The irony of saying, ‘stop writing about Liz Cheney’ is that; I’m writing about this total loser. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) will be unemployed in a few months. She lost her primary to challenger Harriet Hageman by nearly 40 points. It was a much-deserved epic blowout for a woman who would rather appear on CNN, bash Donald Trump, and ingratiate herself with Democrats than fight for the people of her state. Cheney didn’t want to improve the economy in a recession or work on other domestic problems created by the Biden administration. Inflation is killing America’s working families, but Liz must stop Trump from running in 2024, a task that failed, with this primary defeat being the closing chapter of her career in public life. When she smeared her constituents as crazy and proudly declared she didn’t care what Trump supporters thought of her, apparently unaware that she was referring to the base of her party, 70 percent of whom voted for Trump in Wyoming.
Liz had fallen out of favor with base Republicans. So, why is the Wall Street Journal editorial board all in a tizzy about Lizzy? You’d think Cheney being ostracized from Congress would ignite a GOP civil war (via WSJ):
Ms. Cheney’s concession speech suggests her mission in politics now is to prevent Mr. Trump from becoming President again. One option is running for the White House herself. She’d have little chance at the GOP nomination. But her goal may be to prosecute the political case against Mr. Trump in such a way that opens the door to other candidates.
If Mr. Trump is the GOP nominee, Ms. Cheney could attempt a third-party run, though she says she won’t change parties. Third parties haven’t won since Lincoln and the GOP in 1860, but Ross Perot arguably cost George H.W. Bush the White House in 1992.
All of this points to the problem Republicans continue to have as long as Mr. Trump is the dominant party figure. He is toxic to a majority of voters even as he retains the fervent support of tens of millions. That voter divide cost him re-election in 2020, as enough Republicans in key states voted GOP for Congress but Joe Biden for President. That evidence is clear in the county and Congressional district returns.
This is why Democrats are doing their best to put Mr. Trump front and center in the 2022 campaign—with the Jan. 6 committee extending into the fall, and the continuing civil and criminal investigations in Georgia, New York and Washington, D.C. Democrats may hate Mr. Trump but they also believe he will help them retain power despite their manifest policy and governance failures. Liz Cheney lost in Wyoming, but her revenge may be a divided GOP that loses again in 2024.
Are we back to this trite talking point again? How many civil wars have the GOP endured since 2016? It’s Trump’s party. Period. Liz Cheney lost relevance when she was ejected from the House Republican leadership over her anti-Trump activities. The voters of the Republican Party are clear about their feelings about Liz Cheney and Trump. They prefer the latter, which means no 2024 GOP nomination for Liz, which the publication admits, but to anoint her as a possible spoiler a la Ross Perot is laughable. Perot had a more populist message that resonated with voters. He was more than just the anti-Bush, anti-Clinton, anti-two-party system candidate in 1992. Liz would only be the Anti-Trump candidate, which is not enough to win these contests.
Romney was the anti-Obama candidate in 2012, with John Kerry serving as the anti-Bush option in 2004—they both lost. If Liz cobbled together a domestic and foreign policy agenda, there would be a lot of overlap with Trump, except for the neo-conservative forever war stanzas. At that point, GOP voters will pick who aligns best with their views and who could win a national election. That’s Trump, not Liz. Also, as the publication noted, Liz isn’t going to switch parties to make for an independent run. Is this another low-key example of the establishment licking their wounds over Liz’s evisceration at the polls?
The Journal added that Liz’s defeat could haunt the GOP due to internal divisions in 2024. Again, a woman who can’t clinch 30 percent in her primary is the clearest example that there is no division on the subject. Also, this op-ed failed to mention the FBI’s raid on Mar-a-Lago, which has united the Republican Party to the nth degree regarding the overt displays of prosecutorial overreach from the Justice Department. Where are the paragraphs about how the search warrant and affidavit mention allegations of negligent handling of classified materials that aren’t grounded in actual law violations? The FBI has done more to unite the GOP around Trump this past week than the liberal media, so I’m not so sure about this ‘GOP divided’ narrative because loser Liz Cheney lost her re-election bid.
