During an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, Maryland Republican Governor Larry Hogan spoke out in defense of Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) after House Republicans recently voted her out of a position in party leadership. House Republicans undertook that move after Cheney consistently refused to go along with the lies from former President Donald Trump and some of his top allies about the integrity of the 2020 presidential election, which Trump has consistently claimed without any legitimate supporting evidence was somehow rigged for Biden.
Hogan characterized the vote to get Cheney out of her now former leadership position as “kind of doubling down on failure.” He also compared the move to “insanity.” As he put it, discussing Cheney’s ousting:
‘I think it was a mistake. Liz Cheney is a solid conservative Republican who voted with the president 93 percent of the time. I thought she just stood up and told the truth and said exactly what she thought, and to ostracize somebody or remove them from their leadership position is crazy. It’s kind of doubling down on failure. We’ve lost the White House, the House, and the Senate over the past four years, and to continue to do the exact same thing and expect a different result is the definition of insanity.’
Hogan also addressed Trump after host Dana Bash asked whether he agrees with Cheney’s assessment that the former president poses an “ongoing threat to American democracy.” As Hogan put it:
‘I think he’s toxic for the Republican Party and for the country, and I think we’ve got to find a way to get the Republican Party back to the party of Lincoln and Reagan, get back to the more traditional “big tent” party that can appeal to a majority of people.’
Check out Hogan’s comments below:
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan thinks it was “a mistake” for House Republicans to oust Rep. Liz Cheney from leadership: “To ostracize somebody, remove them from their leadership position, is crazy … It's kind of doubling down on failure” #CNNSOTUhttps://t.co/QhsRh8lXmV pic.twitter.com/Bcqm99lH8K
— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) May 16, 2021
Republicans across the party have consistently provided space for falsehoods about the election and, relatedly, the riot at the Capitol in January that unfolded under the explicit pretense of those election lies. At a recent Congressional hearing, Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) — who, like other members of Congress, was at the Capitol amid the violence — compared what unfolded to a “normal tourist visit.” In reality, Trump supporters who were there violently assaulted police officers and murderously hunted top government leaders — it was nothing like a “normal tourist visit.” The Republican Party is currently harboring serious delusion.
