Liz Cheney’s politics are orthodox conservative. She believes in the Constitution, democracy, rule of law, and truth. But unlike almost every other Republican today, she really believes in those things, and understands their meaning. She’s courageously put herself on the line for them. Liz Cheney is one of the best people, perhaps the very best, still in the GOP.
Losing her primary for renomination to her Wyoming congressional seat —by a landslide — though shocking was predictable. She’d previously been purged from the House GOP’s third ranking post, and censured by the state party. Trump wanted her scalp. Because she’d voted for his impeachment after January 6, and has exercised incisive leadership on the committee investigating that plot and bringing out the facts.
History will record this primary as a seminal signifying milestone on America’s road to perdition. Wyoming voters chose the liar over the truth teller. The monster over the hero. Grendel over Beowulf.
“She may have been fighting for principles,” said Trump adviser Taylor Budowich. “But they are not the principles of the Republican party.”
Indeed. There’s a meme now metastasizing among Republicans that democracy is a menace, and voting should not be allowed to give power to people they don’t like.
That’s why they’re fine with it’s having been Trump, not Democrats, who actually tried to steal the last election. The lie that Democrats stole it is just a cover story. Cheney is hated for calling that out too. And for all the Republican “election integrity” claptrap, they themselves are the ones who’ve committed most vote fraud. In New York, Republicans submitted 11,000 fake signatures trying to get another ballot line for their gubernatorial candidate — Lee Zeldin, who in Congress voted against certifying the 2020 presidential election.
Some anti-Trumpers, like Senators Jeff Flake and Bob Corker, and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (the January 6 committee’s other Republican), did not seek re-election, considering it hopeless. That’s understandable, though they might have stood and fought for their beliefs. If you lose, that’s an honorable loss. One going down that road was Michigan’s Rep. Peter Meijer, who lost his primary to a Trump election denier — thanks in part to ads run by Democrats to boost Meijer’s rival — who they thought would be easier to beat in November.
A wild card Democrats have disgracefully played elsewhere. If they believe Trumpers endanger America, there’s no excuse, however Machiavellian, for helping such candidates get nominated. Be careful what you wish for.
Liz Cheney too did not flinch from running for re-election. She had the balls to make her stand, to go down fighting for what’s right, rather than surrender to the madness.
She’s a special kind of American hero. Think of the Alamo.
