Wyoming Republican Liz Cheney is not going quietly into the GOP’s dark night.
“We must speak the truth. Our election was not stolen. And America has not failed,” Cheney said.
Whether she’s doing it to save the American republic or to save her position as Republican Caucus Chair, Cheney laid it all on the table during an impassioned floor speech decrying the direction the GOP has taken: in subservience to Donald Trump.
“I am a conservative Republican, and the most conservative of conservative principles is reverence for the rule of law,” she said. “The election is over. That is 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.”
Cheney is drawing fire from the Trumplican part of the Republican Party, of which many in the House identify themselves. More than 140 House Republicans voted to reject the results of the 2020 election in a last-ditch effort to keep Trump in office despite losing both the popular vote and the Electoral College vote. Those Trumplicans targeted Cheney not just for her recognition of the reality of Trump’s loss, but for her vote to impeach Trump during Trump’s second impeachment for inciting violence resulting in the January 6th domestic terrorist attack on the Capitol, from which five people including a Capitol Police officer died. Two other officers took their own lives in the aftermath of the coup attempt.
“Today we face a threat America has never seen before,” Cheney said. “A former President, who provoked a violent attack on this Capitol in an effort to steal the election, has resumed his aggressive effort to convince Americans that the election was stolen from him. He risks inciting further violence.”
It’s expected that Republicans will vote to oust Cheney from her party leadership committee. The favorite to replace her: New York Republican Elise Stefanik, an ardent Trump supporter.