Rep. Liz Cheney, Republican from Wyoming, is stuck between a rock and a hard place. The daughter of one of the country’s most prominent (and polarizing) politicians and former Vice President Dick Cheney, Liz Cheney, the third most powerful House Republican, is now in hot water from her own party. After having voted to convict former President Donald Trump back in January, she is now expected to be given the boot and ousted from her leadership position.
Rep. Liz Cheney, a Republican congresswoman representing the at-large district of Wyoming, was first elected to Congress in 2016 and has served in that office since. She holds conservative views, including being anti-abortion, supporting the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, supporting the construction of Trump’s Mexican border wall, is pro-gun rights, supports tax cuts, and many other positions held by mainstream Republicans.
She is about as Republican as one can be — according to FiveThirtyEight, Cheney has a lifetime “Trump score” (a number denoting how often a member of Congress voted in line with Trump’s position) of 92.9 percent, indicating that she has only bucked Trump’s opinion about 7 percent of the time. In fact, she is far more pro-Trump than many other Republican representatives and senators who are seen as pro-Trump, including Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio (Trump score of 88.7 percent), Mo Brooks of Alabama (88.6 percent), and Matt Gaetz of Florida (85.0 percent), as well as Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas (92.1 percent), Josh Hawley of Missouri (86.7 percent), and Tom Cotton (86.8 percent).
However, she is now being vilified by the majority of Republicans, and many want her ousted from her position as the chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, making her the No. 3 House Republican. The reason is simple: despite her pro-Trump history and coming from the family of one of America’s most prominent vice presidents, she voted to convict Donald Trump his impeachment trial back in January, one of only 10 Republicans who did so.
She was censured by the Wyoming GOP for doing so, and in response, said, “My vote to impeach was compelled by the oath I swore to the Constitution. Wyoming citizens know that this oath does not bend or yield to politics or partisanship. I will always fight for Wyoming values and stand up for our Western wave of life,” and refused to resign or step down.
It is evident that Cheney voted to impeach Trump out of her own conscience since there was absolutely nothing political to be gained from doing so. Wyoming, the state which she represented at large, voted for Trump by an astounding 43 percent margin over President Joe Biden, the strongest for Trump of any state. It is clear that the state favors Trump, and so Cheney’s move was clearly not intended to curry favor with the state’s voters.
After her vote to impeach Trump, Rep. Jim Jordan, one of Trump’s most adamant supporters in Congress, called for her to be removed from her leadership position, among others. However, she has thus far managed to keep her position, partly because Republican leadership generally supported her — in February, she won a closed-door internal vote 145-61, allowing her to keep her position after House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy announced his support for her.
That is, until last week.
Trump, who clearly is resentful of Cheney after her impeachment vote, issued a statement on May 5 announcing his endorsement to Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York to succeed Cheney’s role. In recent days, Rep. Steve Scalise, the minority whip and No. 2 House Republican, had also become the most highly-ranked Hosue Republican to call for Cheney’s ouster, and one of McCarthy’s top aides has said that he will not be backing Cheney again.
“Liz Cheney is a warmongering fool who has no business in Republican Party Leadership,” Trump said in a statement issued later Wednesday. “We want leaders who believe in the Make America Great Again movement, and prioritize the values of America First. Elise Stefanik is a far superior choice, and she has my COMPLETE and TOTAL Endorsement for GOP Conference Chair. Elise is a tough and smart communicator!” said Trump in a statement.
Stefanik immediately thanked Trump on Twitter for endorsing her, declaring that Republicans were “unified and focused on FIRING PELOSI & WINNING in 2022!”
Thank you President Trump for your 100% support for House GOP Conference Chair. We are unified and focused on FIRING PELOSI & WINNING in 2022!
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) May 5, 2021
Stefanik started off as a moderate Republican but became increasingly pro-Trump around the time of his first impeachment in late 2019.
With Trump now supporting Cheney’s removal from House leadership, he warning other Republicans to refrain from going against his will, or he will start a campaign against them.
It also indicates that the price for any Republican looking to run is to refuse to accept the results of the 2020 presidential election and back Donald Trump entirely.
Still, despite her imminent ouster, she refused to back down, writing an op-ed in The Washington Post on Wednesday saying that the Republican Party was at a “turning point” and it was time for the party to stop supporting the “dangerous and anti-democratic Trump cult of personality.” She warned other Republicans against embracing Trump for political purposes.
With Cheney now likely to lose her post in the House, she is also facing a major primary battle back in her home state of Wyoming. Trump has promised to endorse another candiate in the primary, meaning that it is highly likely Cheney will be primaried considering Wyoming’s partisan nature. A poll from McLaughlin & Associates condicuted on Jan. 25 and 26 among 500 likely voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percent indicated that Cheney was only getting about 20 percent of the primary vote, regardless of whether it was a two- or three-way race.
Cheney once had almost limitless potential and was a rising star in the Republican Party, with some even floating her as a potential presidential nominee. In just one vote, her entire career is now at stake.
I think this is a good thing. She can build an anti-trump group, and run as an independent.