I’m sure you’ve heard about the Liz Cheney saga where Republican Party “leadership” in the House of Representatives is planning to remove her as chair of the Republican Conference for her lack fealty to Donald Trump.
Kevin McCarthy and Republican Whip Steve Scalise are planning to hold a vote to oust the #3 Republican as early as next week.
Liz Cheney is paying the price for standing on her principles and daring to speak the truth about the damage done to America by the words and actions of Donald Trump following the 2020 election, and the Trump sycophants want no part of it.
After what turned out to be an “in-name-only” condemnation of Donald Trump for his role in the January 6 insurrection, McCarthy returned to his first love and took a trip down to Mar-a-Lago to kiss-and-make-up, renew their vows, and pledge their undying loyalty to one another.
Following their second honeymoon, Trump and McCarthy went to work attacking Republicans who refuse to worship at the altar of Trumpism, and one of their primary targets is Liz Cheney for her vote to impeach Donald Trump after the insurrection, and for her refusal to promote his “Big Lie” conspiracy theory about the 2020 election.
The 2020 presidential election was not stolen. Anyone who claims it was is spreading THE BIG LIE, turning their back on the rule of law, and poisoning our democratic system.
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) May 3, 2021
Don’t you find it ironic that Trump, a man who used to keep a copy of Mein Kampf on his nightstand, has adopted the propaganda tactics of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels?
Yesterday, Trump endorsed Representative Elise Stefanik, a New York “conservative” Republican — Hey, just like Trump — to replace Liz Cheney, proving beyond any doubt that he is in complete control of the Republican Party.
“Liz Cheney is a warmongering fool who has no business in Republican Party Leadership,” Trump said in a statement. “We want leaders who believe in the Make America Great Again movement, and prioritize the values of America First. Elise Stefanik is a far superior choice, and she has my COMPLETE and TOTAL Endorsement for GOP Conference Chair. Elise is a tough and smart communicator!” (emphasis mine)
Stefanik established her Trumpist credentials during Trump’s first impeachment as a member of his impeachment defense team. Her confrontational performance earned widespread praise from Republicans and Trump himself. And after the 2020 election, she supported an objection to accepting Electoral College votes for Biden from one state: Pennsylvania. After her objection, she lost her gig at Harvard when the university removed her from a university advisory committee.
As you would expect, Trump puppets McCarthy and Scalise are in lockstep with the man who bought and paid for their loyalty.
McCarthy supports Stefanik and has been in contact with Trump about making her Cheney’s replacement, according to senior Trump adviser Jason Miller. “They’ve definitely spoken recently … within the last couple of days for sure,” Miller, who spent last weekend with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club, told CNN in a text message.
Scalise is also in favor of Stefanik. In a statement yesterday by Scalise’s spokeswoman Lauren Fine, she said her boss “has pledged to support [Stefanik] for conference chair.” Fine later added, “House Republicans need to be solely focused on taking back the House in 2022 and fighting against Speaker Pelosi and President Biden’s radical socialist agenda, and Elise Stefanik is strongly committed to doing that.”
The strongest evidence behind the motives of Trump and his bought and paid for Republican Party comes to us courtesy of FiveThirtyEight. Their tracking shows Cheney voting in line with Trump’s position during his tenure more often than Stefanik did: 92.9 percent to 77.7 percent respectively.
In addition, the American Conservative Union gives Stefanik a lifetime rating of 44%, compared to a 78% rating for Cheney, while Heritage Action gives Stefanik a 48% lifetime score compared to 80% lifetime score for Cheney.
Heck, even the Trump-leaning Conservative Review Liberty Score gives Cheney a 62% while giving Stefanik a 36%.
Here’s something I’m sure Trump, McCarthy, and Scalise don’t want you to know about “conservative” Stefanik; she was one of just eight Republicans to support the Equality Act in 2019. The Equality Act is the pro-LGBT/anti-religious liberty legislation that makes sexual orientation and transgenderism protected classes under the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
I’m Never Trump/Never GOP, which means I have no love for anyone involved in the Liz Cheney saga. What I do love, however, are conservative values, which is something Donald Trump and his bought and paid for Republican Party know nothing about.
And that leads me to my greatest frustration — the complete lack of conservative principles from those who claim to be conservative.
We’ve known ever since Mitch McConnell promised to “crush” conservatives during the 2014 midterms that the Republican Party had abandoned conservatism — an objective that received Trump’s full support during his presidency.
In the Age of Trump, we’ve watched as faux-conservatives replaced conservatism with Trumpism and Nationalism, with Republican presidential hopefuls like Ron DeSantis and Josh Hawley making this replacement key to their 2024 aspirations.
Over the past four years, Trumpism has also consumed the so-called conservative media, and it has destroyed the gospel of Jesus Christ via the Fellowship of the Pharisees. And it’s getting worse even with Trump out of office.
Yesterday, Steve Deace of BlazeTV spent the first part of his show promoting the “Big Lie,” and during his third hour (for subscribers only, so I didn’t hear it), he discussed the results of a poll he conducted to find out if his listeners wanted Trump or DeSantis on the ticket in 2024.
We know conservatism has suffered a great deal of damage over the past four years at the hands of Trump and his bought and paid for Republican Party, the Fellowship of the Pharisees, and the faux-conservative media — and it’s only getting worse.
So, as the Liz Cheney saga continues to play out, remember who’s behind the attacks and what their motivations are . . . and what they are not.
David Leach is the owner of the Strident Conservative. He holds people of every political stripe accountable for their failure to uphold conservative values, and he promotes those values instead of political parties.
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