Rep. Liz Cheney last weekend enjoyed the good fortune of having a political adversary unwittingly tell the complimentary truth about her.
That truth about Cheney’s philosophical soundness is why, despite the efforts of a notoriously vindictive Donald Trump, Wyoming voters may well renominate and reelect the congresswoman later this year.
The truth came from radical Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia in a Jan. 20 radio interview with Trump ally and provocateur Steve Bannon. It is a testament to Cheney’s good character to be counted as a major public enemy by Greene, who is an embarrassment to Congress with her history of racially charged and antisemitic statements, an embrace of some of the craziest conspiracy theories in modern U.S. history, and an endorsement of executing Democratic leaders.
Still, sometimes extremists inadvertently let slip the truth. Greene was trying to make the point that although Democrats are happy right now with Cheney’s insistence that the Capitol riots be fully investigated, Democrats shouldn’t “trust” Cheney. Why not? Because, Greene said, Cheney “has a very conservative voting record — more conservative than some of my Republican colleagues, by the way.”
It’s tough to make a legitimate case that somebody isn’t a good, conservative Republican when that person has Cheney’s long record of solidly conservative Republicanism.
Cheney’s rating from the American Conservative Union puts her at the exact Republican average. Her ratings this session from the conservative Heritage Foundation is 96%, and her average ratings from all left-wing groups combined is a measly 9% — a badge of honor for a Republican. Despite the former president’s animus against her, Cheney voted with the Trump administration’s position 93% of the time during his presidency while strenuously opposing President Joe Biden at almost every turn. (Apart from the 2020 election controversy, Cheney’s few points of opposition to Trump often included times when she sided with specific Wyoming interests or with veterans against Trump moves that most conservatives opposed.)
She has shown particular leadership not just in supporting the military, but in protecting private property rights, supporting safe production of fossil fuels, supporting veterans, and keeping the IRS from spying on taxpayers’ bank accounts. And she has been a solid voice against voter fraud, for voter ID laws, and against the Democrats’ bills to radicalize and nationalize election laws.
Why should Wyoming Republicans evict a solidly conservative Republican with deep Wyoming roots? It makes no sense. Her one political crime, apparently, is that she refused from the start to accept Trump’s bald-faced lie that the election was stolen from him, and then she refused to sweep under the rug the reality that the Capitol riot came dangerously close to causing a major tragedy. In sum, some want to punish Cheney for telling the truth.
Put yourself in her shoes. Video shows that the Capitol mob, many of whom had been chanting for the execution of Vice President Mike Pence, came within less than a minute of overtaking Pence and his family. If such a riot had occurred 12 years earlier, that vice presidential family would have been the Cheneys, and it would have been her father targeted. Of course Liz Cheney wants to ensure that nothing like that Capitol incursion ever happens again.
I have a well-established record of active work for Reaganesque conservatism for 45 years. In all that time, few officeholders have impressed me as effective, principled conservatives more than Cheney. As Greene admitted, Cheney’s friends and enemies alike all know this truth. That’s why, when push comes to shove in the Wyoming Republican primary in August, Cheney is likely again to prove a formidable candidate.
