The first point to make in considering Rep. Liz Cheney’s expulsion from the House Republican leadership is to stipulate that her core claim is true — Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, and his claim to the contrary is false.

But, as the Washington Examiner reported two weeks ago, that isn’t actually the issue of contention in the GOP’s internecine bloodletting. Most Republicans who want Cheney out don’t dispute her argument. On the contrary, they agree with it. But they reject and resent her tactic of outspoken denunciations, which they see hijacking the party’s message and annoying its voters. It’s surely reasonable enough that they should want a chief messenger who delivers the message they wish to send.