It would be wrongheaded for the Republican caucus in the House of Representatives to remove Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney from her leadership post. It would also be monumentally counterproductive for the Republican Party’s political health, for it would signal that the party is a small tent rather than a big one, intolerant rather than tolerant, and more interested in inflicting punishment than in repairing the damage.
Intraparty plotters would further rip a party that must unify against a new leftist administration. They also would reinforce the image propagated by the Left of Republicans as a party of Jacobins and a failed revolution that eats its own, rather than a party of sober-minded statesmen serving the public.
Cheney has done an excellent job as Republican Conference chairwoman. Leaders shouldn’t be purged because they vote their conscience on subjects in which reasonable people can disagree. Any purge attempt would be a divisive distraction from Republicans’ pressing imperative to work against ill-advised Biden administration initiatives as they arise and to promote constructive alternatives. A party cannibalizing itself to enforce loyalty to a former president is too backward-looking to promote alternatives effectively.
The main job of the conference leader is to coordinate “messaging” for the Republican congressional agenda. Cheney does this very well, and she also carries the message effectively herself. On camera, she is clear, concise, and conservative, and she offers solid substance. She was one of the first Republicans to appreciate the seriousness of the coronavirus. She organized effective events against late-term abortions, for better treatment for military families, in defense of the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms, and for small-business relief, among other things.
It has frequently been hard in recent years for congressional Republicans to get their message to the public amid the din and distractions generated by former President Donald Trump. But Cheney’s leadership helped make it happen. As a consequence, the GOP gained more than a dozen House seats in 2020. And far from being a thorn in Trump’s side, Cheney was tremendously effective in highlighting the unfairness and pure partisanship of House Democrats during Trump’s first impeachment.
Cheney’s main sin, in the eyes of the would-be purgers, was issuing a strong statement in favor of impeaching Trump after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and then joining nine other Republicans who voted to impeach.
There are legitimate differences about the timing and substance of the second impeachment, and indeed, 45 senators voted to declare it unconstitutional, which, too, is a live issue. But Trump’s postelection conduct was egregious, whether or not one thinks his trial after leaving office is worthwhile or constitutionally proper. It is certainly within the bounds for a Republican to conclude that he deserves to be punished for it. Cheney set out her position as a vote of conscience, without evangelizing or putting pressure on other Republicans to join her. Republicans must, as a conference, be able to accept such conscientious disagreement.
Reporting has shown that some of those ransacking the Capitol chanted for then-Vice President Mike Pence’s execution and came within a minute of catching him and his family as they were evacuated across a Capitol hallway. Cheney, the daughter of a former vice president, understands the security threats facing the occupant of an office once held by her father, and she cannot be expected to do anything other than take that threat with grave seriousness.
Even those who disagree with her should be able to understand Cheney’s view that Trump’s conduct was impeachable when he blasted his own vice president, told the mob to march to the Capitol, and then, after the Capitol had been breached, tweeted that Pence was a “coward.”
The strongest political rather than moral argument against purging Cheney is that the effort will further divide a Republican Party already suffering massive problems in suburbia and among young voters and minorities. It should be mission-critical for Republicans to add new voters to the Trump base, not to divide suburbia further from workers by zealously punishing every breach of pro-Trump orthodoxy. Polls show a significant majority of people favor making Trump ineligible for future office. It makes no sense to make it a litmus test for leaders to oppose a position held by 57% of the public.
Polls aside, parties in opposition to those in power, as Republicans are now, can survive only by focusing fire on their opponents, not on each other. The old adage to “divide and conquer” means to divide the other guys, not one’s own side. It is normal for a defeated party to turn inward, but it can grow and attract support only when it emerges from that bitter and galling phase.
