House Republicans in Washington will decide Wednesday whether to oust Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney from her leadership role in the House. That’s their prerogative. It happens locally too. Leadership roles in political parties are highly partisan. They are tests of loyalty to party leaders — in this case, House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy.
But what a mistake this overthrow would be. The nation is watching as the Republican Party devours its own.
Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger and Cheney have been sounding the alarm since the November election and subsequent Jan. 6 insurrection at the nation’s Capitol: Former President Donald Trump’s continued claims of mass election fraud and his refusal to accept responsibility for the Capitol riot lay dangerous sod for the future of the country. They won’t support him, they’re vocal about it, and they’re willing to lose their positions in Congress, should voters oust them, to stand their ground.
In a May 5 Washington Post op-ed, Cheney wrote: “The Republican Party is at a turning point, and Republicans must decide whether we are going to choose truth and fidelity to the Constitution. In the immediate wake of the violence of Jan. 6, almost all of us knew the gravity and the cause of what had just happened — we had witnessed it firsthand.”
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Is there no room for a big Republican tent that includes voices like Cheney’s and Kinzinger’s? What about their actual voting records? That’s the truly irrational part of what the GOP is prepared to do: Cheney, on policy, is far more conservative than the representative likely to replace her in leadership, New York’s Elise Stefanik.
If we view our elected officials as a means to a policy end — if we care about advancing policy, not posturing — Cheney shouldn’t be punished for divorcing Trump Nation. She should be lauded from within the party for her actual voting record, which reflects just about every plank of the GOP platform.
She consistently has voted for spending cuts, small business tax cuts, strong border control, no amnesty for the undocumented, in favor of pro-life initiatives and against universal background checks on gun purchases.
That voting record here in the Midwest, in Illinois, would plunk someone right in the conservative wing of the party. Right in line with the policy positions of Trump supporters. But if her record isn’t “Republican enough” to serve in a leadership role — if disavowing Trump is the single overriding litmus test — the party is headed for extremes that will only reduce its effectiveness, not enhance it.
The leadership role Cheney is about to be stripped of, by the way, is managing the party’s policy-driven agenda, assisting with talking points during floor debate, and helping members with schedules and voting information. It’s a management post that tends to be less political than other positions within the party apparatus. And still, Trump is the issue.
Cheney wrote in the Post op-ed that Republicans “need to stand for genuinely conservative principles, and steer away from the dangerous and anti-democratic Trump cult of personality. In our hearts, we are devoted to the American miracle. We believe in the rule of law, in limited government, in a strong national defense, and in prosperity and opportunity brought by low taxes and fiscally conservative policies.
“There is much at stake now, including the ridiculous wokeness of our political rivals, the irrational policies at the border and runaway spending that threatens a return to the catastrophic inflation of the 1970s. Reagan formed a broad coalition from across the political spectrum to return America to sanity, and we need to do the same now.”
That sure doesn’t sound like someone too moderate, too weak, too contrarian to serve as a leader in the House GOP caucus. If she no longer fits the mold, Republican voters should be deeply concerned about who does.
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