Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., speaks throughout a press conference following a House Republican caucus conference in Washington on Tuesday, April 20, 2021.
Caroline Brehman | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
The GOP need to “steer away from the dangerous and anti-democratic Trump cult of personality,” argued Rep. Liz Cheney, the No. 3 Republican in the House, in an op-ed Wednesday.
“The Republican Party is at a turning point, and Republicans must decide whether we are going to choose truth and fidelity to the Constitution,” Cheney composed in The Washington Post.
The clarion call from Cheney came as a flood of House Republicans, consisting of Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Minority Whip Steve Scalise, state they are through with her functioning as House Republican Conference chair.
But in the op-ed Cheney, of Wyoming, appeared to cast aside worries about her status in the celebration.
“History is watching. Our children are watching. We must be brave enough to defend the basic principles that underpin and protect our freedom and our democratic process. I am committed to doing that, no matter what the short-term political consequences might be,” Cheney composed.
Cheney was the only member of Republican management to choose previous President Donald Trump’s impeachment in the wake of the Jan. 6 intrusion of the Capitol by a mob of his advocates. Trump “summoned this mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame of this attack,” Cheney stated at the time.
Trump was acquitted in the Senate on a post of prompting an insurrection.
Since Trump left workplace, Cheney has actually differed from a number of her Republican coworkers through her desire to keep speaking up versus Trump, who continues to incorrectly insist he beat President Joe Biden and spread unwarranted conspiracy theories about prevalent citizen scams.
On Tuesday, McCarthy supposedly stated of Cheney: “I’ve had it with her. You know, I’ve lost confidence.” A spokesperson for Scalise stated the whip has actually vowed his assistance to Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., who became an ardent protector of Trump throughout his very first impeachment.
Trump and other Republicans have actually likewise backed Stefanik.
Cheney’s op-ed asserted that it’s inadequate to merely look the other method on Trump’s unproven election claims.
“Trump is seeking to unravel critical elements of our constitutional structure that make democracy work — confidence in the result of elections and the rule of law. No other American president has ever done this,” Cheney’s op-ed stated.
“While embracing or ignoring Trump’s statements might seem attractive to some for fundraising and political purposes, that approach will do profound long-term damage to our party and our country,” she composed.
She explained that McCarthy, in the wake of the attack on the Capitol, stated Trump “bears responsibility” for the attack and “should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding.”Â
McCarthy has now “changed his story,” stated Cheney.
Cheney declined Trump’s relentless claims about a “rigged” election that called into question U.S. organizations. “This is immensely harmful, especially as we now compete on the world stage against Communist China and its claims that democracy is a failed system,” she composed.
Republicans, Cheney stated, need to support the Department of Justice’s continuous examinations into the Jan. 6 intrusion. More than 400 individuals now deal with charges associated to the attack.
The GOP need to likewise back a “parallel bipartisan review” of the intrusion “by a commission with subpoena power to seek and find facts,” she stated.
Lastly, Republicans “need to stand for genuinely conservative principles, and steer away from the dangerous and anti-democratic Trump cult of personality,” Cheney stated.
She conjured up the memory of previous President Ronald Reagan, a Republican icon, stating he “formed a broad coalition from across the political spectrum to return America to sanity, and we need to do the same now.”
“But this will not happen if Republicans choose to abandon the rule of law and join Trump’s crusade to undermine the foundation of our democracy and reverse the legal outcome of the last election,” she stated.
Read the complete op-ed in The Washington Post.
