A day after she was censored by her Republican Party from her state, Wyoming rep. Liz Cheney, third in the House of Representatives, went on Fox News to defend her vote to accuse former President Donald Trump – arguing that the GOP had lost its way if it did not reject Trump’s trademark of politics.
“People are being lied to,” Cheney told Chris Wallace Fox News Sunday when asked about the fact that he is being convicted. “The extent to which the President, President Trump, for months until January 6, spread the notion that the election was stolen or that the election was hampered was a lie. And people need to understand that. ”
Cheney’s decision to declare her rejection of Trump in a Fox News show indicates that she was not fed up with weeks of criticism of parties over her vote, or that she did not want to be fired from her leadership position – and that she wants to convince Republican voters that her faction of the party offers a more authentic and sustainable vision for conservatism.
Cheney was one of only ten House Republicans who, along with Democrats, arrested Trump for the charge of inciting insurgency in the U.S. Capitol in January. And since then, she has faced the consequences of the vote.
After Trump loyalists in the party asked that she be removed from the party leadership because they turned against Trump, House Republicans held a secret ballot on Wednesday on whether she should retain her position 3 among her colleagues.
She maintained the vote to remain in her position 145 to 61, but the proportion of votes against her was not insignificant, and if the vote was public, experts believe it would be quite possible that more legislators would oppose it. leader to indicate their commitment to Trump to their constituents.
Then, on Saturday, Cheney’s state Republican Party approved a no-confidence motion by 56 to 8. The resolution said the Wyoming Republican Party would no longer raise money for her – and asked that she donate the state parties repaid to her. 2020 campaign.
But at Wallace’s show Sunday, Cheney appeared shameless and defended her decision to accuse Trump without hesitation.
“Look, I think people across Wyoming understand and acknowledge that we have the most important duty to enter the Constitution,” Cheney said. ‘And as I have explained and will continue to explain to supporters across the state and voters across the country, the oath I took to the Constitution forced me to vote for accusation, and it does not bend to bias, it do not bow to political pressure, this is the most important oath we take. ”
Lawmakers in Wyoming have said Trump is not only a bad leader for Republicans to embrace, but poses an existential threat to the country.
“The biggest single threat to our republic is a president who will put his own interests above the Constitution, above the national interest,” Cheney said. “And we have had a situation where President Trump has been claiming for months that the election was stolen and that he would apparently do anything to steal it himself.”
Cheney wants to take back the GOP from Trump. It’s an uphill climb.
Cheney’s request to Fox viewers to turn him away from Trump – in which she said she believes the GOP is Ronald Reagan’s party, not QAnon – shows that she is committed to fighting for the return of ‘ an older version of the party.
The question is whether his Republican voters – and fellow lawmakers – can convince him that Trump’s rejection is wise for the party to a presidency in which he has cultivated an extremely dedicated following among the party base.
While polls suggest most Republicans disapprove of the Capitol riot, it is also shows that most Republicans do not think Trump is to blame for the event, and that most Republicans agree with Trump’s view that the election was impeccable.
For example, a mid-January Washington Post-ABC News poll found that most Republicans said Trump bears no responsibility for the assault, and nearly half said Republican lawmakers did not actually go far enough to oust the president. ‘s efforts to reverse the election results. .
According to the survey, about two-thirds of Republican and Republican-leaning candidates thought Trump would act and act responsibly after the Nov. 3 election.
And a new poll by ABC-Ipsos, taken on February 5 to 6, found that only 15 percent of Republicans support Trump being convicted in a Senate prosecution trial and that he will not run again. .
In other words, if Cheney hopes that the storming of the Capitol would be a wake-up call for Republicans about the dangers of Trump and his wing of the party, it would seem that hope is unfounded.
Pro-Trump lawmakers tried to incite Cheney’s views against her. In the run-up to the Republican House vote on whether to retain her leadership, Florida Representative Matt Gaetz called one of the party’s fiercest Trump votes in an anti-Cheney rally in her home state. held and recorded her policy basement.
“Liz Cheney is very much like Congress – deeply unpopular and has special interests,” he said during the protest. ‘She took more money from PACs than people. She works for them, not you. ”
Other lawmakers have also faced a sharp setback as they voted for Trump’s accusation. Rep. Peter Meijer – a first-year Republican from Michigan and the only first-term Republican to beat Trump – had some angry questions from voters during his first virtual city hall this week.
Meijer said during the event that he believes a majority of Republicans in his district – “perhaps a strong majority” – do not agree with his decision to vote for accusation. But in the end, he sticks to his decision.
“What we saw at the Capitol – the attempted uprising, the involvement of a sitting American president who propagated the falsehoods that led to it – required a significant response,” he said. A number of his constituents reportedly did not even have it during City Hall, and some said they were planning to work to upset him about his vote – and a primary challenge to Cheney is also on the corridor.