We’ve said this many times before, and it didn’t have to be this way, Liz. If you just listened to your constituents and not picked a fight with the leader of the Republican Party, Donald Trump, none of this would have happened. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) will get throttled tonight as her state’s GOP voters head to the polls to rid themselves of this miserable woman. The congresswoman, who is part of a political powerhouse family in the state, had many opportunities to change course and save herself, but she opted to join the Democrats in their destructive campaign against the former president.
What’s always baffled me about the anti-Trump wing of the Republican Party, who are blessedly few in number, is the near-obsessive nature of the hatred. The Democrats’ vitriol towards George W. Bush was intense, but it pales compared to the incessant and ongoing attacks Trump must endure, and from his own party no less. Some aspects of Trump’s personality are a tad off-putting, but there’s pervasive overlap regarding the action items within the Trump agenda and that of traditional Reagan conservatives. Sorry, a Republican congressman who kills a bill cutting taxes because Trump has mean tweets isn’t principled; it’s recklessness.
Cheney stood up there and declared she doesn’t feel Trump should be part of the GOP’s future despite the overwhelming majority who think otherwise because they can see the forest through the trees. Cheney lost her position with the House Republican leadership because she didn’t know when to throw in the towel. Liz is unrepentant about supporting the impeachment effort against him. She’s the Democrats’ favorite Republican in the House, given her anti-Trump advocacy and work on the sham select committee investigating the January 6 riot.
"It's hard to find allies of Cheney even, that believe strongly that she is going to win tomorrow's primary," CBS News' @aaronlarnavarro says of Republican Rep. Liz Cheney as she runs for re-election in Wyoming. Polls show Cheney trailing Trump-backed challenger Harriet Hageman. pic.twitter.com/LkEIaeUhZs
— CBS News (@CBSNews) August 15, 2022
Wyoming is bedrock Trump country, so a primary challenge was inevitable. It happened, and now Liz is down 30 points in some surveys. Still, at the outset, she had the power of incumbency, which gave her the edge in the contest. Liz sacrificed that when she declared that Trump supporters were crazy and that she didn’t care what those people thought about her. You’re smearing around 70 percent of Wyoming voters, congresswoman.
Cheney eventually avoided coming back home for town halls, only appeared in liberal bastions when she did return and led a desperate effort to convince Democrat voters in her state to switch parties to back her in the GOP primary. It wouldn’t have worked; even the state’s Democratic Party chair admitted that even if every Democrat had flipped, it wouldn’t be enough to save her.
Cheney’s final term in office could only be characterized as a death by a thousand entirely self-inflicted cuts. Cheney’s tenure in office will come to a merciful end tonight, and we’ll have all the coverage here, but you can break out the booze right now because Lizzy is going down in flames.
And please don’t run for president, Liz. You’re viewed as a Democrat now.