Liz Cheney won't wimp out.
Trump feels like he is king of the forest. He just took on a honey badger. They are the most aggressive, fearless, and ill-tempered animal in the forest.
The GOP-led House just announced they want an FBI investigation of Liz Cheney. GOP Representative Barry Loudermilk said that Cheney's conversations with former White House assistant Cassidy Hutchinson constituted improper "collusion" with a witness. They want hearings, prosecutions, and jail time. Donald Trump has been urging this in speeches, interviews, and Truth Social "truths," where Trump wrote that Cheney "could be in a lot of trouble."
Trump and the GOP will regret this. It is another example of the peril of winning, whether it is in politics, sports, or business. Success can go to your head. You get careless.You think you are invulnerable.
Yesterday I wrote here that in Biden's post-election "quiet quitting" absence, Trump has center stage. He has allied with Elon Musk's infinite money and Twitter/X's political reach. He is at the top of his game. Trump is taking victory laps intimidating officeholders and businesses. He has already taken over the presidential bully pulpit. "It is time for a Democratic narrator to emerge," I wrote.
Liz Cheney is not that Democratic narrator. Not quite. She is a Republican of the checks-and-balances variety. She is more a "John the Baptist" to some future leader. She sets the stage. She will remind Democrats that the leadership is not a negotiation among agenda-driven interest groups. Presidential leadership is a contest of strength and courage to tell the public simple truths with a conviction that persuades people. Presidential power is about communication.
Cheney knows one very clear simple truth that aligns with Democrats: Donald Trump is a mortal danger to American democracy. She sacrificed her political career to voice that truth.
She immediately counterpunched. No pussyfooting. No qualifications. No meandering into discussion of process. She offers a sharp denial. You are wrong. You are lying. You are disreputable. You are cowardly. You are protecting the guilty person, Trump.
Chairman Loudermilk’s ‘Interim Report’ intentionally disregards the truth and the Select Committee’s tremendous weight of evidence, and instead fabricates lies and defamatory allegations in an attempt to cover up what Donald Trump did. Their allegations do not reflect a review of the actual evidence, and are a malicious and cowardly assault on the truth. No reputable lawyer, legislator or judge would take this seriously.
His so-called ‘report’ is filled with baseless, conclusory allegations rather than facts. That’s because there’s no escaping the reality that Donald Trump bears the responsibility for the deadly January 6th attack no matter how much Mr. Loudermilk would love to rewrite history for his political purposes.
I have been waiting for this kind of clarity. She is angry and sounds angry. She knows right from wrong, and she is right and Trump is wrong. She has nothing to hide.
In the cynical world of hardball politics, Trump had a great opportunity. House Republicans muffed it. They could have centered their attack on the Democratic chair of the January 6th Committee, Benny Thompson of Mississippi. He is Black. He is not articulate or sharp-tongued. He is soft spoken. He has no national fame or brand. Taking on Thompson would have had the subtext of "uppity Blacks" trying to bring down a White hero, of Democrats trying to bring down Republicans, and of a decisive and strong Trump once again dominating and humiliating a weakling. It is the meta story Trump and the MAGA team love: alpha Trump, born a prince, now a king, swashbuckling his way over rivals, especially a dark-skinned Democrat.
Liz Cheney is royalty, too. Hers was as privileged an upbringing as was Trump's, although in the political realm, not the realm of money, real estate development, and TV. She has a brand. Trump understands the power that flows from money. She understands the power that flows from political convictions. She is down now but she will return because ideas matter. She is a true believer and she believes in herself. She has a compelling story to tell: Trump is guilty, guilty, guilty.
Trump just took on a honey badger.
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10 comments:
Honey badgers are fearless in part because when a predator bites them their skin or fat protects them, it doesn’t hurt them much. As a result the predator learn they are too much work to take on, there is easier prey. Let’s hope the analogy applies to Liz Cheney. Senility or death will get Trump sometime soon, it’s not that far away for him.
This isn’t just about Trump and Cheney. House Republicans made it clear that as far as their party is concerned, it’s those who would hold their Dear Leader accountable for his crimes that should be prosecuted. Trump will be gone in four years, if not sooner, but that won’t change the nature of the party that became his cult. Their disregard for truth, justice and the Constitution is eroding the foundation of our democracy.
Trump calls Jan. 6 “a day of love.” He’s crazy enough to believe his own bullshit, and his party certainly does. When the so-called leader of the free world is this delusional, how long will it take for our freedom to become a delusion?
Trump has a background in professional wrestling. He likes nothing better than a melodrama.
Liz will denounce him in terms that will appeal to Democrats like you. Trump will respond with the verbal equivalent of hitting her over the head with a folding chair, and his supporters will love it.
Meanwhile, the progressives will continue to refuse to align themselves with anyone as heretical to their religious political beliefs as Liz Cheney.
Also, Liz is female, and we all have heard clearly what the Tparty thinks of “uppity”women.
She's a woman with balls. Cowards like Trump can't handle them. In the end, she will win because right makes might, not the other way around.
“Trump has a background in professional wrestling. He likes nothing better than a melodrama.”
For some, the purpose of government is to establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity. For others, it’s lowbrow entertainment. And people wonder why we’re so polarized.
Democracy is a particular form of politics with its own laws of physics. Whatever someone might imagine the purpose of a government is, the control mechanism for our government is democratic politics.
Winning in a democracy requires the motivation of large numbers of voters. You can wish that those voters were high-minded in ways that appeal to your personal proclivities, but in fact those voters are all individuals with their own motives and desires and beliefs.
Professional wrestling is quite popular in this country. Those are some of the voters we have. You can either figure out how to appeal to them, or dismiss them as being deplorable. If you do the latter, you might as well resign yourself to perpetually carping from beyond the halls of power.
Winning or virtue signaling is a choice. Political parties that prefer winning need to understand the actual nature of the voters whose support they want.
The elites do not get to elect a new people. Democracy works the other way around.
When winning requires disregard for the Constitution and rule of law, it's no longer the Republic I was raised in or that my father risked his life defending against a maniac much like Trump.
Nobody "won" the last election. The nation lost.
Times like these make me glad I never joined the military.
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