Just Because Donald Trump Is a Villain, That Doesn’t Make Liz Cheney a Hero

Last night, Republican Rep. Liz Cheney lost her Wyoming primary election in a landslide defeat by her Trump-endorsed challenger Harriet Hageman.

Hageman has, as the New York Times put it, “a track record in Wyoming of fierce advocacy on issues particularly relevant to the state’s ranchers”—namely, shutting down environmentalist advocacy and fighting federal protections of land, water and endangered species—but ultimately, it’s hard to see Cheney’s massive loss as being anything but punishment for her indictment of Donald Trump.

Cheney was one of just 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach Trump, and all but two of those Republicans have either lost their reelection campaigns or decided to retire rather than face what seems to be inevitable defeat. She further angered her party and Trump loyalist voters when she signed on to join the January 6 commission. She was officially censored by the Republican Party and removed from her leadership position as the chairwoman of the Republican Conference.

Over the last year or so, there’s been a lot of praise for Cheney coming from Democrats and mainstream media, celebrating her willingness to stand up to Trump, and her choice to stick to her principles in the face of immense pressure. Leading up to and now after her inevitable primary defeat, there’s already talk of her possibly running for President—an idea that’s being treated favorably by a number of so-called liberal news outlets.

While it is encouraging that there are a few Republicans who refuse to cave to the cult of Trump, it’s also important to remember that despite her opposition to Trump and Trumpism, Liz Cheney still sucks.

Who is Liz Cheney and why does she suck?

Cheney, of course, is the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, who led the country into an unnecessary, racist, and excessively cruel war based on lies and hysteria. In recent years, Liz Cheney has defended her warmonger father, even trying to paint him as a #Resistance ally, saying he is “deeply troubled” by the state of the Republican Party post-Trump.

But even removed from her familial legacy of power-hungry destruction, Liz Cheney is awful all on her own and her voting record reflects that.

Cheney recently tried to claim that she’d come around on her lifelong history of homophobia but just this year voted against the Equality Act, which would extend necessary protections to LGBTQ+ people. She also voted against the Inflation Reduction Act—Biden’s sweeping social spending bill addressing climate change, healthcare, and more—the Voting Rights Act, the Equal Rights Amendment, the George Floyd Act to combat racist policing tactics, and much more. And that’s because while she might not like Trump, she sure does love much of what he stands for.

Liz Cheney doesn’t care about the American people, she cares about norms and niceties. Trump didn’t ruin the Republican Party, he just cost them the ability to oppress people quietly.

(image: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

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Vivian Kane

Vivian Kane (she/her) is the Senior News Editor at The Mary Sue, where she's been writing about politics and entertainment (and all the ways in which the two overlap) since the dark days of late 2016. Born in San Francisco and radicalized in Los Angeles, she now lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where she gets to put her MFA to use covering the local theatre scene. She is the co-owner of The Pitch, Kansas City’s alt news and culture magazine, alongside her husband, Brock Wilbur, with whom she also shares many cats.

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