Liz Cheney is a legacy politician. Her grandfather was an agent for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and her father, Dick Cheney, was Vice President of the United States under George W. Bush. Conservatives all the way. But the current Republican party wants nothing to do with Liz Cheney now that she has refused to march in step and ignore former President Donald Trump’s incitement of violence before President Biden’s confirmation in January.
Liz Cheney was elected to the House of Representatives for Wyoming on the same ballot that saw Donald Trump put into office in 2016, heavily backed by local oil billionaires. Two years later, House Republicans elected her chair of the House Republican Congress, making her the third-highest ranking member of Congress. A sensible, moderate conservative, she was quite popular with the party. Until she aired her opinion about the former president.
Liz Cheney was one of only ten Republicans to side with Democrats and vote for Donald Trump’s last-minute impeachment after the January 6th insurrection. The majority of House Republicans immediately turned on Cheney, branding her as “disloyal.” A vote was called to remove her from her chair in February, but at that time, she managed to keep her seat.
Not so now.
On Tuesday, May 11, amid growing Republican demands to oust her, Liz Cheney addressed the House floor, speaking about the continued right-wing hand-wringing over the 2020 election, and subsequent attempts in several states to restrict voting via law.
“I am a conservative Republican,” she said, “and the most conservative of conservative principles is reverence for the rule of law… That is our constitutional process. Those who refuse to accept the rulings of our courts are at war with the Constitution.”
On Wednesday, May 12, a closed-door meeting of the House Republican Conference again voted to remove her as chair, this time successfully. Cheney is to be replaced by Elise Stefanik (R-NY). Cheney says she does not intend to stop fighting to ensure Donald Trump is never allowed to hold office again.
Image: mark reinstein / Shutterstock.com
