The Republican Party is now struggling with its post-Trump future, and some elected officials, like Gaetz, are positioning themselves as bearers of their brand by attacking other Republicans like Cheney, who hope to overcome this. Republican leaders have warned that the destructive struggle hurts the party.
“I have a competitive view for republicanism,” Gaetz told reporters this week. “I believe that we must embrace the spirit and style of President Trump.”
Cheney, the House’s third Republican, was one of only 10 Republicans to vote for the former president’s impeachment. In a statement, Cheney blamed Trump for the violence on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6 – including the deaths of five people – saying he “summoned”, “mounted” and “lit the flame for this attack”.
“There has never been a greater betrayal by a president of the United States in office and his oath to the constitution,” said the Wyoming Republican.
But Cheney’s decision sparked retaliation in her deeply conservative home state, as Gaetz and other Republicans pressured her to resign her leadership position as president of the Republican Party conference. Most Republicans still support the former president and 72% of Republicans continue to believe his lie that President Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election due to electoral fraud, according to a recent survey by Monmouth University.
A Republican state senator, Anthony Bouchard, announced a 2022 campaign against Cheney. More than 50,000 people apparently signed a Change.org petition to “revoke” Cheney. Donald Trump Jr., son of the former president, tweeted, “with Republicans like Liz Cheney, who need Democrats?” And the Wyoming Republican State Party issued a statement saying, “There was not a time during our term when we saw this kind of protest from our Republican colleagues, with the anger and frustration palpable in the comments we received.”
“Our phone has not stopped ringing, our email is filling up and our website has had more traffic than at any time before,” the statement said. “The consensus is clear that those arriving at the Party strongly disagree with Mr Cheney’s decision and actions.”
Gaetz said Cheney’s “main task” is to “get the message across” from his Republican colleagues in the House.
“Most members of the Republican conference do not believe that Liz Cheney speaks for them,” he said.
A source at Cheney’s office called the Gaetz event a publicity stunt. The source said 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.
Cheney’s allies came to his aid. Former Republican Governor Matt Mead joined a local newspaper article praising his “courage” in fulfilling his constitutional duty “regardless of the personal or political cost it may pay”. And Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso
defended Cheney as an effective member of your state’s parliamentary delegation.
“Wyoming doesn’t like it when outsiders come into our state and try to tell us what to do,” said Amy Edmonds, a former state legislator and former communications director for Cheney.
Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy was mistaken about his level of support for Cheney, saying she should remain in the lead, but had “concerns” about her decision.
Gaetz said the only conversation he had with McCarthy about his efforts to expel Cheney was after a recent television interview, when McCarthy asked him to stop referring to Cheney and others he disagreed by name due to the increase in death threats. against members of Congress.
“I dropped references to people by name for about a day or two,” said Gaetz. “But after Liz became more, I think, problematic in her divergence from the perspective of the conference, it became untenable not to identify her as the key internal resistance within the Republican Party to the First American Vision.”
Wyoming political observers said Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, would contain the outcry of criticism.
“There will be resistance, but I don’t think it’s something she can’t survive,” said Wyoming University professor of political science, Jim King.
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