“Is there a Liz Cheney in the house?” (Silence) “Is there a Liz Cheney in the house?” asked the voice a second time over the loudspeaker, obviously exasperated at the absence of a response, probably indicating that no such swamp creature was in the vicinity.
It’s hard to believe, but it’s now reached the latter part of March on the 2024 calendar, the crucial presidential election is about seven and a half months away and hardly anyone has heard a peep from the mouth of arguably America’s most notorious anti-Trumper, the woman who practically single-handedly took a remarkably illusory stand against a political movement leader, lost her job and most of her friends in the process and yet has increased markedly in stature with her former Democrat political enemies.
Liz Cheney stands alone alright, and few, if any, sympathize with her.
Cheney’s relative silence is even more noteworthy considering the primary races in both parties are now determined and the nominees for the Democrats and Republicans look exactly like they did four years ago, senile president Joe Biden for the liberals and Donald J. Trump for the GOP, a result (at least when it comes to Trump) that Liz vowed to prevent from happening.
Liz and the world watched as potential Trump challenger after potential Trump challenger dropped out of the race after failing to dent the armor of the MAGA movement train – or even to slow its momentum. Even the typically friendly-to-Democrat polls are leaning Trump’s way, which must accelerate Cheney’s sense of anxiety. What if Donald Trump wins this year’s election and becomes president again? What would be Liz’s legacy? Where are all the democracy saviors when they’re needed most?
Never fear, there are rumors and rampant speculation that Cheney is primed to awaken from her self-imposed political hibernation and reemerge on the scene, nastier and more vindictive than ever. Could it be so? In an article titled “Cheney fuels speculation about her next move”, Caroline Vakil reported at The Hill:
“Cheney has vowed that she’ll do whatever it takes to keep Trump from returning to the White House. She has left the door open to running an independent bid and recently launched her political action committee, the Great Task, after Nikki Haley dropped her long-shot primary challenge against Trump.
“At the same time, she has said she won’t be a spoiler third-party candidate if it helps Trump — leaving some Democrats curious, even hopeful, she’ll publicly endorse Biden instead…
“Cheney has said as recently as January that she is leaving the door open to a White House run. ‘I haven’t made a decision about that,’ she said on ‘The View’ in January. ‘But I think it’s really important, I mean, what you said — this election cycle, everybody has to go vote. Everybody has to go vote, and you’ve got to be willing to say, ‘Look, I’m not necessarily going to vote for the candidate who belongs to the party that I belong to, I’m going to find the candidate who I know I can trust to defend the Constitution.’”
Anyone who’s paid attention to Cheney in the period after the 2020 election understands that she’s a self-appointed interpreter and defender of the Constitution – and that she’s right about Donald Trump and everyone else in Republican-land is wrong regarding his governing bona fides. Liz has been strangely silent (at least from what I’ve heard) on the Constitution-stretching methodology of her newfound Democrat friends, but she sure butters her buns with digs about Trump.
But then again, if Liz suddenly began criticizing the Democrats in the same manner, she’d no longer be the toast of the swamp at the most prestigious gatherings of the political beautiful people. As Vakil’s article indicated, Cheney hasn’t said whether she’ll toss an endorsement bone in senile Joe Biden’s direction, but by not ruling it out, she’s discovered a means to keep her name in the news.
Think about it. Cheney herself has been out of office going on a year and a half now, doesn’t hold a high position in either party and technically isn’t even an “independent”, yet news talkers come a runnin’ whenever she hints she’s about to say something. Her face was notably absent from pundits’ shows when it was revealed last week that a major part of her January 6 witch hunt – the part where she (through Cassidy Hutchinson) accused the former president of trying to commandeer the presidential limo so as to head to Capitol Hill and take charge of the “insurrection” – was not only untrue, it was roundly rejected by several first-hand witnesses.
For someone who supposedly reveres the Constitution so much, Cheney certainly doesn’t give a crap about facts and the truth. Liz and her J6 Committee gang apparently sat on a number of interview transcripts that would’ve aided Trump’s side of the story. Is there a more corrupted “public servant” in America than Liz Cheney?
Yet Never Trumpers still love her. I laughed out loud when Vakil quoted a Republican colleague (Former Rep. Bradley Byrne) who expressed hope that Cheney would realize the true danger that Biden represents and move into Trump’s column.
What’s the old saying? Something about a snowball in hell?
To run back to Trump and the Republicans would counter everything Cheney stands for, which is revenge (for Trump’s criticism of her father’s and George W. Bush’s foreign policy) and to make as much money as she possibly can from people paying her generously to act as a thorn in Trump’s side.
After all, Trump’s roundly criticized funding the ongoing war effort in Ukraine and has also spared no disparagement of NATO, either, so Liz would be going against everything she purports to believe in by making nice with Republicans again.
At the same time, it wouldn’t be to her benefit to endorse Biden, either, though these days, the Democrat’s foreign policy leanings are probably closer to her own neoconservative philosophies. As far as I know, Cheney still considers herself an establishment-type big government “conservative”, so she’s caught in ideological no woman’s land for this year’s election.
Could Cheney still mount an 11th hour “independent” bid for president? Liz would encounter the same considerable barriers every non-Democrat or Republican faces. How would she raise enough money? How about the vital campaign infrastructure and legal defenses that parties provide? If she really thought she could be viable as a Republican, wouldn’t Liz have joined the GOP primary field and duked it out (rhetorically) alongside Nikki Haley?
In actuality, winning the 2024 election wouldn’t be her intention, but still. No, Cheney would only chance it if she were assured of damaging Trump – but then senile Joe Biden very well could win another tight election contest and there’d be the same problems for her. Tens of millions would be furious at Liz (even more so than now) and she might even lose favor with the chattering class.
The memories and fixation on January 6 are fading as it is. All Cheney has left is her singular obsession with bringing down Trump.
As a number of folks have suggested, Cheney could make a play for the “No Labels” presidential nomination, a chance to appear on a respectable number of state ballots in November and also the distinction of claiming a spot that nobody seems to want. The “No Labels” brains would likely be thrilled to have Liz, since she’s one of the highest profile political free agents still out there, a name and face that instantly engenders interest from one segment of the electorate.
The problem for “No Labels” would be finding a Democrat who would be willing to serve as Liz’s running mate. The temptation would be to draft one of Cheney’s fellow J6 committee members as her potential VP, since they’d be united in purpose and not predisposed to argue over simple things like policy issues. Virginia Democrat Elaine Lauria (who was defeated in 2022) would seemingly fit the bill – female, angry, nonsensical, Trump hater to the core, etc. – but there are others in addition.
Short of mounting the longest of long shot presidential bids, Cheney could try and impact the election by raising money for her anti-Trump PAC, continuing to make the rounds talking about obscure topics like candidates and the Constitution – or definitively endorse Biden and renounce her membership in the Republican Party.
Everyone knows Cheney spends most of her time in Virginia – couldn’t she declare her official residence in a bluer than blue Old Dominion Democrat jurisdiction and seek to make a comeback that way? There’s little doubt that Dick Cheney’s daughter has become a heroic figure to Democrats as the most desirable kind of Republican – one who delights in saying bad things about Republicans.
Besides, Liz’s dour face, negative attitude, antagonistic personality and combative disposition would fit right into the Democrat party. Going out on a limb here, couldn’t senile Joe Biden look to inspire his sagging presidential reelection run by dumping cackling Kamala Harris and substituting Liz for the current veep?
Don’t dismiss the possibility altogether. Just like a wounded animal is a dangerous animal, a Democrat in electoral peril would do anything to recover and become viable again. Biden would pretend that most Republicans believe like Liz Cheney, just as Democrats welcomed John Kasich, Cindy McCain and others to their convention in 2020.
“Democracy” is a nebulous concept at best, but Democrats think they own it. Liz Cheney believes she alone can judge who adheres to the Constitution. Arrogance abounds.
Signs indicate that Liz Cheney will soon be coming out of sequester to lend her particular brand of witchcraft to the 2024 presidential race. Democrats are anxious for Liz to spin her webs and concoct her anti-Trump potions in the belief she’s a realistic threat to Donald Trump’s effort to reunite the Republican Party. Cheney’s say-so only goes so far. Would she make a difference?
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2024 presidential election