Rep. Matt Gaetz blasted fellow Republican Rep. Liz Cheney during an appearance in her home state of Wyoming.
“There’s basically two things that Liz Cheney has done in the United States Congress: frustrate the agenda of President Trump and sell out to the forever war machine,” Gaetz told a crowd of about 1,000 people gathered at the steps of the Wyoming Capitol on Thursday.
The Wyoming Highway Patrol estimated there were 750 to 1,000 people in attendance at the rally, which demonstrated against Cheney’s vote to impeach then-President Donald Trump. https://t.co/66ZIEKePE9
— Casper Star-Tribune (@CSTribune) January 28, 2021
“This is my first time in Wyoming,” Gaetz told the crowd. “I’ve been here for about an hour, and I feel like I already know the place a lot better than your misguided representative, Liz Cheney.”
Rep. Matt Gaetz: “This is my first time in Wyoming. I’ve been here for about an hour and I feel like I already know the place a lot better than your misguided representative, Liz Cheney.” pic.twitter.com/ZncWZSJWeH
— The Hill (@thehill) January 28, 2021
The two members of Congress have traded barbs in recent weeks, most notably when a Cheney spokesperson mocked Gaetz for wearing makeup.
“Rep. Gaetz can leave his beauty bag at home,” the spokesperson said in response to news of Gaetz’s plan to hold Thursday’s rally. “In Wyoming, the men don’t wear makeup.”
Gaetz responded to that jab during the rally by taking aim at Cheney’s foreign policy record.
“Liz Cheney taunts me for wearing makeup in my television appearances,” Gaetz said. “Now, makeup only hides the slightest imperfections of the skin. It does very little to conceal the soulless corruption of Washington, D.C. It’s really easy for me to get a little makeup off my shirt. Far more difficult for Liz Cheney to get the blood off her hands for sending America’s best to foreign lands to die.”
Cheney has dealt with strong blowback from Trump supporters following her vote to impeach the president for “incitement of insurrection” following a violent incident involving Trump supporters at the Capitol earlier this month.
Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, said at the time that Trump “summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack,” adding that “there has never been a greater betrayal by a president of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.”
That impeachment vote, supported by nine other Republicans in the House, has done damage to Cheney’s popularity in Wyoming, according to a poll conducted by a pro-Trump super PAC.
Many Republicans in the state have expressed support for Cheney following her impeachment vote, including 30 lawyers and judges who submitted an op-ed praising her for her “courage” during the impeachment process.
