January 6 Committee Chair Liz Cheney (R-WY) is risking her career to defend our nation’s democracy. At the same time, her fellow Republicans have cowed under desks and behind closed doors, afraid or unwilling to do their jobs. Wednesday evening Cheney called them out. Choose, either be loyal to an autocratic, unhinged Donald Trump or our nation’s Constitution.
She appeared at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute Wednesday evening for the Time for Choosing speaker event. She noted that the GOP would find it “painful” for her party to discover Trump as a central figure in the January 6 failed coup, according to The LA Times:
‘We have to choose because Republicans cannot both be loyal to Donald Trump and loyal to the Constitution.’
The House GOP punished her for joining the Select Committee by removing her from its leadership. Instead of taking on a defeated demeanor, she stood strong in her condemnation of the ex-president saying that he was “irrational” and “dangerous.” Cheney knew more than most of them about Trump’s culpability during the January 6 insurrection. Then, she turned her eyes upon the Republicans, calling them “willing hostages:”
‘As the full picture is coming into view with the January 6 committee, it has become clear that the efforts Donald Trump oversaw and engaged in were even more chilling and threatening than we could have imagined.’
The Wyoming representative remained positive about America’s hopes for the future. She directed her male colleagues to follow young women’s examples, because these women are well aware of the January 6 menace the country faces. In a great line, Cheney said:
‘These days, for the most part, men are running the world, and it is really not going that well.’
Cheney pointed at the group of men in the West Wing “many years older” and “hiding.” This even as Cassidy Hutchinson stepped forward:
‘Her superiors, men many years older, a number of them are hiding behind executive privilege, anonymity and intimidation. But her bravery and her patriotism yesterday were awesome to behold.’
When the Select Committee interviewed Chief of Staff Mark Meadows’ “right-hand,” people around the nation stood up and took the danger seriously. Her courage was apparent as was the jeopardy she faced from Trump supporters.
The vice-chair said that the young woman begged the GOP to put the country before Trump, to be true to their oaths, to do their jobs:
‘Ultimately, that is what our duty as Americans requires of us. That we love our country more, that we love her so much, that we will stand above politics to defend her.’
As a mother of five, Cheney was especially close to one witness. Hutchinson, 25 at the time, testified under oath that both her boss and the former president were well aware of the plans for the riot.
Hutchinson spoke about Trump demanding the “mags” meaning the magnetometers, also called metal detectors, be removed. This in spite of the many varied weapons the crowd carried, including handguns, rifles, and even AK-47s, a gas-operated assault rifle. Its only value was killing humans.
The GOP exercised its revenge:
‘It also came down hard on her for voting to impeach the ex-president. Trump backed her primary contender in hopes of knocking her out of her representative chair. And, indeed, she has fallen behind her challenger, according to the polls.
The vice-chair called Trump “a domestic threat that we have never faced before,” The New York Times reported.
Cheney may lose in the short term, but history will call her a hero.
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