The ‘GOP Impeachment 10’ try to navigate Cheney’s demise and their own futures

WASHINGTON — When 10 Republicans voted to impeach President Donald Trump on Jan. 13, it marked a historic milestone: It was the most House members from a president’s party to vote to remove him from office.

But since that vote, the 10 lawmakers have cut different paths in grappling with the fallout as they consider their political futures in a party still beholden to Trump.

Reps. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., have made their votes career-defining, arguing that pushing back against Trump’s false assertions that the 2020 election was stolen is about protecting democracy and the soul of the Republican Party.

Others, such as Reps. Anthony Gonzalez, R-Ohio, Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., and Peter Meijer, R-Mich., have vocally defended their votes and Cheney amid a caucuswide push to oust her from leadership, though they have not sought to make it a marquee issue.

The rest have quietly moved on, even if they stand by their decision, seemingly in line with House GOP leadership’s argument that what is important now is opposing President Joe Biden’s agenda and regaining the majority in the 2022 midterms, not what happened after the 2020 election.

If Cheney is ousted from her leadership post this week as expected, it would highlight how much the January vote to impeach Trump by the 10 GOP lawmakers was not the start of some bigger movement, but a momentary blip of resistance in a party that has been wedded to Trump since he entered the White House in 2017 and remains loyal to him still.

“He revels in score-settling, so most of these folks have smartly just tried to keep their heads down. Cheney has taken a different approach, and while it’s super commendable, he will take great pleasure in seeing her removed from power,” Brendan Buck, who served as an adviser under former House speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said of Trump. “They’ll all have targets on their back, but Cheney really sent up a flare to attract his ire, and I’m sure they’re watching and learning.”

Cheney has increasingly been at odds with her party and fellow House GOP leaders over her decision to continuously call out Trump on his false claims that the election was stolen and his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

She has made clear she will not stop, and her colleagues are expected to vote her out of leadership during a conference meeting Wednesday. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., is expected to replace her as House GOP conference chair, the No. 3 position in leadership.

In a letter sent to his Republican colleagues on Monday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said it was time for Cheney to go.

“All members are elected to represent their constituents as they see fit, but our leadership team cannot afford to be distracted from the important work we were elected to do and the shared goals we hope to achieve,” he wrote officially announcing the vote to remove Cheney from leadership.

Mutual respect for casting a consequential vote has bonded the 10 proimpeachment House Republicans, as has the backlash they have received for rebuking Trump. Eight of the 10 have been censured by the Republican Party in their states, with Gonzalez most recently being admonished and facing calls to resign.

In the early days after the vote, some of the 10 flirted with the idea of banding together to make joint statements on consequential issues, believing they could have influence based on their moral authority.