Kevin McCarthy Publicly Ridiculed By Liz Cheney Over Speaker Fight

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Former GOP Congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who just recently officially left her post in the House after earlier losing a Republican primary race to Trump-backed opponent Harriet Hageman, joined those publicly speaking out this week as Republicans struggled through what turned out to be more than a dozen votes to even elect a House Speaker.

The chamber was largely procedurally paralyzed until it completed the step, but despite high levels of support among Republicans for House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy, the incoming Republican majority in the chamber was small enough that under a couple dozen members opposing McCarthy dragged him below the level of support he needed. That went on for days, with Democrats often closer to solving the problem of getting the House moving, since their candidate was (until close to the end) receiving more votes, although not the overall majority needed.

“Ronald Reagan taught us that weakness is provocative,” Cheney said on Twitter in response to reports about cuts to defense spending that were among the negotiating chips as McCarthy tried to lock down the needed GOP support. “China and Russia are watching. If @GOPLeader agreed to weaken our national defense for his own personal gain, that will be his legacy, and our nation will suffer.” Well, his legacy already wasn’t great, even in terms of basic political aptitude. The last time a vote for Speaker went to more than one ballot was a century ago.

Cheney also highlighted previous revelations about Trump’s reliance on his Republican allies in Congress in response to a clip of McCarthy effusively thanking Trump for his support during his campaign for Speaker. ““Just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen.” Donald Trump to the Acting Attorney General and Acting Deputy AG. December 27, 2020,” as Cheney quoted. They’re a clearly corrupt pairing. Although it eventually potentially had a role in pushing the remaining Republican holdouts to change their stance, Trump’s support initially didn’t do much. He posted his endorsement on Truth Social before voting resumed on Wednesday, the second day of the race. It was days later when it concluded.

Check out Cheney’s posts below: