Liz Cheney will lose her re-election to the Wyoming congressional seat, then emerge as a presidential candidate for the reformed GOP in 2028.
It is still the Trump Era in the GOP. The widespread remorse comes later.
We watched a national leader on prime time Thursday evening. Liz Cheney projected courage and competence. She looked like a Commander in Chief. She isn't following the crowd of Trump sycophants, apologists, or mumblers. She is pointing a direction and trying to gather a crowd. The crowd isn't there yet.
The cycle will turn. Trump is too unhinged and undisciplined for Trump to lead the GOP much longer. When Trump-remorse becomes widespread, Liz Cheney will be the person who said it first and best. She speaks of duty and patriotism, not personal advantage. She sacrificed herself for the common good.
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| Cheney's Wyoming opponent |
Her Wyoming GOP primary opponent, Harriet Hageman, sends me fundraising appeals. The important thing to notice is that they don't criticize Cheney for what she is best known for: Her righteous accusation of Trump's misdeeds involving the 2020 election. Instead, her opponent calls Cheney a Washington elitist. Hageman's real villain is George W. Bush.
Will you help me FIRE Liz Cheney and take back our conservative movement from the elitist establishment that is working arm-in-arm with Joe Biden? . . .You and I don't have a moment to lose.That's because establishment elitists, like George W. Bush, headline ritzy fundraisers in other states to raise millions for Cheney. That was even after Cheney admitted in a 60 Minutes interview that her record-breaking fundraising haul was helped out by Democrats.
If there was ever a time for conservative Americans to stand up to the elitist establishment, it's now. And it's against Liz Cheney.
Hageman makes repeated references to having Trump's endorsement, but she doesn't defend Trump or echo his 2020 claims. By her silence she tacitly admits Cheney's proposition: Trump's behavior is indefensible. She is trying to position Cheney as a follower of D.C. elitists, thereby undermining Cheney's brand as a leader with integrity. It is a tough task. We see Cheney on TV looking like a leader with integrity.
Whether Trump is elected or rejected in 2024, Cheney has an opportunity. Trump is easy to dislike and fear. Trump isn't sanding down the sharp edges of his brand. Quite the opposite. He responded to Thursday's televised hearing by posting that the insurrection was "not simply a protest, it represented the greatest movement in the history of our Country.” If Trump loses yet again, Trump will get the blame.
Trump might win. If Biden runs for re-election, Biden's age and competence will be center stage. Voters may choose vigorous autocracy over fuzzy-headed weakness, especially if inflation is the central issue. Trump will promise to fix it. Nationally, most Democrats have figured out that it is unpopular to make endemic White racism and misogyny an organizing principle of policy. It turns off Black, Hispanic, and White working class voters. Poor Whites attempting to pay for gasoline don't feel like privileged oppressors. Some Democrats are backing off that message, but the idea still sticks to the Democratic brand. A win for Trump in 2024 will not stop the rise of Trump-remorse, however. It is nearly inconceivable that a second Trump term would be a time of national comity. Trump is a disrupter. Chaos is exhausting.
Cheney would be the credible GOP spokesperson for a return to "normalcy." She would represent conservatism, not populism. Her likely rivals for the GOP nomination would be people who had cast their lot with Trump and chaos. She might win pluralities in early multi-candidate races in Iowa and New Hampshire in 2028. That would position her as the new voice with a following. If Trump has worn out his welcome--as he did after four years in his first term--her early-state pluralities would turn into a majority in later primary states.
Will this happen? It is too soon to tell. She has a path and she is doing exactly what would serve this path. She is returning the GOP to its roots.
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8 comments:
How did Geo. W, The tyrant of Iraq, become a DC elitist? I throw my shoe at you, Harriet! Maybe it’s guilt by association: discrediting GW discredits Dick Cheney. “The sins of the father…“ Whether Liz Cheney is motivated by true Patriotstism or not, and I believe she is, it’s a fair gamble to open a clear lane as the only voice of conscience in the GOP. Go, Liz, go! You’re better than the spineless toads that called themselves conservative leaders.
Liz Cheney was voted-out of the Wyoming Republican Party, because she is so widely disliked in the state. Liz Cheney is held in extreme contempt among the majority of all Republican voters. Liz Cheney is a RINO, and a globalist. The GOP is going conservative, and populist. Republicans don't want Cheney. There isn't a chance in hell that Liz Cheney has a future in the GOP, since Ron DeSantis will be the next GOP Presidential candidate in 2028, after Trump. Liz should do us all a favor, and she should go hunting with her daddy.
Although I am not a Republican, there are things I admire about the Cheney women from Wyoming: former Second Lady Lynne Cheney (PhD from the U. of Wisconsin, Madison ), former head of the National Endowment for the Humanities and mother of Liz and Mary Cheney.
The Cheneys (Lynne, Dick and Mary) were early and prominent supporters of same-sex marriage.
The best thing I heard recently was an interview with a Wyoming GOP voter:
"We didn't elect Liz Cheney to vote her conscience"
I could easily vote for Liz Cheney, especially over Bumbling* Biden or the incompetent, giggling Kamala Harris.
* Afghanistan
Liz Cheney and the GOP have irreconcilable differences. She cares about the Constitution and her oath of office, but most Republicans obviously do not. She devoted the last year exposing how far Trump and his accomplices went in their attempts to overthrow the government, but even many so-called conservatives who imagine themselves to be "moderate" simply deny it or shrug it off.
In fact, the Republican Party isn't conservative at all. It's become a cult and Cheney wants its leader to be held accountable for his crimes. She and other real conservatives need a new party because, as she pointed out on Thursday, there is no honor in today's GOP.
Our topic du jour is what or whom represents “normalcy” for the GOP, a return to the party’s “roots”. Needless to say, for the soundest, most objective assessment on that score we should all look to Democrats, and doubly so Democrats on the eve of what increasingly looks to be an historic midterm rout. As touching as this prognosticating solicitude may be, it’s premature.
The GOP’s nickname IS “the Stupid Party”, but this week’s daunting inflation and energy numbers suggest that there must be a different meaning altogether when it comes to, “It’s the economy, stupid”. But brainy Democrats have other priorities than a much older, much dumber, and much, much more dishonest and unlikeable version of their last one-term President.
Nonetheless, on-topic, it’s no accident that Liz Cheney’s primary opponent emphasizes Beltway elites to include Dubya. The real GOP shift, akin to Brexit, of which Trump was but a fortuitous beneficiary, is away from the neocon establishment and its Democratic allies, which serve globalist political, corporate, even war-making interests at the expense of working Americans.
Liz Cheney’s success as a presidential candidate will depend largely on whether she can resonate with the populist rage that’s brewing in this country against woke globalist urban elites. Even London Breed, liberal mayor of San Francisco, refers to elite approaches to fighting crime as “bullshit.“
There’s a wave to be caught. Someone’s going to catch it. If no one else does, Trump will. I’d rather it were Cheney or someone else sane and competent.
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