The imminent ousting of Liz Cheney from her position as chair of the House Republican Conference, which is expected to come via vote on Wednesday, is more than just a confirmation of the GOP’s unyielding loyalty to Donald Trump. It’s a warning shot across the bow of democracy that the White House and Congressional Democrats would be foolish to dismiss as something as trivial as ‘political infighting.’
This move is a confirmation that the official Republican Party platform isn’t about the truth or dedication to the Constitution; it’s about utter devotion to the cult of MAGA and its leader, former President Trump. Senator Lindsey Graham, one of Trump’s biggest enablers the past four years, said it as clearly as he could on Fox News. There is no “moving on” from Trump for the Republican Party.
In an opinion piece for USA Today, former GOP chairperson Jennifer Horn outlined in concise and blistering terms what made Cheney, the Wyoming Rep. who is as conservative as it gets and was not too long ago considered borderline GOP royalty, a sudden pariah in her own party.
“Truth, rule of law, fidelity to the Constitution. This is the message that has put Cheney at odds with her party and will lead to her ouster. Which raises the question, what message does McCarthy want Cheney to “carry” if not the truth?”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy can try and spin it all he wants, but the vote to remove Cheney from her post is about questioning the motives of one man, and ultimately those who bow down to his every whim. She’s losing her seat at the table because she refused to support the Big Lie that Donald Trump had the election stolen from him. That’s it.
Her expected replacement, Rep. Elise Stefanik from upstate New York, has a voting record that pales in comparison to Cheney in terms of representing conservatism. Trump handpicked her because she decided awhile ago to sell her soul for political brownie points, so now she supports the ex-president who helped incite the deadly Jan. 6 Insurrection. As Vox writes in this analysis of Trump’s takeover of the GOP Party, the message is loud and clear now: Support the Big Lie, or at least not talk about it, or suffer the consequences.
There is more at stake here than continuing to coddle Trump’s woefully fragile ego. Outside of a few Republicans on the far fringes of the party — we’re talking folks like Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Rep. Lauren Boebert — most are smart enough to know it’s utter nonsense, yet cynical and opportunistic enough to know going along with it could be politically useful. Look at Stefanik. She just earned a promotion. McCarthy, too, views embracing Trump as a clear pathway to the Speaker’s gavel if the GOP retakes the House in 2022. Which is why he pretends his condemnation of Trump after the Capitol Siege never happened.
The Republican Party as a whole has decided that blind devotion to Trump is more important than the truth, more important than good-faith public service, more important than maintaining a proper Democracy.
But this is also about a darker and much more harmful long-game the Republicans are playing, and it has to do with future elections. We are seeing scenarios unfold before our very eyes that would suggest potential election chaos that would make 2020 pale by comparison. Imagine what would happen if Republicans take the House back in 2022, and a Trump sycophant like McCarthy becomes Speaker. Combine that with the hundreds of voter-restriction bills being passed around the country by GOP-led legislatures, and you have a recipe for a potential derailment of our democratic process. As The Washington Post writes in this piece, Cheney’s principled stance on refusing to give cover to Trump’s election lies essentially nullify all the legislative work GOP operatives are doing across the U.S. to “protect the integrity of the electoral process.”
Ask yourself this: What behavior do you see from the current GOP that would let you believe they wouldn’t contest a Democratic victory in the 2024 election? All their actions seem to be pointing toward a strategy that looks to provide a firewall against certifying a Democratic victor. The legislation being passed at the state level in Georgia, Florida and Texas may have impact on voting turnout that not even President Biden’s voting rights act — which seems a long shot to pass at the moment — could completely nullify.
Dan Rather wrote about this in his newsletter, Steady, calling the Big Lie a big deal. He also took the Washington press corps to task for not doing a good enough job of portraying what’s going on. This isn’t a case of politics as usual, it’s a fight over “a belief in democracy itself.”
He said by covering this as a two-sides issue, the media is doing a lot of the work for Republicans. That must stop, and those who support the Big Lie must be challenged at every turn.
“The press needs to start taking this even more seriously than it does now. Every elected Republican who has played footsie with the Big Lie should have to defend that record before they can speak on any other topic. They can’t be allowed to dodge.”
Dan rather