Willie R. Tubbs, FISM News
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Soon-to-be-former Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney will not leave office until January. She said she intends to dedicate all of her remaining time in power, as well as the time that comes after, to her quest to prevent former President Donald Trump from regaining his seat in the Oval Office.
Cheney, who was defeated handily by Harriet Hageman in the Wyoming primary — CNN reports it was the second-worst primary loss for a House incumbent in 60 years — has redoubled her efforts to damage Trump in the public eye.
“I will do whatever it takes to ensure Donald Trump is never again anywhere near the Oval Office, and I mean it,” the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney said in her concession speech.
In the immediate, Cheney has been working closely with Politico to release information germane to her anti-Trump goals.
On Wednesday, spokesperson Jeremy Adler told the Virginia-based digital media company that Cheney had filed to convert her campaign fund into a political action committee, the funds and efforts of which will be agitating against Trump far and wide.
Through the same site, Cheney also lashed out at Hageman, who had accused Cheney of refusing to concede her 37.4-point loss.
In a true moment of American politics missing the forest for the trees, a controversy is festering over two seemingly contradictory cell phone recordings, one that Cheney claims is proof she was gracious in defeat and another that Hageman claims was Cheney’s only contact with her and contains only the words, “Hi, Harriet.” In fairness, it seems plausible that both recordings are legitimate, with technical issues being the reason for the missing audio in the message Hageman received.
Cheney’s long-term goals are unclear. She either will or will not seek the Republican nomination for the presidency in 2024. She suggested in her concession speech that she is pondering such a move and made mention of the political failings of Abraham Lincoln, who lost races prior to ascending to the White House.
“Let us resolve that we will stand together — Republicans, Democrats, and independents — against those who would destroy our republic,” Cheney said.
Cheney’s self-aggrandizing in the wake of an overwhelming defeat invited loads of ridicule from Republicans on social media, including Donald Trump Jr.
Liz Cheney really compared herself to Lincoln… LMFAO. That CNN & MSDNC fluffing really got to her carpetbagger/warmonger head. pic.twitter.com/vuwvDnLIeV
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) August 17, 2022
Cheney, to her ultimate electoral detriment, has stood resolutely with Democrats as they’ve orchestrated a series of congressional hearings meant primarily to damage Trump’s political fortunes, although the group openly harbors some hope that criminal charges might emerge.
While not the chair, Cheney has been easily the most visible member of the Jan. 6 committee.
Her efforts have made her a darling of the left and got her a conciliatory phone call from no less than President Joe Biden.
Legacy media outlets have likewise lined up to report on Cheney in glowing terms. However, her efforts have alienated her from Wyoming and large swaths, if not the overwhelming majority, of Republicans.
“The Fake News Media continues to push Crazy Liz Cheney and the fact that, despite losing her Wyoming Congressional race to a far superior candidate by an unprecedented 40 points, she has a ‘bright’ political future,” Trump posted on Truth Social Wednesday. “Really? I don’t think so, but perhaps that’s why we call it the FAKE NEWS!”
The former president’s cavalier use of rounding up aside, he is almost certainly correct that Cheney has no immediate prospects for winning a national election.
Cheney is banking on the American voting population proving itself to be as fickle as it was in the pre-Civil War era — a time during which the Republican Party emerged as a pro-freedom, progressive third party that was able to wrest power from the Democrats and Whigs.
In contemporary America, there is a clear dividing line between two distinct camps, little room for a viable third party, and a growing sense of tribalism.
Republican support for Cheney would likely be abysmal and, even if Biden were to choose not to run, a party flip would almost certainly do her no good.
Democrats might extol her virtues in the abstract, and Republicans might have jettisoned her, but Cheney is still a Republican in most of her policies. It is highly unlikely Democrats would repay Cheney with votes.
“Liz Cheney has a mental illness called Trump Derangement Syndrome,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene posted on Truth Social Wednesday. “Just like the rest of the globalists who are obsessed with power and money and don’t give a d— about America or the good hard-working American people. Our party is no longer her party, she’s the Uniparty.”
Cheney’s other opportunity to harm Trump’s candidacy will be found in the waning days of her time in Congress. She is still on the Jan. 6 committee, and all signs point to another round of public hearings which, like their predecessors, are likely to be heavily produced and tailored to inflict the most damage on Trump’s image.
As reported by FISM, though, this effort might also prove fruitless as opinion polling suggests virtually no one in the United States has been swayed by the hearings.