A difference of opinion over the impeachment of former President Donald Trump has devolved into personal back-and-forths between Republican House members and is exposing a fissure between establishment GOP lawmakers and full-on MAGA rivals.
Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, House Republican Conference chairwoman and the third-ranking GOP lawmaker, is as close to an establishment figure as is possible in the Trump era. Daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney and a former State Department official, Cheney largely, but not totally, sided with Trump during his four years in the White House. But appalled at his rhetoric before the Jan. 6 Capitol siege, Cheney emerged as one of 10 House Republicans out of 211 in office to vote for impeachment.
Gaetz is a thorough Trump loyalist. He’s been a frequent media presence since winning his Florida Panhandle House seat in 2016, the same year Cheney came to Congress. Gaetz contends Cheney betrayed the party with her impeachment vote and should be tossed from leadership.
Tempers flared on Twitter over the weekend when Gaetz announced his plan to travel to Cheyenne, Wyoming, this Thursday to rally with local Republicans against Cheney.
Illinois Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a vocal supporter of Cheney and one of the 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, tweeted back at Gaetz saying, “To be clear here, some in the Freedom Club (not all, some) have been trying to #cancel @RepLizCheney for years. She doesn’t bend to their intimidation, because after all, they aren’t that intimidating.”
Gaetz responded to Kinzinger’s jab, tweeting back, “Truth here from Rep. Kinzinger. I thought Liz should have departed after backing the primary opponent of @RepThomasMassie .Instead, she told us we are all clear to campaign against one another in primaries. So that’s what may happen. I don’t find it intimidating at all.”
Kinzinger hit back to Gaetz’s remark, “This is GOP cancel culture.”
The Twitter tussle comes ahead of an expected House Republican Conference meeting to sort out internal strife that has bubbled up since Cheney announced she would vote to impeach Trump and released a statement blasting the then-president.
House Republicans have mounted an effort to oust the No. 3 Republican from her post through a pressure campaign to force Cheney to resign from leadership. Additionally, the Wyoming congresswoman attracted a primary challenger last week, and more are expected to jump into the race.
Cheney’s relationship with some members of the Republican Conference deteriorated as her disagreements with Trump piled up, including over foreign policy.
House Republican members became particularly concerned when she and a handful of other members backed a primary challenger to oust Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie.
Cheney did so after Massie had forced a roll-call vote on a $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package, which made all House lawmakers return to Washington during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The effort to oust Massie during his primary, though, was a massive failure and caused GOP members like Gaetz to call for Cheney’s resignation during one conference.
Cheney’s relationship with Trump did not fare any better. Although she sided with the former president on most issues and expressed her gratitude when he pardoned Lewis “Scooter” Libby, her father’s chief of staff when the elder Cheney served as vice president with President George W. Bush, the congresswoman found herself criticizing Trump over several key issues.
Cheney defended Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, two witnesses critical of Trump in his first impeachment, after he derided both on Twitter.
Back in May, Cheney pushed back against Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul on the idea that director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci was a partisan working against Trump in the effort to curb the COVID-19 pandemic and keep the economy closed.
