Right now, Liz Cheney identifies as a Republican. However, she hinted over the weekend that she might not always be.
Cheney stated in an interview at the Texas Tribune Festival, “I’m going to make sure Donald Trump, I’m going to do all I can to make sure he is not the nominee.” And I won’t be a Republican if he wins the nomination.
that’s fascinating!
Cheney, of course, previously lost her bid for reelection after being defeated by Harriet Hageman in the GOP primary for Wyoming’s lone House seat in August. Hageman received the support of both Trump and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. She lost her position as the third-ranking Republican in House leadership last year after publicly criticising Trump and supporting his impeachment on January 6, 2021.
Since her primary defeat last month, it has become more more obvious that Cheney has her sights set on a national run, which has been obvious for months. She referred to Ulysses S. Grant and Abraham Lincoln in her concession address and said that she had chosen the right route rather than the simple one.
Cheney declared that “the way was clear.” But doing so would have compelled me to support President Trump’s fabrication regarding the 2020 election. It would have compelled me to support his continued efforts to undermine our republic’s founding principles and our democratic system.
Someone who a) isn’t done with politics and b) is seriously considering running for office gives speeches like that.
Until now, it has been assumed—or at least my assumption—that Cheney will run what amounted to a kamikaze mission against Trump in the 2024 primary, with her objective being to prevent the former President from becoming the candidate once more rather than to win herself.
which, to be completely honest, has a very slim possibility of success. The plain fact is that Trump enjoys enormous support from the Republican Party’s grassroots. Additionally, Cheney isn’t.
Now, given there isn’t much of a historical record of such kinds of candidacies to draw on, it’s difficult to assess how big of an impact a candidacy that is solely focused on not winning but disqualifying another candidate may have. It’s feasible that Cheney will annoy Trump enough to cause some real harm despite his (decidedly flimsy) defences.
However, what’s most intriguing is that Cheney floated a “what’s next” for her if/when she were to lose a hypothetical presidential bid in the interview with the Texas Tribune. She might be thinking about running as a third-party candidate for president in 2024 if she decides to quit the Republican Party if Trump wins the nomination, which seems inevitable.
Although it would be extremely difficult for Cheney to qualify as an independent in all 50 states, it is still possible that he could team up with the Forward Party, which was founded by Andrew Yang, former Florida Representative David Jolly, and former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman and is working to secure widespread ballot access by 2024.
The most effective way to prevent Trump from winning the presidency, if Cheney’s ultimate purpose is to do so, may be through a third-party run. Cheney is conservative on the majority of non-Trump-related topics and is likely to garner a larger share of Republican votes than Democratic ones. And considering Trump’s historical troubles to garner 50% of the popular vote, Cheney would certainly make things more difficult.
Will she comply? The unknown! But her comment implies that she is at least receptive to the notion.
