Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) tore into her GOP primary challengers and Donald Trump himself at the conclusion of a recent debate in the ongoing Republican primary for the House seat Cheney currently holds. She characterized her competition as willing to violate their oaths of office and depicted Trump as out-of-touch with basic conservatism (among his other problems).
Cheney commented:
‘I think it’s important for people to know that I believe that the most conservative of conservative principles is fidelity to our Constitution. In Wyoming, we ride for the brand. And our brand is the United States Constitution… I will never put party above my duty to the country. I will never put party above my duty to the Constitution. I swore an oath under God, and I will abide by that oath. I won’t say something that I know is wrong simply to earn the votes of people, to earn political support. That’s what the voters of Wyoming deserve. That’s what the voters of Wyoming demand. That’s the kind of respect that we owe the voters of this great state.’
Could Cheney’s challengers say the same? Cheney’s most prominent opponent is Harriet Hageman, who has Trump’s endorsement and has gotten behind deception about the last presidential race. When challenged by Cheney to do so during the debate, Hageman refused to acknowledge the 2020 election wasn’t, in fact, stolen. Cheney, of course, has been consistently opposed to lies from the former president about the integrity of the last presidential election. Cheney isn’t some kind of secret liberal — she’s just unwilling to compromise on the foundational principles at issue here. It’s a matter of basic reality. For acknowledging such a thing, Cheney has been turned basically into a pariah across much of the GOP. In Wyoming, Cheney added:
‘If we embrace the lies of Donald Trump, if we tell the people of Wyoming something that is not true, we will soon find ourselves without the structure and the basis and the framework of our constitutional republic. If we don’t abide by the Constitution when it is politically inconvenient, then we will not have the Constitution as our shield when we need to defend our First Amendment rights and our Second Amendment rights.’
It was after that point when Cheney said that voters should look elsewhere on the debate stage if they’re interested in a candidate open to violating their oath of office. Polling that’s been conducted has given Hageman a significant lead over Cheney, although there’s still more than a month until Election Day in the primary race in which Cheney is hoping to hold onto her seat, and things could certainly change. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), another prominent opponent within the GOP to Trump’s lies, is retiring, and recently, Rep. Tom Rice (R-S.C.) — who, like Cheney and Kinzinger, voted for Trump’s impeachment after the riot — lost his primary. Watch Cheney’s comments below:
.@Liz_Cheney: "I will never put party above my duty to the Constitution. I swore an oath under God and I will abide by that oath. I won't say something that I know is wrong, simply to earn the votes of people, to earn political support." pic.twitter.com/XImssdWVJc
— CSPAN (@cspan) July 1, 2022
