Before there was “Make America Great Again,” there was “You’re fired!”

Donald Trump’s tagline on The Apprentice, the NBC reality show that helped maintain the real estate magnate’s profile as he entered the political arena, was a natural fit. It was the sort of thing that sounded authentic coming from Trump. It’s easy to believe that he relished every opportunity he had to shout it at someone who disappointed him in one way or another, whether there were cameras on or not—indeed, his whole reality TV persona was built around that idea.

“YOU’RE FIRED!!” is a little less natural coming from Greg Abbott, but that didn’t stop him from declaring it this morning, in a tweet sent without provocation to GOP elector Chris Suprun—one of the two “faithless electors” the party had in Texas this year, and the only one to pen an op-ed in the New York Times comparing Donald Trump to the Emperor in Star Wars. Electors cast their ballots yesterday, and this morning, the Governor called Suprun out.

There are a few surprising things contained in that missive. First, of course, it’s no coincidence that Abbott referenced Trump’s tagline in singling out Suprun. Abbott’s relationship with Trump has been complicated, and was well reported over the summer in Texas Monthly by Erica Grieder. He was quick to support Trump after he vanquished Ted Cruz in the Republican primary, even as he warned of “dire consequences” following the release of Trump’s infamous “grab them by the pussy” tape. Abbott’s been an avowed Trump supporter, in other words, but one who’s maintained a level of introspection about it that the #MAGA enthusiasts and people with “deplorable” in their display names have been been interested in.

This morning, though, Abbott didn’t just invoke Trump’s tagline—he followed Trump’s pattern of singling out someone with significantly less political power and standing via Twitter to call attention to a dispute. Suprun, of course, has been dealing with attention from people who are furious with him for some time—there’s no shortage of threats either veiled or explicit aimed at the guy online—but the fact that Abbott decided to personally get involved in the fray is unusual for a leader who has tended to position himself as a sober voice for Texans at a time when colleagues like Sid Miller, Dan Patrick, and Ken Paxton make headlines for their more freewheeling approach to things like social media, accusing others of hypocrisy, and/or alleged securities fraud.

All of which raises the question: If Greg Abbott, who’s resisted the temptation to throw down with his constituents on social media is now dropping Trumpisms at folks like Chris Suprun via Twitter, is this what we can expect going forward? Miller and Patrick, like the President-elect, pride themselves on their outspoken public personae—and none of those folks have suffered consequences, “dire” or otherwise, for the things they’ve said. With that in mind, is what we’re seeing from Abbott today something we can expect to see a lot more of? Picking fights with everyone from Rosie O’Donnell to Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter to a guy who works in a factory in Indiana hasn’t cost Trump, after all—if anything, it’s just delighted his supporters. In a state like Texas, where there’ll be voters in 2018 who have never drawn breath at the same time as a viable statewide Democratic candidate, is picking Twitter fights with Chris Suprun or the subject of the next two-minute-hate just good politics?

Suprun, for his part, seems to have been thrown off-balance by the unexpected call-out. He responded a few times, noting that he was only “fired” after he already cast his ballot, retweeting a follower who pointed out that the governor doesn’t do the job of “firing” their constituents, and sharing the response from DPS officials who suggested he suspend his Twitter account when he sent them copies of death threats that he received.

Suprun’s time in the public eye is probably close to an end. Indeed, it would have been safe to guess that his time in the public eye would have ended yesterday, after he cast his ballot for John Kasich instead of Donald Trump as one of Texas’ electors to no avail. But Abbott’s tweet keeps the attention on Suprun for a while longer still. That’s the power of the bully pulpit that tweet-happy politicians like Abbott and Trump are apparently keen to exercise these days.