(The Guardian) After primary loss, Liz Cheney aims for new job: Trump foe-in-chief
Last night, Republican voters rejected Liz Cheney’s bid to continue serving as their congresswoman, meaning she has only the remainder of the year left in the House of Representatives. She will continue in the highly public role of vice-chair of the January 6 committee, but this morning, Cheney said she is thinking about a run for presidency in 2024 – putting her in a position to compete directly against Donald Trump, a fellow Republican whom she loathes.
Many Republicans have stood against Donald Trump. Few have succeeded
Liz Cheney will now be the latest to try, looking to capitalize on her conservative voting record, her vice-chairmanship of the January 6 committee and of course her father’s time as vice-president under Republican George W. Bush.
Trump remains the favorite among Republicans for the party’s 2024 presidential nomination, and undoing that would require Cheney to convince the GOP to abandon the viewpoints and policies he brought into the mainstream when he won the White House in 2016. It’s a tough ask, and no shortage of Republicans have failed in the past. Just ask the eight House Republicans who voted for Trump’s impeachment but then were ousted by voters or opted to retire, or the various party fathers and moderates who begged the GOP not to back Trump, only to be bowled over by the will of the electorate.
Why is Cheney doing it? As she said in her concession speech last night, “A few years ago, I won this primary with 73 percent of the vote. I could easily have done the same again. The path was clear, but it would have required that I go along with President Trump’s lie about the 2020 election… That was a path I could not and would not take.”
Politico’s Playbook has another theory. Cheney won’t have much competition in the Trump-hating space, they write, with the GOP more or less in his grips and Democrats split over how big of a deal to make of him among their voters. “So rather than a kamikaze mission, her primary loss may have been more like parachuting out of a plane that had outlived its usefulness. Her great task now is figuring out where to land,” Playbook says.
Last night, Republican voters rejected Liz Cheney’s bid to continue serving as their congresswoman, meaning she has only the remainder of the year left in the House of Representatives. She will continue in the highly public role of vice-chair of the January 6 committee, but this morning, Cheney said she is thinking about a run for presidency in 2024 – putting her in a position to compete directly against Donald Trump, a fellow Republican whom she loathes.
Many Republicans have stood against Donald Trump. Few have succeeded
Liz Cheney will now be the latest to try, looking to capitalize on her conservative voting record, her vice-chairmanship of the January 6 committee and of course her father’s time as vice-president under Republican George W. Bush.
Trump remains the favorite among Republicans for the party’s 2024 presidential nomination, and undoing that would require Cheney to convince the GOP to abandon the viewpoints and policies he brought into the mainstream when he won the White House in 2016. It’s a tough ask, and no shortage of Republicans have failed in the past. Just ask the eight House Republicans who voted for Trump’s impeachment but then were ousted by voters or opted to retire, or the various party fathers and moderates who begged the GOP not to back Trump, only to be bowled over by the will of the electorate.
Why is Cheney doing it? As she said in her concession speech last night, “A few years ago, I won this primary with 73 percent of the vote. I could easily have done the same again. The path was clear, but it would have required that I go along with President Trump’s lie about the 2020 election… That was a path I could not and would not take.”
Politico’s Playbook has another theory. Cheney won’t have much competition in the Trump-hating space, they write, with the GOP more or less in his grips and Democrats split over how big of a deal to make of him among their voters. “So rather than a kamikaze mission, her primary loss may have been more like parachuting out of a plane that had outlived its usefulness. Her great task now is figuring out where to land,” Playbook says.
