Outgoing Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), once a rising star in Republican leadership, has now largely become persona non grata in the party after staking the entirety of her political career on total and visceral opposition to former President Donald Trump.
Cheney still apparently identifies herself as a Republican and will continue to do so, albeit on one major condition — that Trump is not the GOP nominee in 2024, or else she will formally leave the party, according to Not the Bee.
That is rather humorous, though, in that Cheney has already all but renounced her prior partisan affiliation amid her incessant rhetorical attacks against all things Trump, including the former president, his top allies and supportive voters, her own Wyoming constituents, and virtually all of her soon-to-be former GOP colleagues in Congress.
Cheney announces what we already long suspected
Cheney’s threat — or is it a promise? — to leave the Republican Party if Trump is the 2024 nominee came during commentary she delivered during an appearance on Saturday at The Texas Tribune Festival.
At one point in the conversation, the congresswoman was asked, “Will you remain a Republican, regardless of what happens in the next election?”
“I’m gonna make sure Donald Trump — I’m gonna do everything I can to make sure he’s not the nominee,” Cheney replied. “And if he is the nominee, I won’t be a Republican.”
.@Liz_Cheney says if Donald Trump is the Republican nominee in 2024, she will not be a Republican. #TribFest22 pic.twitter.com/3PXuOTBTDy
— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) September 25, 2022
She hates Trump and all who support him
According to The Texas Tribune, Cheney declined to deliver a straight answer on whether she’d consider a 2024 presidential bid of her own to challenge Trump, but seemingly left the door open to that possibility when she said, “I certainly will do whatever it takes to make sure Donald Trump isn’t anywhere close to the Oval Office.”
Her antipathy is not aimed solely at the former president, though, as the outgoing congresswoman — who recently lost her primary contest in a massive landslide to a Trump-backed opponent — was highly critical of and made clear she would not support many of her current GOP colleagues.
That includes the woman who will replace her as Wyoming’s representative in the House, Harriet Hageman, as well as others like House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who is likely to be the next House Speaker, and staunch Trump allies like Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), and Lauren Boebert (R-CO), among others.
Even plans to campaign for Democrats
In fact, according to CNN, Cheney revealed during the Tribune event that she not only would not support several Trump-aligned Republicans but would actually campaign in support of their Democratic opponents.
Thus, regardless of whether or not Trump is the 2024 nominee, Cheney has already, for all intents and purposes, exited the Republican Party in favor of being briefly used by the left as an anti-Trump pawn before spending the remainder of her years in increasing obscurity in the political wilderness.