Donald Trump does not forget and does not forgive. When the House of Representatives voted to subject him to his second Senate impeachment trial, this time over the attack on Capitol Hill, ten Republican congressmen voted in favor of the decision. Trump declared war on them and his revenge was successful. Only two will be eligible for re-election in the Nov. 8 midterm elections, where they have yet to beat their Democratic rivals. There is one last congresswoman who is submitting to the primary this Tuesday. It’s Trump’s most hated Republican, Liz Cheney, who also appears doomed.
“Most of the impeachers are gone or leaving. Crazy Liz Cheney who rarely leaves Virginia will be fired next Tuesday by the great people of Wyoming,” Trump tweeted on Friday. He found time the same day the search warrant for Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Palm Beach, Fla., mansion was released, showing he is under investigation for three possible crimes and the inventory of confiscated assets, including numerous documents marked as top secret.
Wyoming is the most sparsely populated and most trumped state in the entire country. The former president garnered 70% of the vote in 2020, winning Biden by more than 43 points. Trump promoted another candidate there, Harriet Hageman, whom he endorsed and funded. Hageman has a huge lead in the polls. The search of the Trump mansion has served to show his support denunciation of “political persecution”. “If the FBI can treat a former president like that, imagine what they can do to the rest of us. It is a double standard justice system: one for the elites and the other for their political enemies,” the candidate said. Hageman, needless to ask, takes the electoral fraud for granted.
Meanwhile, Vice President Dick Cheney’s daughter has become an outlaw in her own party. He cannot even hold rallies for fear of incidents. Cheney is a thoroughbred conservative, anti-abortion, gun advocate, advocate of fossil fuels, tax cuts, arms spending and tough foreign policy. Her opposition to same-sex marriage brought her into public conflict with her lesbian sister, Mary. But his great sin was acknowledging the obvious, Biden’s victory in 2020. That’s why Trump, in the address before the attack on Capitol Hill, called for getting rid of “the weak congressmen,” the “Liz Cheney of the world.” Cheney supported the impeachment of Trump for inciting insurrection and played a leading role on the Jan. 6 commission of inquiry. The Republican voters in his state do not forgive him.
Trump has conspired to ensure that none of the 10 who supported his political persecution repeat his mandate. There were four who threw in the towel and didn’t even show up for the primary: Anthony Gonzalez (Ohio), Adam Kinzinger (Illinois), John Katko (New York) and Fred Upton (Michigan), some slamming the door and others more subtly . “Great news, another bites the dust,” Trump celebrated.
The other six tried, but with little success. The first to fall in June was Tom Rice (South Carolina). He was beaten by Russell Fry, who was sponsored by Trump and placed the “betrayal” of the former president at the heart of his campaign. Rice was also an orthodox conservative who normally stuck to party lines until impeachment and campaigned for revenge from the ex-president. “Trump is here because he’s consumed by resentment like I’ve never met. I had a vote he didn’t like and now he’s chosen to support a yes man who bows to whatever he says, no matter what.” he said in a statement.
Subscribe to EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without limits.
Subscribe to
David Valadao gave some hope back to the group by winning his California district thanks to the split in the Trump nominees. Nonetheless, he passed the cut by about 1,500 votes, trailing Democrat Rudy Salas by 20 points with 25.6% of the vote in open primary where voters could choose candidates from either party. Valadao and Salas face off on November 8, but there is a serious risk that the Republican will lose, especially if he fails to mobilize Trump’s vote.
Last week was Super Impeachment Tuesday. Three candidates faced each other in the primaries, two in Washington State and one in Michigan. Peter Meijier of Michigan, a 34-year-old conservative, had a promising career in the party before criticizing Trump’s performance. He is aware that his political future could have ended because of his decision. He was narrowly defeated by Trumpist John Gibbs, a conspiracy theorist so extreme that Democrats saw him as a chance to win the November seat. They launched a campaign that actually emboldened him under the guise of criticism: “He’s too conservative,” “He’s backed by Trump,” “He supports hard-line anti-immigration at the border,” and “patriotic upbringing,” they read Criticism, music to the ears of their potential voters. The Democrats have achieved their goal, now it remains to be seen whether they can defeat him.
Dan Newhouse, Republican representative from Washington, in a session of the House of Representatives.AP
In the state of Washington, MP Jaime Herrera Butler was ousted from the House of Representatives after six terms last week. The position has been disputed by three Trump loyalists who deny Biden’s victory. One of them, Joe Kent, meets Democrat Marie Perez in November. As Herrera Butler defending his vote for the attack on the Capitol, he said: “I don’t choose sides; I choose the truth That’s the only way to overcome fear.” Trump is now jubilant about his defeat: “Joe Kent just won an incredible vote against all odds in Washington state. And more importantly, he eliminated another impeacher, Jaime Herrera Beutler , who so stupidly played the Democrats’ game,” he wrote on his social network last week.
Dan Newhouse, also from Washington, is pretty much the group’s only hope. He won last week’s primary by more votes than his Democratic rival. He has four terms in Congress, his campaign was well-funded, and he had a divided vote against Trump. He devoted himself to attacking Trump’s endorsement, with hints of corruption, and it paid off.
This Tuesday comes the latest chapter in Trump’s revenge on the 10 members of the House of Representatives who supported his second impeachment trial. Trump will celebrate Liz Cheney’s defeat in style. It will also come as a warning to seafarers for those who don’t work with the former president because of his legal troubles.
Follow all international information on Facebook and Twitteror in our weekly newsletter.