Republicans, who have created a cottage industry fomenting outrage over the “cancel culture,” now want to “cancel” Congresswoman Liz Cheney.
The crime committed by the Republican Congresswoman and number three Republican in the House of Representatives is that she continues to speak truth to power. Rather than perpetuate The Big Lie as many of her House Republican colleagues have done, Cheney is standing by her belief that Trump lost the election, and in a fit of pique, incited the January 6th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
“The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed was his doing” Cheney said days after the insurrection. “None of this would have happened without the President.”
Cheney was one of only ten House Republicans to vote for impeachment. Her words and deeds have made her a pariah among many of her colleagues, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
McCarthy originally said he believed Trump bore responsibility for the assault, but he later pivoted. “I don’t believe he provoked it if you listen to what he said at the rally,” McCarthy said.
Now McCarthy is ready to dump Cheney from her leadership position. He was overheard on a hot microphone on Fox and Friends. “I’ve had it with her,” he was overheard saying. “You know, I’ve lost confidence… well, someone just has to bring the motion, but I assume that will probably take place.”
So, McCarthy and House Republicans are going to give the boot to Liz Cheney, the highest ranking woman in the caucus who has rock-hard conservative credentials. McCarthy claims it is because Cheney is not part of the team.
“I’ve heard from members, concerned about her ability to carry out the job as conference chair, to carry out the message,” McCarthy told Fox news. “We all need to be working as one, if we’re able to win the majority.”
As one what? A cabal of deceit and denial for the sake of regaining the House? That is a heavy price to pay, but apparently one McCarthy and many of his fellow House Republicans are willing to make.
Republican political consultant Karl Rove said earlier this year that attempts by the GOP to punish Cheney play into the hands of the Democrats.
“The beneficiaries of Republican fratricide are Democrats,” Rove, a long-time friend of the Cheneys, told the New York Times. “So the more we have purity tests and everyone has to think and act alike, particularly when it comes to former President Trump, it’s only helping the Democrats.”
McCarthy and Republicans everywhere are free to lament Trump’s defeat and work to support him in 2024. However, the required unconditional fealty of Republicans, who either conveniently ignore the truth about the election and the insurrection or subscribe to the falsity that the election was stolen, are doing disservice to their party, conservatism and the country.
Their attempts to “cancel” Representative Cheney demonstrate anyone who refuses to toe the perverse company line may suffer the consequences.