Let’s get down to brass tacks. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming is one of the most conservative members in the House of Representatives and the highest-ranking woman in the Republican conference. She signed off on nearly 100% of President Trump’s legislative agenda and voted against impeachment.
But for members of the absurdly named House Freedom Caucus, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, that’s not good enough. During a GOP conference meeting, Freedom Caucus members Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan and Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs unloaded on Cheney for doing the unthinkable — differing with Trump on foreign policy.
Also, Cheney donated money to Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie’s primary opponent (later withdrawn), and HFC members ironically took offense. The House Freedom Caucus’s very existence is due to the Tea Party wave in the GOP ranks after the 2010 midterm elections. The concept of challenging “establishment” or “RINO” Republicans in primaries was a source of pride. To watch them blubber about primary challenges against incumbents in 2020 is comedic.
Gaetz, a member of the Own The Libs Caucus, is better known for silly stunts such as wearing a gas mask for a coronavirus supplemental appropriation vote and storming into a SCIF during the House impeachment hearings under the pretense that Democrats barred Republican members from attending (they did not). Gaetz, following the conference meeting, tweeted the following:
Liz Cheney has worked behind the scenes (and now in public) against @realDonaldTrump and his agenda.
House Republicans deserve better as our Conference Chair.
Liz Cheney should step down or be removed. #MAGA
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) July 21, 2020
Paul, whose transformation into a clone of his father Ron is nearly complete, tweeted:
We should all join @realDonaldTrump in advocating to stop our endless wars. Liz Cheney not only wants to stay forever, she’s leading the fight to try to stop him from leaving. Unacceptable. https://t.co/yCS93P3zos
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) July 21, 2020
Climbing aboard the goober train was none other than Donald Trump Jr.:
We already have one Mitt Romney, we don’t need another… we also don’t need the endless wars she advocates for. https://t.co/RDkJDA9UOZ
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 21, 2020
Forget for a moment that Don Jr.’s been a Republican for about five minutes and is more like the idiot sandwich on Hell’s Kitchen to Cheney’s Gordon Ramsay. It doesn’t take long to see the entire exercise is not merely a Festivus moment of airing grievances, but a look beyond Election Day 2020.
Whether Trump wins or loses, people are making their plays ahead of time. If Trump wins, the HFC and Gaetz will argue Cheney is not an acceptable leader within the new GOP. Should Trump lose, they want someone to blame, and it won’t be the guy with the itchy Twitter fingers.
No one knows how the election will shake out, but as it stands now, Trump is in a world of trouble. In every head to head matchup poll between Trump and Joe Biden since February, Biden leads in all but three — and two of those were a tie. Trump’s RealClearPolitics job approval average stands at 42%, and disapproval is 56%. His approval on the handling of the pandemic plummeted over the last two months.
Trump, of course, is responsible for his behavior. Despite all the opportunities to step up, the president continually proves himself incapable of carrying out his official duties in a manner that befits the office. But according to Texas Rep. Chip Roy, the real problem is Cheney offering up praise for Dr. Anthony Fauci.
To her credit, Cheney characterized the fracas as a “robust exchange of views,” but likely noted someone purposely leaked what happened as a signal to Trump. Sure enough, he paid attention:
Liz Cheney is only upset because I have been actively getting our great and beautiful Country out of the ridiculous and costly Endless Wars. I am also making our so-called allies pay tens of billions of dollars in delinquent military costs. They must, at least, treat us fairly!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 23, 2020
The entire exercise came to a head with this preposterous exchange between Lou Dobbs and Gaetz:
RINO Resistance: @RepMattGaetz says Rep. Liz Cheney has taken the Anti-Trump baton from Paul Ryan and that she should step aside for a leader who will campaign with @POTUS. #AmericaFirst #MAGA #Dobbs pic.twitter.com/q9prBANuEZ
— Lou Dobbs (@LouDobbs) July 23, 2020
Paul Ryan? Without Paul Ryan, Trump wouldn’t have had a single legislative victory his first two years in office. Ryan delivered on the tax cut package, Obamacare reform, and funded border wall construction to the tune of $5.7 billion before the president mucked up negotiations and wound up with a government shutdown instead, the blame for which immediately landed in the laps of Republicans.
Still, Trump loyalists would have one think the GOP lost the House in the 2018 mid-term elections because of Ryan not despite him. No data exists to support the accusation, but it cements the absurd idea that undying devotion to Trump saves the GOP from a likely walloping in November.
Should a blue tidal wave hit Washington, D.C., in November, Gaetz and others will have one of their scapegoats, and it will start with the “RINO” Liz Cheney.
Good luck with that.
