To buck your get together and draw the wrath of the MAGA crowd isn’t straightforward. But it has its rewards.
Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., had already misplaced her leadership position within the House, been kicked out of her state’s Republican Party and compelled to pay thousands of dollars for additional safety within the face of rising loss of life threats earlier than struggling a wipeout in Wyoming’s Republican primary Tuesday night time. But all that pales compared to the constructive publicity she’s obtained — and the vistas it opens up.
If you take a look at her document, it’s clear that Cheney is Trump with out the mendacity, bullying and immorality.
Cheney’s quixotic marketing campaign to retain her House seat in deep-red Wyoming now has made her one thing greater: the face of a motion in opposition to former president Donald Trump and Trumpism that transcends political get together. In her ultimate campaign ad, she barely talked about her house state. She couched her run to maintain her seat as a battle in opposition to Trump and his massive lie, calling his denial of the 2020 election outcomes “a cancer that threatens our great republic.”
And she urged “Republicans, Democrats, independents” to be a part of her on this “great task … No matter how long we must fight, this is a battle we will win.” Her recognition drew out-of-state donations within the tens of millions. Many Democrats appear to be followers. Christina Harvey, head of the progressive group Stand Up America, instructed The Guardian that when her members had been surveyed about politicians that they admired, Cheney’s identify ceaselessly got here up.
Cheney’s already being asked about her plans to run for president in 2024 — and she or he instructed NBC’s “TODAY” present on Wednesday morning that she is “thinking about” the prospect. I might wager that there are political strategists proper now figuring her odds of finally turn out to be the primary lady president, a Hillary Clinton-esque determine however extra iconic, youthful, plain-spoken, a patriotic mother of five with out the luggage of a philandering partner and with a compelling backstory that features having a grandmother who was the only female deputy sheriff in Casper, Wyoming.
She’s turn out to be the face of the West, evoking all types of metaphors — a brave cowgirl or an order-loving Johanna Wayne. It’s exhausting not to get swept up within the iconography of a lone lady standing up to Trump and his legions of supporters, combating for fact, justice and the American means. A lady prepared to get trounced on the polls for a larger good.
But in the event you take a look at her document, it’s clear that Cheney is Trump with out the mendacity, bullying and immorality. When Trump was president, Cheney’s votes in Congress aligned along with his positions almost 93% of the time.
The media was so fixated on Trump’s conduct as president that his insurance policies typically didn’t get the eye they deserved. He gave large tax breaks to the rich, walked the U.S. away from confronting world warming, rolled back scores of environmental guidelines and did all he might to curb immigration.
Unfortunately, Cheney’s settlement with Trump’s positions has not damaged via. And because the American public has brief reminiscence and even shorter consideration span, the media adulation is an issue.
And there’s been a whole lot of it from smitten opinion writers. “Nonetheless Liz Cheney persisted,” a Daily Beast writer proclaimed, using a rallying cry for progressive Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. A Bloomberg article predicted that her “martyrdom” would finally reshape the Republican Party. A Washington Post columnist compared her to Obi-Wan Kenobi warring in opposition to Trump’s Darth Vader.
But what’s her precise document? Her bio proclaims her staunch assist for “pursuing conservative solutions to create jobs, cut taxes and regulation, and expand America’s energy, mining and agriculture industries.”
She’s anti-abortion, pro-gun and approves of waterboarding. She opposed the Violence Against Women Act, though 29 House Republicans broke with their get together to assist it. She’s been a longtime foe of the Affordable Care Act, voting for Trump’s plan to dismantle it. She is a hardliner on immigration.
Last March, Cheney stopped in need of blaming fossil fuels for local weather change, claiming that there are “real questions about why and what’s causing it.” In 2019, she used usually outlandish right-wing speaking factors to lambaste House Democrats for turning into “the party of anti-Semitism, the party of infanticide, the party of Socialism.”
Boston Globe columnist Renee Graham, an exception to the media cheerleaders, known as out this so-called champion of democracy for failing to support the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, which might shield the rights of all Americans to forged their votes and have them counted.
And she stays shut to her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney. They even wrote a e book collectively, marinated in militarism. Long after it was discredited, the 2 Cheneys continued to defend the Iraq War regardless of its large price in blood and treasure and the truth that the elder Cheney’s claims of weapons of mass destruction proved to be unfounded.
Let’s not neglect that Cheney additionally got here comparatively late to the anti-Trump get together. She supported Trump in 2016 and defended him after the revelation of the “Access Hollywood” tape through which he bragged about assaulting girls. While calling Trump’s feedback appalling, she insisted that “Hillary’s actions have been far worse.”
Let’s not neglect that Cheney additionally got here comparatively late to the anti-Trump get together. She supported Trump in 2016 and defended him after the revelation of the “Access Hollywood” tape.
Not so way back, Cheney was helping raise funds for Trump’s re-election and voting against impeaching him over his dealings with Ukraine (although she did be a part of 9 different House Republicans in voting to impeach Trump over his position within the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on the U.S. Capitol).
Is this actually the particular person we would like operating the nation? No progress on girls’s rights, local weather change or defending public well being and security for no less than 4 years. More tax cuts and no increase within the minimal wage.
I’m not denying Cheney’s braveness in standing up to Trump, nor the essential star energy she brings to the Jan. 6 hearings. She’s been that rara avis, a Republican lawmaker with each a conscience and a spine — solemnly warning her cowardly colleagues: “There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.”
I like her loyalty to the U.S. Constitution and her efforts to reform her get together. But I received’t be blinded by her mild.
By all means, give the lady the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Just don’t give her the keys to the White House.