She\u2019s a conservative, standing in the way of many of the programs I would like to see our Federal Government create. She\u2019s led her Republicans, the party of \u201cobstruction\u201d for the past several years, and she helped them oppose liberal change. And she stood in line with the legislative agenda of the Trump Administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And she\u2019s a Cheney, daughter of the former Vice President, and generally channels his views. Vice President Cheney was a \u201cNeo-con\u201d, pushing us into an unnecessary decade long war in Iraq and shifting the rationale that kept us in Afghanistan for over twenty years. He betrayed the morality of the United States, putting torture and perversion \u201cin play\u201d in American foreign policy. Remember Abu Gharib? It was a direct consequence of the decisions of Dick Cheney. And while Donald Trump damaged America\u2019s standing in the world, Dick Cheney did even more. He began from a position of high moral standing, a nation suffering a surprise attack on 9-11. The world stood with us. And he blew it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So in the end there\u2019s not a lot about Liz Cheney that I like. But that doesn\u2019t mean I don\u2019t recognize courage when I see it. And I see it in Liz Cheney today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve spent several essays trying to understand why the Republican Party stands with Donald Trump, after the \u201cBig Lie\u201d and the Insurrection. In the end the conclusion is clear: Trump controls the Republican primary voter, and regardless of what the leaders of the Party \u201cknow in their hearts\u201d, they can\u2019t stand against their voters. Instead of saying \u201cout loud\u201d what they seem to constantly say behind closed doors, the pay public obeisance to Trump and the Trump lies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham openly said, he can see no way forward for the Republican Party except with Donald Trump. So Graham \u201ccleaves\u201d to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Liz Cheney does not. She reached the clear (and obvious) conclusion that Trump encouraged the Insurrection, and attempted to overthrow the Congress. It\u2019s the same conclusion that most other Members of Congress, Democratic and Republican, reached that night when they returned to a battle-littered Capitol Building to certify the Electoral vote for Joe Biden. It is the same conclusion that Graham voiced that night on the Senate floor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But unlike Graham, or House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, or a multitude of other Republican members, Liz Cheney didn\u2019t \u201cput her finger to the wind\u201d to see what side to support. While the vast majority of her compatriots in the GOP \u201ccrab-walked\u201d their positions over to support the former President, Cheney stuck to what she saw, and what she experienced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this day of rampant expediency, Liz Cheney is showing remarkable courage. She is standing by her beliefs, regardless of the political consequences. Today, it is likely she will be removed as the leader of the Republican Caucus in the House of Representatives. She will be replaced by Congressman Elsie Stefanik of New York. Unlike Cheney, Stefanik is much more moderate in her political views. But she made a decision two years ago, in the first impeachment trial of the then-President. She determined that her votes, and her financing, were dependent on supporting Trump. So from a candidate who in 2016 wouldn\u2019t even name him, only calling him the \u201cRepublican nominee\u201d, she became a full throated, Jim Jordan-like Trump apologist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stefanik knows which way the Republican winds are blowing. She altered her course, and her ideology, to fit the current model. She doesn\u2019t stand for much, except being on the \u201cwinning side\u201d. And for that \u2013 today she will be rewarded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cheney stands for what she believes. And for that – today she will pay the price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n