Rep. Liz Cheney has some serious egg on her face.
The Wyoming Republican and establishment leader recently lashed out against her colleague, Rep. Thomas Massie, after the libertarian-leaning Kentucky congressman attempted to force Congress to do its job and show up for an on-the-record vote for the $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief bill that was just passed. For the apparently egregious crime of asking Cheney to show up to work — you know, just like Congress is asking millions of people in essential industries to do — she, along with other establishment Republicans such as Rep. Mike Turner, decided to donate to Massie’s primary challenger.
This wasn’t some principled stand driven by honest disagreements, it was just a vindicate way of lashing out against Massie for daring to piss off the establishment. How do we know this? Well, Cheney and Turner have both since had to request refunds for their donations to Massie’s primary challenger, Todd McMurtry, after critics highlighted racist tweets he had posted as recently as 2019.
Oops. Clearly, they didn’t exactly do rigorous research before donating.
.@Liz_Cheney ditto. https://t.co/yUBcP7pBUD
— US Rep. Mike Turner (@RepMikeTurner) April 18, 2020
Here’s how the New York Times summarized the classy past comments of Massie’s esteemed, establishment-approved challenger:
In a separate tweet, he approvingly shared a 2016 blog post subtitled ‘A Very Brief Primer on Being Alt Right,’ which condemned as ‘cowards’ people who describe themselves as conservatives and embrace a progressive agenda, saying they were afraid of being branded ‘racist, sexist, homophobic.’
‘Let’s see them start telling the truth about transsexualism being a mental illness, or about the implication of IQ disparities between different racial groups,’ the post read in part.
Let’s be clear, this isn’t “cancel culture” or digging up ancient tweets to haunt McMurtry. These are all extremely recent, and he has not sufficiently apologized for his offensive statements or clarified and rejected these beliefs.
Massie, in typical fashion, has gleefully pointed out the gross hypocrisy and negligence of Cheney and Turner backing this candidate.
“Wouldn’t it have been easier if they had just agreed to follow the Constitution, show up for work, and record the vote?” Massie wrote on Twitter, highlighting Cheney’s attempts to get her money back.
“Mike Turner doesn’t even have words for getting caught inviting racism into the party!” Massie continued in another post, putting a spotlight on Turner for requesting a refund but failing to condemn McMurtry’s racism extensively.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican, got in on the act as well, slamming Cheney’s actions.
“Liz Cheney is the GOP Conference Chair,” Gaetz tweeted. “She has [financially] supported this proudly racist candidate. She owes Republicans an explanation. Do we tolerate racism if it’s Anti-Massie?”
This entire affair is humiliating for establishment Republicans. The one upside? Maybe this latest bout of humiliation will teach GOP swamp-dwellers like Cheney to stop using smear tactics against those who question the establishment.
But this isn’t likely. Don’t hold your breath waiting on Cheney to change her ways.
