GOP move to force out Trump critic
Cheney warns of ‘dangerous and anti-democratic cult of personality’
Top ranking House Republican Liz Cheney was clinging to her post yesterday as party leaders lined up behind an heir apparent, signalling that fallout over her clashes with former President Donald Trump was becoming too much for her to overcome.
Unbowed, she implored her Republican colleagues to pry themselves from a Trump “cult of personality”, declaring that the party and even American democracy were at stake. “History is watching”, she said.
Trump issued a statement giving his “COMPLETE and TOTAL Endorsement” to Representative 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 per cent 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 Republican Party.
The turmoil also raised questions about whether the price for political survival in the party entails standing
by a former president who continues to spread lies about the validity of the 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.
Cheney showed no signs of backing off in an opinion essay posted yesterday by The Washington Post.
She denounced the “dangerous and anti-democratic Trump cult of personality”, and warned her fellow Republicans against embracing or ignoring his statements “for fundraising and political purposes”.
She said House minority leader Kevin Mccarthy has “changed his story” after initially saying Trump “bears responsibility” for the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Mccarthy, who is tacitly backing the drive to oust her, has since claimed Trump tried to stop the violence with a video.
Cheney, in her article, agreed with Democrats that a bipartisan investigation should focus solely on the riot and not on disturbances at some of last summer’s racial justice protests. In an apparent reference to her own situation, she said she would defend “basic principles” of democracy, “no matter what the short-term political consequences might be”.
There is no evidence to support Trump’s assertions that he was cheated out of an election victory.
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 January 6, when five died.
Combined with a morning endorsement from number two House Republican leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana and tacit backing from Mccarthy, the momentum behind Stefanik’s ascension was beginning to seem unstoppable.
Cheney was making little noticeable effort to cement support by calling colleagues or enlisting others to lobby on her behalf, said two House GOP aides who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the situation. A third person familiar with Cheney’s effort also said she was not lining up votes. —AP