming out this March."


title: Femme Fatale (Britney Spears album)

text: In July 2009, Spears announced that she had begun recording new material with longtime collaborator Max Martin. Spears stated her desire to make the album "fresh-sounding [...] for the clubs or something that you play in your car when you're going out at night that gets you excited, but I wanted it to sound different from everything else out right now." Spears also stated that she wanted to make sure "Femme Fatale" was completely different from her previous studio album "Circus" (2008). After "Hold It Against Me" was written, originally, Luke and Martin wanted to give the track to Katy Perry, but they later decided that it wasn't the right fit for her. They continued to work on the song with Billboard, and Luke commented that before giving the song to Spears he wanted to make sure it sounded different from his previous recordings. Darkchild stated that while working with him, Spears was very "hands-on" and "had a lot of ideas for [him]." He later commented he had produced two songs for the album, with one of them featuring Travis Barker. Darkchild added that the song "[has] this rock feel which is out of the box, out of my norm, and I think it's out of her norm as well."


title: Femme Fatale (Britney Spears album)

text: Dr. Luke revealed in February 2011 that a final track listing had not yet been chosen. Later that month, Spears worked with will.i.am. Spears later commented that she is a fan of the Black Eyed Peas, and would love to work with will.i.am again the future. She also said that she discovered Sabi through a friend recommendation, and had always wanted to feature a new artist in one of her albums, hence they recorded "(Drop Dead) Beautiful". British producer Fraser T Smith worked with Spears on three tracks and complimented her work ethic, saying that her voice was powerful and that she focused on the music. William Orbit confirmed he had co-written a track for Spears with Klas Åhlund, but it was left off the final track listing. Orbit stated that he was displeased with the decision, and commented, "[T]he Britney thing. Look, I went to a writing camp at Teresa's. Had lovely time. Word got out. Assumptions were made. Dr Luke is exec[utive] prod[ucer] and he locks in locks out whoever he likes. And (do [I] hear [you] ask) where B's at in all this? I surely don't know. [D]id a song [with] Klas Ahlund, who wrote 'Piece of Me'. And is killa. But not on ["Femme Fatale"] apparently. But a good song is a good song regardless."


title: Femme Fatale (Britney Spears album)

text: Music writers noted electropop, dance-pop, EDM, and synth-pop styles on "Femme Fatale". Music journalist Jody Rosen wrote of the album, "Conceptually it's straightforward: a party record packed with sex and sadness". The album was compared to Spears's previous albums, "In the Zone" (2003), "Blackout" (2007) and "Circus" (2008). Although Spears was criticized for her lack of involvement from the album's production and writing, she wrote the song "Scary", produced by Fraser T Smith, which was included on the Japanese deluxe edition of the album. The album opens with "Till the World Ends", co-written by Kesha, was described as an uptempo dance-pop and electropop song, with an electro beat and elements of techno and Eurodance. The song opens with sirens and a "sizzling" bassline. Critics complimented the song's "anthemic nature" and "chant-like chorus". The second track and lead single "Hold It Against Me" is a dance-pop song which features industrial beats, a dubstep-influenced breakdown and employing elements of grime and a final chorus with elements of rave. The lyrics portray the singer seducing someone on the dancefloor, while the chorus revolves around pick-up lines, with Spears singing: "If I said I want your body now, would you hold it against me?" "Hold It Against Me" and Spears were complimented by Rick Florino of Artistdirect for "stepping into new territory and pushing the boundaries of dance-pop once more."


title: Femme Fatale (Britney Spears album)

text: The third track "Inside Out" is an electropop song. It features themes of dubstep and R&B, complemented with "earth-shattering synths". The song was praised for its intricate production and has been compared to her earlier work on albums "In the Zone" and "Circus", and also to Janet Jackson and Madonna's album "Ray of Light" (1998) and song "Music" (2000). Spears crescendos: "Baby shut your mouth and turn me inside out" during the chorus section, and then goes on to "Hit me one more time it's so amazing" and "You're the only one who's ever drove me crazy", referencing her songs "...Baby One More Time" and "(You Drive Me) Crazy". "I Wanna Go", the fourth track, is a dance-pop and Hi-NRG song, that includes elements of techno and a heavy bassline. The song contains a whistled melody. In the chorus, she stutters: "I-I-I wanna go-o-o / All the wa-a-ay / Taking out my freak tonight". The "builds and breaks" were compared to her album "Blackout".


title: Femme Fatale (Britney Spears album)

text: "How I Roll" is the fifth track, produced by Bloodshy, Henrik Jonback and Magnus, where Spears "pirouettes from a gulping in-and-out breath effect", and was described as a "bubbly, playful pop song". Spears's voice is heavily altered, with her voice being put through many distorters, filters, and blenders. The song uses constant rushed handclaps, with elements which were compared to Janet Jackson's "Strawberry Bounce". The sixth and seventh tracks "(Drop Dead) Beautiful" and "Seal It With a Kiss" were commented as "fillers" by Christopher Kostakis of Samesame.com.au. However, Keith Caulfield of "Billboard" states that "with giggly lyrical couplings like 'your body looks so sick, I think I caught the flu' and 'you must be B.I.G. because you got me hypnotized' -- '[Drop Dead] Beautiful' doesn't take itself too seriously." "Big Fat Bass" is "Femme Fatale"s eighth track, and it was said that it "sticks to dancefloor essentials". The song was further noted as being catchy, but repetitive by Idolator. "Trouble for Me", the ninth song on the album, features a pre-chorus filled with "melting, wheezing synths" likened to a "Wiley grime wobble," segueing into a "Janet Jackson vocal." Spears's voice had been Auto-Tuned, but her voice was described as "raw" and the tones and wines as "sexy" and "one of a kind". "Criminal", the last track on the album's standard edition, is a guitar-driven midtempo song, which incorporates a folk-style flute melody. Erin Thompson of the "Seattle Weekly" said the song "takes a breather from aggressive, wall-to-wall synths, driven instead by a steady guitar rhythm and an oddly Asian folky-sounding flute melody." In the verses, Spears sings about being in love with a bad boy and outlaw, in lyrics such as "He is a hustler / He's no good at all / He is a loser, he's a bum, bum, bum, bum" and "He is a bad boy with a tainted heart / And even I know this ain't smart". During the chorus, she pleads to her mother not to worry in lines such as "But mama I'm in love with a criminal" and "Mama please don't cry / I will be alright."


title: Femme Fatale (Britney Spears album)

text: According to "Billboard", "Up n' Down" "heads back to the dance floor, where we find ourselves picturing an aggressive Spears going 'Up N' Down.'" The fourteenth track, "He About to Lose Me" is a pop rock-influenced ballad stated as "[packing] a serious emotional punch. Spears sings about being at the club, entranced by a new man she's made contact with -- all the while thinking of her current beau, who's at home. Will she leave the club with the new guy? Or will she go home to her man -- a guy she's not even all that sure loves her anymore?" The final track on the deluxe version, "Don't Keep Me Waiting", has been described as "a new wavey rock moment for Spears, where fuzzzed-out guitars are paired with what sound like live drums on the ready-for-the-arena track." The seventeenth and final track on the Japanese deluxe edition of the album "Scary" is another up-tempo dance song that finds Spears on the prowl. 'I just want your body, and I know that you want mine,' she sings. As the chorus opens up, Britney reveals the extent of her lust: "It’s scary, yeah / I think I need some hypnotherapy / I want you so bad it’s scary.”


title: Femme Fatale (Britney Spears album)

text: On February 2, 2011, Spears announced the album's title through her Twitter account, and also posted an image of the album cover. Spears stated:


title: Femme Fatale (Britney Spears album)

text: I've poured my heart and soul into this album over the last 2 years. I've put everything I have into it. This album is for you, my fans, who have always supported me and have stuck by me every step of the way! I love you all! Sexy and Strong. Dangerous yet mysterious. Cool yet confident! FEMME FATALE.


title: Femme Fatale (Britney Spears album)

text: Following the announcement, the title became a trending topic on Twitter, and then went on to become the tenth longest-running trend on the site, as well as the first music related trend to break the top ten.


title: Femme Fatale (Britney Spears album)

text: The cover artwork was shot by Randee St. Nicholas and features a close-up shot of Spears, wearing a white dress with white fur on her shoulders.


title: Femme Fatale (Britney Spears album)

text: In a retrospective article about "the sexist, empowering history of the "femme fatale"", Scott Meslow wrote from "The Week", "And as the femme fatale archetype shifted toward female empowerment, some women [like Britney] began owning it outright."


title: Femme Fatale (Britney Spears album)

text: "Femme Fatale" was released on March 25, 2011, in Europe and Oceania and four days later in the United States through Jive Records; both standard and deluxe editions were released. The first set of promotion included an interview from Ryan Seacrest, then promotion for the album began on March 25, 2011, in a performance that included "Hold It Against Me", "Till the World Ends" and "Big Fat Bass". The performance was filmed at Rain Nightclub inside the Palms Casino Resort and was included in a MTV special titled "Britney Spears: I Am the Femme Fatale", which aired on April 3, 2011. Spears manager Larry Rudolph explained the choice of the location for the performances in an interview with MTV, saying, "we chose the Palms because the Palms is where Britney has so much history. We performed here with the Britney album, we did a similar thing. We're doing this eight years later now and we're doing it for the fans." Rudolph also explained that the singer's main goal was to entertain her fans in the "Femme Fatale" era, and added, "I want them to know — when the fans watch this — I want them to know that Britney is back and better than ever, not that she's ever gone anywhere. But she's back and she's better than ever." The original airing of the special in the United States was viewed by 0.665 million viewers and received a Nielsen rating of 0.3/1 in the key adults 18–49 demographic.


title: Femme Fatale (Britney Spears album)

text: On March 27, Spears performed the same set of songs in the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium to a crowd of 5,000 people for a special episode of "Good Morning America" that aired on March 29. The singer also performed the same three-song set and participated in two skits on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" on March 29, and made a special appearance at the 2011 Kids' Choice Awards. She was scheduled to make several appearances on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" on the week of the album's release, but these were later canceled. In April 2011, Spears appeared in a remix to the song "S&M" by Rihanna, after Rihanna asked her fans via Twitter who they wanted her to collaborate with. The song reached number one in the US in mid-April 2011, giving Spears her fifth number one on the chart. She also served as a guest host at the 2011 "Wango Tango" concert series alongside Ryan Seacrest on May 14, 2011. Spears made a brief appearance at the 2011 "Billboard" Music Awards, performing the "S&M" remix with Rihanna and a short version of "Till the World Ends" alongside "Femme Fatale" tourmate Nicki Minaj. On August 3, 2011, ABC Family announced that "(Drop Dead) Beautiful" would be available for free download on their website, until the premiere of the "Teen Spirit" series on August 5, 2011. "Trouble for Me" was also featured on the main page of BMG's website. Spears also appeared at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, where she was awarded the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. "Gasoline" was used in a November 2012 commercial for Spears's perfume Fantasy Twist.


title: Femme Fatale (Britney Spears album)

text: On June 16, 2011, Spears embarked on her sixth concert tour to further promote "Femme Fatale". It was announced on March 29, 2011, and included forty-five shows in North America and twenty-six in Europe. In an interview on Ryan Seacrest's radio show on March 4, 2011, Spears stated she would tour the United States in the "early summer" in support of "Femme Fatale". On March 29, 2011, following her performances on "Good Morning America", she announced a co-headlining tour with Enrique Iglesias, starting in June 2011. Hours after the announcement, it was reported by "Billboard" that Iglesias had pulled out of the tour. Ray Wedell of "Billboard" speculated that the reason may have been that Spears was deemed by news outlets as the headliner, while Iglesias was considered the opening act. The first twenty-six North American dates were also announced on March 29, 2011. The opening acts were announced on April 12, 2011. Spears stated: "This is the Femme Fatale tour and I'm thrilled to have Nicki Minaj, Jessie and the Toy Boys, and Nervo join me and get everyone on the dance floor. Can't wait to take the Femme Fatales on the road." Tickets for select markets go on sale beginning April 30 at Ticketmaster and Live Nation's websites. In March 2011, Spears's manager Larry Rudolph told MTV News that the tour would have a "post-apocalyptic vibe", while commenting that "Till the World Ends" keeps becoming a theme for us." He also announced Jamie King as the tour director. The tour opened to positive reviews, with some calling it her best tour in her entire career.


title: Femme Fatale (Britney Spears album)

text: "Hold It Against Me" was released as the album's lead single on January 10, 2011. The music video for the song premiered on February 17, 2011 on MTV following a two-week teaser campaign and featured Spears as an alien who finds fame on Earth but becomes overwhelmed with her celebrity and breaks down. "Hold It Against Me" became Spears's fourth number-one single on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 and second to debut at that position, making Spears the second artist in the chart's history to have multiple singles debut at number one. The song also went to number one in Belgium (Wallonia), Canada, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand and South Korea.


title: Femme Fatale (Britney Spears album)

text: "Till the World Ends" was released as the second single, making its premiere on Ryan Seacrest's radio show "On Air with Ryan Seacrest". The song received positive reviews from critics, complimenting its catchy appeal and anthemic nature. The music video for "Till the World Ends" was released on April 6, 2011, on Vevo and showcased Spears in an underground dance party. A remix featuring Minaj and Kesha was also released. "Till the World Ends" was commercially successful worldwide, peaking at number three in the United States and topped the charts in Poland, Russia, Slovakia and South Korea, reaching the top ten in Australia, Belgium (Wallonia), Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland, Sweden and Switzerland. The song also became Spears' biggest radio hit in the United States at the time, reaching a radio audience of ninety-eight million, the highest weekly audience of her career before "I Wanna Go" was released.


title: Femme Fatale (Britney Spears album)

text: "I Wanna Go" was announced as the third single on May 13, 2011. It was officially released to radio in the United States on June 14, 2011. The song received positive reviews from critics who praised the song's hook. The music video for "I Wanna Go" was released on June 22, 2011, and featured Spears daydreaming about different scenarios during a press conference. After the video premiere, the song reached number twenty-nine on the "Billboard" Hot 100. After "I Wanna Go" reached number seven in the United States, "Femme Fatale" became Spears's first album to produce three top ten hits on the chart.


title: Femme Fatale (Britney Spears album)

text: "Criminal" was announced as the album's fourth and final single following the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards on August 28, 2011. Earlier that month, a poll on Spears's official Facebook page appeared, asking the fans to vote for the fourth official single from "Femme Fatale", the choices being "Criminal", "(Drop Dead) Beautiful" and "Inside Out". "Criminal" was later released on September 30, 2011, as the final single from the album. The accompanying music video was filmed in Stoke Newington, a district of London, England. It peaked at number fifty-five in the United States.


title: Femme Fatale (Britney Spears album)

text: The album received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, "Femme Fatale" holds an average score of 67 out of 100 (indicating "generally favorable reviews") based on 25 reviews from mainstream music critics. Jody Rosen of "Rolling Stone" commented that it "may be Britney's best album; certainly it's her strangest". AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine viewed that Spears's presence on the album is overshadowed by its "high-class" production, calling the album "essentially a cleaner, classier remake of the gaudily dark "Blackout" [...] a producer's paradise". Robert Everett-Green of "The Globe and Mail" gave the album three-and-a-half out of four stars and complimented its "grainy, glistening electronic sound", calling it "one of the major guilty pleasures in pop this year". Kitty Empire of "The Observer" commented that Spears "has turned out the "fierce dance record" she promised". Ailbhe Malone of "NME" viewed it as her "best work" and wrote that it "brims with the laidback confidence of someone who knows she's back on top."


title: Femme Fatale (Britney Spears album)

text: "MSN Music"s Robert Christgau gave the album a B+ rating, indicating "remarkable one way or another, yet also flirts with the humdrum or the half-assed". "Slant Magazine"s Sal Cinquemani commented that Spears's lack of involvement makes "the success of a Britney song rest almost entirely on the quality of other people's songwriting and production, and almost every track on "Femme Fatale" succeeds or fails on that basis". "Los Angeles Times" writer Carl Wilson felt that the album "finds unity of subject, style and sound by imagining scenarios in which vanishing into anonymity can be comfort and liberation". Tom Gockelen-Kozlowski of "The Daily Telegraph" felt that, "despite her weak voice and empty lyrics, [Spears] has placed herself at the avant-garde of pop with this masterful mixture of über-cool dubstep and sugary pop". "The A.V. Club"s Genevieve Koski wrote that Spears "settles into [the production], game for whatever and confident in the hands of trusted professionals who know how to best utilize her".


title: Femme Fatale (Britney Spears album)

text: In a mixed review, Andy Gill of "The Independent" criticized its "single-minded dedication to dancefloor utility" and observed "only the tiniest of rhythmic variants or differences in electronic tones distinguishing one producer's work from another's". Jon Caramanica of "The New York Times" commented that "much of the music on this album feels flat and redundant, no more invigorating than the average European dance-pop album of five years ago". "The Guardian"s Alexis Petridis wrote that Spears's "voice is as anonymous as ever, a state of affairs amplified by the lavishing of Auto-Tune". Evan Sawdey of PopMatters wrote that "Spears' worldview is completely self-contained" and described "Femme Fatale" as "just a big dumb club album". Rich Juzwiak of "The Village Voice" wrote that her "voice doesn't add much to the conversation", writing that her lack of presence is "problematic for an album whose subject matter is hedonism and how being hot facilitates it".


title: Femme Fatale (Britney Spears album)

text: Music critics, despite giving favorable reviews, noted Spears's apparent lack of input on "Femme Fatale". Singer-songwriter Ryan Tedder defended her, stating that "[Frank] Sinatra didn't write a song, Garth Brooks barely wrote anything, George Strait has had I think 51 No. 1's and he has yet to write a song. Rascal Flatts are one of the biggest country acts in the world, and all of their hits are written by other people." Spears responded to further criticism of her performing abilities, "I don’t really have anything to prove at this point. I just do it for fun and see what happens."


title: Femme Fatale (Britney Spears album)

text: Executive producer Dr. Luke stated that "[I feel like] Britney kind of has her own genre: If you look at songs like "Toxic" and "Piece of Me" and "Oops!... I Did It Again", they all were sort of influential and led the way [...] She wanted to keep on with that and do stuff that was 'forward-thinking', So we put some dubstep stuff in there, in bridges; snuck it in different places." Jocelyn Vena of MTV noted that "for the first time in a while, she seemed comfortable being the pop megastar that she is." "Spin" named "Femme Fatale" the 50th best album of 2011 and also placed it at number 3 in their "20 Best Pop Albums of 2011" list. Digital Spy ranked the album at number 11 at their year ends list. "Till the World Ends" was named the third best song of 2011 by "Rolling Stone" and the third best single of 2011 by "Billboard", who described it as "Britney's most immediate single since 'Toxic'." Sam Lansky of PopCrush considered "Till the World Ends" the best pop song of 2011. Digital Spy also considered the track as the best song of 2011, naming it "Britney's best track since 'Toxic'" and "her most underrated hit."


title: Femme Fatale (Britney Spears album)

text: Despite receiving mostly favorable reviews from the music critics, "Femme Fatale" did not receive any nominations at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards (2012). John Mitchell of MTV criticized the award show and stated that "Till the World Ends" should have won a nomination for Best Dance Recording. Robbie Daw of "Idolator" also stated that Spears should have been nominated, commenting: "She had a No. 1 album that yielded a trio of hits. So what gives?" Ed Christman of "Billboard" noted that "Femme Fatale" was "overlooked" by the Grammy Award voters. James Montgomery, also of MTV, however, noted that Spears has "never been considered a Grammy artist, and has won just once during her entire career."


title: Femme Fatale (Britney Spears album)

text: "Femme Fatale" debuted at number one on the US "Billboard" 200, with first-week sales of 276,000 copies. This gave Spears her sixth debut at the top of the chart and leaves her in a four-way tie for third most number-one albums for a female artist, along with Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson and Beyoncé. In its second week, the album fell to number two, with sales plummeting 73 percent to 75,000, giving it a two-week total of 351,000 sold in the United States. The album spent five consecutive weeks within the "Billboard" 200 top ten. The album was certified platinum in April 2011 by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and has sold 805,000 copies in the country as of May 2020. In Mexico, the album debuted at number one upon its release, spending three weeks inside the top ten before falling to number thirteen. Asociación Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas (AMPROFON) has certified the album gold and according to Sony Music México, the album has gone on to sell over 40,000 copies in the country.


title: Femme Fatale (Britney Spears album)

text: The album debuted at number eight on the UK Albums Chart, selling 31,650 copies in its first week, becoming her lowest-charting studio album in the United Kingdom since "In the Zone" (2003), which peaked at number thirteen in December 2003. In Germany, the album debuted at number ten, making it her seventh consecutive top-ten studio album, and her eighth top-ten album with the inclusion of the greatest hits album "" (2004), which peaked at number four. "Femme Fatale" debuted at number eight in Denmark, selling 1,009 copies in its first week. On April 4, 2011, "Femme Fatale" debuted at number one in Australia, making it Spears's first number-one album in the country. It was also certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) during its debut week for shipments over 35,000 copies.


title: Femme Fatale (Britney Spears album)

text: On 2011 "Billboard"s mid-year sales list, Spears appeared twice: "Femme Fatale" reached number twelve with 590,000 sold units and its second single "Till the World Ends" number eighteen with 1,989,000 sold units. As of February 2014, the album had sold 2.4 million copies worldwide.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: The French protectorate in Morocco (; ), also known as French Morocco, was the period of French colonial rule in Morocco between 1912 to 1956. The protectorate was officially established 30 March 1912, when Sultan Abd al-Hafid signed the Treaty of Fez, though the French military occupation of Morocco had begun with the invasion of Oujda and the bombardment of Casablanca in 1907.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: The French protectorate lasted until the dissolution of the Treaty of Fez on 2 March 1956, with the Franco-Moroccan Joint Declaration. Morocco's independence movement, described in Moroccan historiography as the Revolution of the King and the People, restored the exiled Mohammed V but it did not end French presence in Morocco. France preserved its influence in the country, including a right to station French troops and to have a say in Morocco's foreign policy. French settlers also maintained their rights and property.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: The French protectorate shared territory with the Spanish protectorate, established and dissolved in the same years; its borders consisted of the area of Morocco between the Corridor of Taza and the Draa River, including sparse tribal lands. The official capital was Rabat.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: Despite the weakness of its authority, the 'Alawi dynasty distinguished itself in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by maintaining Morocco’s independence while other states in the region succumbed to French or British domination. However, in the latter part of the nineteenth century, Morocco’s weakness and instability invited European intervention to protect threatened investments and to demand economic concessions. This culminated in the signing of the Treaty of Madrid in 1880. The first years of the twentieth century witnessed a rush of diplomatic maneuvering through which the European powers and France, in particular, furthered their interests in North Africa.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: French activity in Morocco began at the end of the nineteenth century. In 1904 the French government was trying to establish a protectorate over Morocco and had managed to sign two bilateral secret agreements with Britain (8 April 1904, see Entente cordiale) and Spain (7 October 1904), which guaranteed the support of the powers in question in this endeavor. That same year, France sponsored the creation of the Moroccan Debt Administration in Tangier. France and Spain secretly partitioned the territory of the sultanate, with Spain receiving concessions in the far north and south of the country.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: The First Moroccan Crisis grew out of the imperial rivalries of the great powers, in this case, between Germany on one side and France, with British support, on the other. Germany took immediate diplomatic action to block the new accord from going into effect, including the dramatic visit of Wilhelm II to Tangier in Morocco on 31 March 1905. Kaiser Wilhelm tried to get Morocco's support if they went to war with France or Britain, and gave a speech expressing support for Moroccan independence, which amounted to a provocative challenge to French influence in Morocco.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: In 1906 the Algeciras Conference was held to settle the dispute, and Germany accepted an agreement in which France agreed to yield control of the Moroccan police, but otherwise retained effective control of Moroccan political and financial affairs. Although the Algeciras Conference temporarily solved the First Moroccan Crisis it only worsened international tensions between the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: The French military conquest of Morocco began in the aftermath of Émile Mauchamp's assassination in Marrakesh on 19 March 1907. In the French press, his death was characterized as an "unprovoked and indefensible attack from the "barbarous natives" of Morocco." Hubert Lyautey seized his death as a pretext to invade Oujda from the east.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: In the summer of 1907, tribes of the Chaouia led a revolt against the application of terms in the 1906 Treaty of Algeciras in Casablanca, killing 9 European laborers working on the rail line between the port and a quarry in Roches Noires. The French responded with a naval bombardment of Casablanca from 5–7 August, and went on to occupy and "pacify" Casablanca and the Chaouia plain, marking the beginning of the French invasion from the west.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: Abdelaziz did virtually nothing in response to French aggressions and occupation of Oujda and the Chaouia. As a result, there was growing pressure jihad in defense of Morocco, particularly from Muhammad al-Kattani and the people of Fes. After the southern aristocrats pledged support to the sultan's brother, Abd al-Hafid, the people of Fes also pledged their support, though qualified by an unprecedented Conditional Bay'ah. France supported Abdelaziz and promoted him in their propaganda newspaper "Es-Saada" ().


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: In 1911, a rebellion broke out in Morocco against the Sultan, Abdelhafid. By early April 1911, the Sultan was besieged in his palace in Fez and the French prepared to send troops to help put down the rebellion under the pretext of protecting European lives and property. The French dispatched a flying column at the end of April 1911 and Germany gave approval for the occupation of the city. Moroccan forces besieged the French-occupied city. Approximately one month later, French forces brought the siege to an end. On 5 June 1911 the Spanish occupied Larache and Ksar-el-Kebir. On 1 July 1911 the German gunboat Panther arrived at the port of Agadir. There was an immediate reaction from the French, supported by the British.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: France officially established a protectorate over Morocco with the Treaty of Fes, ending what remained of the country's de facto independence. From a strictly legal point of view, the treaty did not deprive Morocco of its status as a sovereign state. The Sultan reigned but did not rule. Sultan Abdelhafid abdicated in favour of his brother Yusef after signing the treaty. On 17 April 1912, Moroccan infantrymen mutinied in the French garrison in Fez, in the 1912 Fes riots The Moroccans were unable to take the city and were defeated by a French relief force. In late May 1912, Moroccan forces again unsuccessfully attacked the enhanced French garrison at Fez.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: In establishing their protectorate over much of Morocco, the French had behind them the experience of the conquest of Algeria and of their protectorate over Tunisia; they took the latter as the model for their Moroccan policy. There were, however, important differences. First, the protectorate was established only two years before the outbreak of World War I, which brought with it a new attitude toward colonial rule. Rejecting the typical French assimilationist approach to culture and education as a liberal fantasy, Morocco's conservative French rulers attempted to use urban planning and colonial education to prevent cultural mixing and to uphold the traditional society upon which the French depended for collaboration. Second, Morocco had a thousand-year tradition of independence and had never been subjected to Ottoman rule, though it had been strongly influenced by the civilization of Muslim Iberia.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: Morocco was also unique among the North African countries in possessing a coast on the Atlantic, in the rights that various nations derived from the Conference of Algeciras, and in the privileges that their diplomatic missions had acquired in Tangier (including a French legation). Thus the northern tenth of the country, with both Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts, were excluded from the French-controlled area and treated as a Spanish protectorate.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: Although being under protectorate, Morocco retained -"de jure"- its personality as a state in international law, according to an International Court of Justice statement, and thus remained a sovereign state, without discontinuity between pre-colonial and modern entities. In fact, the French enjoyed much larger powers.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: Under the protectorate, French civil servants allied themselves with the French colonists and with their supporters in France to prevent any moves in the direction of Moroccan autonomy. As pacification proceeded, the French government promoted economic development, particularly the exploitation of Morocco’s mineral wealth, the creation of a modern transportation system, and the development of a modern agriculture sector geared to the French market. Tens of thousands of colonists entered Morocco and bought up large amounts of the rich agricultural land. Interest groups that formed among these elements continually pressured France to increase its control over Morocco.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: France recruited infantry from Morocco to join its "troupes coloniales", as it did in its other colonies in Africa and around the world. Throughout World War I, a total of 37,300–45,000 Moroccans fought for France, forming a "Moroccan Brigade." Moroccan colonial troops first served France in the First Battle of the Marne, September 1914, and participated in every major battle in the war, including in Artois, Champagne, and Verdun. Historians have called these Moroccan soldiers "heroes without glory" as they are not and have not been given the consideration they merited through valor and sacrifice in the war. Brahim El Kadiri Boutchich identified the participation of Moroccan soldiers in the service of France in WWI as "one of the most important moments in the shared history of Morocco and France."


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: Hubert Lyautey, the first Resident-General of the Protectorate, was an idealistic yet pragmatic leader with royalist leanings, who made it his mission to develop Morocco in every sector under French influence. Unlike his compatriots, Lyautey didn't believe that France should directly annex Morocco like French Algeria, but rather remodel and re-educate Moroccan society. He promised that, in this process, he would:


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: Lyautey's vision was ideological: A powerful, pro-French, Westernized monarchy that would work with France and look to France for culture and aid. Unlike in Algeria, where the entire nobility and government had been displaced, the Moroccan nobility was included in Lyautey's plans. He worked with them, offering support and building elite private schools to which they could send their children; one notable product of this schooling was Thami El Glaoui.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: Lyautey allowed the Sultan to retain his powers, both nominal and practical: He issued decrees in his own name and seal, and was allowed to remain religious leader of Morocco; he was further allowed an all-Arab court. Lyautey once said of this:


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: Walter Burton Harris, a British journalist who wrote extensively on Morocco, commented upon French preservation of traditional Moroccan society:


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: Lyautey served his post until 1925, in the late midst of the failed revolt of the Republic of the Rif against Franco-Spanish administration and the Sultan.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: Learning from experiences in Algeria, where imprudent land appropriation, as Susan Gilson Miller put it, "reduced much of the native peasantry to a rootless proletariat," Lyautey solicited a select group of 692 "gentlemen-farmers"—instead of what he called the "riff-raff" of southern Europe—capable of serving as "examples" to and imparting French influence in the rural colonization of Morocco from 1917 to 1925. The objective was to secure a steady supply of grain for Metropolitan France and to transform Morocco once again into the "granary of Rome" by planting cereals primarily in the regions of Chaouia, Gharb, and Hawz—despite the fact that the region is prone to drought. After a period of minimal profits and a massive locust swarm in 1930, agricultural production shifted toward irrigated, higher-value crops such as citrus fruits and vegetables. The industrialization of agriculture required capital that many Moroccan farmers didn't have, leading to a rural exodus as many headed to find work in the city.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: built a standard gauge railroad connecting Fes and Tangier, while (CFM) built standard gauge railways connecting Casablanca, Kenitra, and Sidi Kacem, and Casablanca and Marrakech, completed in 1928. created narrow-gauge railroads east of Fes.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: "La Compagnie de Transports au Maroc" (CTM) was founded 30 November 1919 with the goal of accessing "all of Morocco." Its services ran along a new colonial road system planned with the aim of linking all major towns and cities.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: The (OCP) was created in 1920 to mine phosphates out of Khouribga, which was connected to the Port of Casablanca by a direct rail line. In 1921, 39,000 tons of phosphate were extracted, while almost 2 million tons were extracted in 1930. The Moroccan laborers working in the mines benefited from no social protections, were forbidden from unionizing, and earned a tiny fraction of what Europeans earned.


title: French protectorate in Morocco

text: Industry during the early period of the protectorate on focused food processing for local consumption: there were canneries, a sugar refinery (, COSUMA), a brewing company (, SBM), and flourmills. Manufacturing and heavy industry, however, were not embraced for fears of competing with Metropolitan France.