Liz Cheney, MP: “Since January 6, I’ve said I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure Donald Trump never comes near the Oval Office again, and I mean it.” (Photo: Alex Wong/ Getty Images/AFP)
She is the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney and the second chairwoman of the House of Representatives committee to investigate the January 6 invasion of the Capitol.
As a member of the Republican Party, he opposed Donald Trump and even defended the FBI after the seizure of documents at the MaraLago Mansion, the former President’s private resort in Florida. . Criticism of Trump has cost Liz Cheney, 56, who has received multiple death threats in recent months, big bucks.
On Tuesday night, the congresswoman suffered a loss to Harriet Hageman, an ally of the tycoon, in the Republican primary in Wyoming, her home state. The revs make it impossible to run for a new term in Congress in November’s general election.
Liz Cheney acknowledged defeat and sent a message to Trump. “Since January 6, I’ve said I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure Donald Trump never goes near the Oval Office again, and I mean it,” he said.
Yesterday she admitted she is “thinking” about running for the White House in 2024 and announced the creation of a political action committee. “Something to think about. I’ll make a decision in the next few months,” she said when interviewed on NBC’s Today Show. In recent months, Trump has taken his anger out on Cheney, whom he has called “disloyal” and “an instructive loser.” The expresident yesterday celebrated his party colleague’s failure in the elections as a “wonderful result for the USA”. “Now she can finally disappear into the depths of political oblivion, where I am sure she will be much happier than she is now.”
conspiracy party
Adam Kinzinger, also a Republican congressman, was not sparing in criticizing the party itself. “This sends a very strong message that this is no longer a party committed to truth. This is a party committed to conspiracy,” he said. In an interview with the same network, he praised Cheney as a “very determined and persistent politician”. “She’s going to chase Donald Trump to the gates of hell, that’s right,” he snapped.
For Allan Lichtman, a political historian at American University (in Washington), Cheney’s defeat is “a symbol of the end of conservative principles in the Republican Party.” “Cheney is a solid conservative on practically every issue. She was defeated because she refused to follow Trump’s dangerous authoritarianism,” he told the Courier.
He recalls that under the tycoon’s leadership almost all the principles that conservative Republicans supposedly defended disappeared: personal morality, personal and financial responsibility, limited government and traditional respect. “They have been replaced by a culture war and a quest for power at all costs.”
Lichtman doesn’t think Liz Cheney has a great future to run for office in the Republican Party. “But she could run for president just to give her views a platform. Imagine a debate between Trump and Cheney!” he said. Thomas E. Patterson, a professor of government and the press at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, said in a report that Cheney’s participation on the House Committee puts her in a position to lead opposition to Trump within the Republican Party.
“This could involve an independent presidential campaign that could erode Trump’s chances of winning in 2024. She is not an alternative candidate for many Republicans and would have no chance of winning the party’s nomination. But as an independent candidate, Liz Cheney could diminish Trump’s election chances by deflecting votes away from Republicans who believe the mogul is unfit for president but also don’t want to vote for a Democrat.”
ANALYSIS
“The turning point in Liz Cheney’s position within the GOP came when she voted to impeach Donald Trump in Wyoming in 2021.
- Thomas E PattersonProfessor of Government and Press at Harvard University
“Republicans can do no more to defend themselves against Liz Cheney. She will serve as cochair of the committee investigating the Capitol invasion for more than four months. And she’ll have a following, media exposure, and ample resources to get her message out. Liz Cheney has her eye set on making history, which doesn’t depend on being one of the 435 Representatives of the United States. Their mission is to preserve American democracy and return the Republican Party to its historic roots.”
- Alan Lichtman, Political historian at American University (in Washington)