Cheney clings to post as Trump weighs in
WASHINGTON – No. 3 House Republican Liz Cheney was clinging to her post Wednesday as party leaders lined up behind an heir apparent, signaling that fallout over her clashes with former President Donald Trump was becoming too much for her to overcome.
Trump issued a statement giving his “COMPLETE and TOTAL Endorsement” to Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York to replace Cheney. Stefanik, a 36-year-old Trump loyalist who’s played an increasingly visible role within the GOP, responded quickly, highlighting his backing to colleagues who will decide her political future.
“Thank you President Trump for your 100% support for House GOP Conference Chair. We are unified and focused on FIRING PELOSI & WINNING in 2022!” she tweeted.
The day’s events left the careers of Cheney and Stefanik seemingly racing in opposite directions, as if to contrast the fates awaiting Trump critics and backers in today’s GOP.
The turmoil also raised questions about whether the price for political survival in the party entails standing by a former president who keeps up his false narrative about a fraudulent 2020 election and whose supporters stormed the Capitol just four months ago in an attempt to disrupt the formal certification of Joe Biden’s victory.
President Biden told reporters at the White House that the GOP is in the throes of a “significant sort of mini revolution” and said the country needs two healthy political parties.
“I think Republicans are further away from trying to figure out who they are and what they stand for than I thought they would be at this point,” he said.
Cheney, a daughter of Dick Cheney, who was George W. Bush’s vice president and before that a Wyoming congressman, seemed to have almost unlimited potential until this year. Her career began listing after she was among just 10 House Republicans to back Trump’s impeachment for inciting supporters to attack the Capitol on Jan. 6, when five died. She has refused to back down on her criticism under heavy pressure from party leaders who’ve aggressively stood by Trump, despite his false claims. Dozens of state and local officials and judges from both parties have found no evidence to support his assertions.
Combined with a morning endorsement from No. 2 House Republican leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana and tacit support from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, the momentum behind Stefanik’s ascension was beginning to seem unstoppable.
Stefanik, who represents a mammoth upstate New York district, began her House career in 2015 as a moderate Republican. She spoke out against Trump’s ban on immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries, and joined Democrats in voting against Trump’s effort to unilaterally redirect money to building a wall along the Southwest border. She also led an effort to recruit female candidates for her party.
Stefanik’s rural district, which Barack Obama carried in his successful 2008 and 2012 presidential runs, was subsequently won twice by Trump. She morphed into a stalwart Trump defender and was given a high-profile role during the 2019 House Intelligence Committee impeachment hearings.