Why The GOP House Vote On Liz Cheney's Has The Internet Seeing Red
The writing might have been on the wall for at least a week, but the end came swiftly for Liz Cheney as the GOP's House conference chair. Shortly after she walked into an internal Republican meeting on Wednesday, she was ousted as the third most powerful member of the caucus in a voice vote. This, HuffPost says, would mean that no members would go on the record about where they stood on the matter. Cheney, who is the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, is expected to be replaced by New York Representative Elise Stefanik at a later time.
While supporters of former President Donald Trump, including House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise are expected to be celebrating Cheney's removal (via Fox News), the anti-Trump faction of the GOP were celebrating too — with the addition of Liz Cheney to their ranks. Shortly after her ouster, Cheney told reporters waiting outside that: "I will do everything I can to ensure that the former president never again gets anywhere near the Oval Office" (via Twitter). CNN's Kaitlan Collins also quoted Cheney as saying: "We cannot be dragged backward by the dangerous lies of a former president."
Angry anti-Trump conservatives are standing by Cheney
Angry anti-Trump conservatives took to social media after the verdict was announced to express their support for Liz Cheney. Some, like conservative Freedom Caucus representative Ken Buck, might have even raised a few eyebrows by saying he voted to support the embattled Wyoming Representative during the controversial voice vote. He was also quoted as saying that: "Liz Cheney was cancelled today for speaking her mind and disagreeing with the narrative that President Trump was putting forward."
Other voices who came out in Cheney's corner include conservative commentator Bill Kristol, who tweeted: "Pleased to officially welcome Liz Cheney to Republican Voters Against Trump." GOP House member Adam Kinzinger, who stood by Cheney when she voted to impeach the former president for his role in the January 6 insurrection, also came forward to indicate that his support for Cheney was solid. "I'm fully supportive of Liz. What happened today was sad. Liz has committed the only sin of being consistent and telling the truth, the truth is that the election was not stolen," Kinzinger said, according to CSPAN's Craig Caplan.
Cheney vows to make GOP 'worthy of being the party of Lincoln'
Before she was ousted, Liz Cheney reportedly told her fellow GOP House members that "Our nation needs this Republican Party as a strong party based on truth so we can shape the future. We cannot let the former president drag us backward and make us complicit in his efforts to unravel our democracy" (via Twitter). She added: "I promise you this, after today, I will be leading the fight to restore our party and our nation to conservative principles, to defeating socialism, to defending our republic, to making the GOP worthy again of being the party of Lincoln" (via Washington Post).
News of Cheney's ouster appears to have reached the former president in record time, because not long after, he released a statement saying: "Liz Cheney is a bitter, horrible human being. I watched her yesterday and realized how bad she is for the Republican Party. She has no personality or anything good having to do with politics or our Country." Trump also called her a "talking point for Democrats, whether that means the Border, the gas lines, inflation, or destroying our economy."