“We are in a battle for the soul of the Republican Party and I intend to win it,” said Gaetz on Thursday. “You can help me break a corrupt system. You can send a representative who really represents you, and you can send Liz Cheney home – back home in Washington, DC.”
“There has never been a greater betrayal by a president of the United States in his office and his oath to the Constitution,” said Cheney.
But Cheney’s decision sparked retaliation in Wyoming, which Trump won in 2020 with almost 70% of the vote, the highest number of all states in the country.
And more than 55,000 people have apparently signed a Change.org petition initiated by Wyoming resident Shelley Horn to “revoke” Cheney. Horn told CNN that she does not consider herself a political person – she said she “usually” does tutus and takes care of “my business” – but she couldn’t take her congresswoman’s decision.
“You just can’t say, ‘Oh, well, I need to vote with my conscience.’ No! Vote for what your people put you there to do, “Horn told CNN.” You are a Republican, you must support your party anyway. “
Dr. Taylor Haynes, a Trump supporter who lost in the 2018 Republican primary to the state’s governor, told CNN: “In my opinion, she ended up in Wyoming.”
Gaetz and other Trump allies pressured Cheney to step down from his leadership position as chairman of the Republican Party conference. Now Gaetz, who represents Florida’s western panhandle, has taken the extraordinary step of campaigning against Cheney in her own state, and the interventionist foreign policy personified by her and her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney.
The Thursday’s almost maskless crowd was full of posters in support of Gaetz – “Impeach Cheney” – and the congresswoman – “Cheney spoke the truth”.
Gather around a single candidate to challenge her, while some people applauded Bouchard. Trump’s political operation commissioned a poll this week alleging that the impeachment vote hurt Cheney’s popularity in the state.
“Liz Cheney’s good points there are only slightly worse than her father’s shooting skills,” said Trump Jr.
A source at Cheney’s office called the Gaetz event a publicity stunt, saying that “Mr Gaetz can leave his beauty bag at home. In Wyoming, men don’t wear makeup.” The source linked to a video of Gaetz talking about makeup for a television appearance.
Gaetz replied in his event that makeup “only hides the smallest imperfections of the skin. It does very little to hide the soulless corruption of Washington, DC”.
“We need a voice in Washington to continue to defend our industry,” said WMA executive director Travis Deti. “And it will be more important now than in recent years because President Biden will not be friendly with us.”
Gale Geringer, a veteran political strategist for the Wyoming Republican Party, praised Cheney’s “courage” in voting for Trump’s impeachment, despite political pressure.
“I don’t underestimate the anger that people are feeling right now. It’s huge. And Liz Cheney has become the target of that anger, but I don’t think it’s really the cause of it,” she said. “I think it’s the fear of what the Biden government will do to Wyoming. We are petrified. Our entire economy, all our jobs, our tax base have been threatened. And there is nothing we can do about Joe Biden for four years. . But we can take that fear and anger out on Liz Cheney. “
Wyoming political observers said Cheney would contain the outcry of criticism. And even some of those who agreed with Gaetz treated him with indifference.
“If he wants to come and do that, that’s fine. It makes no difference,” said Haynes. “Wyoming will do things as we always have.”
Annie Grayer of CNN contributed to this report.