In a new video — evidently an ad in New Hampshire, in addition to its availability online, former GOP Congresswoman Liz Cheney outlines some of the threats exemplified by what Donald Trump has already done in the rhetorical public eye and insists on him never again regaining presidential power.
When still in office, Cheney was one of the very few Republicans in nationally prominent elected positions who rejected Trump’s nonsense about the 2020 presidential race, which Donald still claims, despite the endless tidal wave of evidence to the contrary, was somehow rigged against him. The ad from Cheney was released by her PAC The Great Task before a televised town hall planned with Trump.
“Donald Trump is the only president in American history who has refused to guarantee the peaceful transfer of power,” Cheney says in the video, which also features footage from the Capitol riot directly incited by the lies Trump told about the 2020 presidential race and Joe Biden’s election victory. “He lost the election, and he knew it. He betrayed millions of Americans by telling them the election was stolen… He mobilized a mob to come to Washington and march on the Capitol. Then he watched on television while the mob attacked law enforcement, invaded the Capitol, and hunted the vice president… Today, he celebrates those who attacked our Capitol… Donald Trump is a risk America can never take again.”
Also while still in her Congressional seat, Cheney joined other members of the House committee that investigated the Capitol riot in recommending criminal charges for Trump tied to what happened, which didn’t end with the violence that enveloped the Capitol. Trump also helped lead a campaign to delegitimize the outcome of the presidential race through machinations in the courts and legislatures. How differently would the day have ended if Mike Pence, or whoever else had been in that position, decided to actually go along with Trump’s ambitions? Even if the court system eventually mandated action, how long would that take, and what political — and potentially security-involving — chaos would the country face until the crisis was resolved? What mechanisms even exist for literally forcing the necessary levels of action to advance the election’s outcome if critical players just refused?
Watch below:
