On the eve of her removal from the House Republican leadership, Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming delivers a passionate warning on the floor of the chamber.
Cheney, the third-ranking GOP representative, said on Tuesday night:
This is not about partisanship. This is about our duty as Americans.
Remaining silent and ignoring the lie emboldens the liar. I will not participate in that. I will not sit back and watch in silence while others lead our party down a path that abandons the rule of law and joins the former president’s crusade to undermine our democracy.
The Republican Conference convenes on Wednesday. Legislators are almost certain to strip Cheney, the Conference chair, of her role after House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy called for the move this weekend.
See also Cheney: Republican Party Is At A Turning Point
Cheney wore a replica pin of George Washington’s battle flag as she rose to “discuss freedom and our constitutional duty to protect it”, following Donald Trump’s lies about the November election and his instigation of the attack on the US Capitol on January 6.
Millions of Americans have been misled by the former President. They have heard only his words, but not the truth, as he continues to undermine our democratic process, sowing seeds of doubt about whether democracy really works at all.
I am a conservative Republican and the most conservative of conservative principles is reverence for the rule of law.
She explained that as “the Electoral College has voted”, more than 60 courts rejects Trump’s claims, and the Justice Department found no evidence of widespread fraud, “The election is over. That is the rule of law. That is our constitutional process.”
Cheney summarized, “Those who refuse to accept the rulings of our courts are at war with the Constitution.”
Some Trumpists Turn Against Cheney’s Successor
Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, who entered the House as a centrist in 2014 but has recast her as a Trumpist with support of Trump’s disinformation, has been endorsed by House GOP leader McCarthy as Cheney’s successor.
But some Trumpists are already jabbing at Stefanik as a moderate in disguise. Rep. Chip Roy of Texas sent a memo to every Republican representative that Stefanik had cast a series of votes opposed to Trumpism.
We must avoid putting in charge Republicans who campaign as Republicans but then vote for and advance the Democrats’ agenda once sworn in — that is, that we do not make the same mistakes that we did in 2017….
With all due respect to my friend, Elise Stefanik, let us contemplate the message Republican leadership is about to send by rushing to coronate a spokesperson whose voting record embodies much of what led to the 2018 ass-kicking we received by Democrats.
Members of the hard-right Freedom Caucus have privately expressed reluctance, if not opposition, about Stefanik’s ascendancy.
The New York representative has sought to appease critics by promising that she would resign as Conference chair before casting a vote that differs from the majority of House Republicans. She told reporters on Tuesday, “We have a great deal of support from the Freedom Caucus and others.”
Freedom Caucus co-founder Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Trump have backed Stefanik.