The panel on CNN's "Don Lemon Tonight" heaped praise on soon-to-be ex-Congresswoman Liz Cheney after her primary defeat on Tuesday, saying she was strong and brave to stand up to former President Donald Trump.
Cheney was blown out of the water in her primary against Harriet Hageman, losing 66 percent to 29 percent in the vote total. Cheney compared herself to former President Abraham Lincoln and invoked the American Civil War in her concession speech.
"I would call it a barn burner of a speech. Chastising members of her party, saying that she will do everything in her power not to allow Donald Trump anywhere near the Oval Office again. And getting applause from those in the crowd. Obviously, it was a crowd of supporters there in Jackson, Wyoming," Don Lemon said after Cheney's speech.
"I thought that one of the most powerful things she said, Don, was when she talked about the two years ago, she won with 73 percent of the vote. And she said that she could've done that again, and then she said, quote, 'But it would have required that I go along with President Trump's lie about the 2020 election. It would've required that I enable his ongoing efforts to unravel our democratic system and attack the foundations of our republic,'" said CNN Special Correspondent Jamie Gangel.
"What struck me was the reference to Lincoln, and the reference to Grant, and the comparison to the Civil War. And I think she was very explicitly saying that just our Union was in jeopardy, life or death jeopardy, back in the 1860s, that the Union is in jeopardy today. And that is a pretty stark way. She talked about a Civil War that saved our Union, and that is the threat that we face today, that what we are facing now is just as serious as what went on in the great Civil War," CNN's Chris Wallace added.
Shortly after the first set of election results came in showing Cheney was going to lose, CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota wondered what Cheney losing might "mean for our democracy."