Looking back at the Republican efforts to elect a speaker of the House this week, former representative Liz Cheney expressed concern on Sunday about the role intimidation played in Jim Jordan’s campaign.
The Wyoming Republican warned on CNN’s “State of the Union” that “political violence and the threats of violence have now reared their head once again.” “Those have become a part of our politics in a way that they certainly never should.”
His supporters spent part of last week pressuring his Republican opponents to vote for Jordan (R-Ohio) for speaker. After Jordan lost the speakership vote three times, he gave up the fight.
Cheney claimed these methods demonstrated how awful the state of American politics had become. “That kind of acceptance of violence is completely inappropriate and dangerous in our politics,” she said.
When former President Donald Trump was trying to change the results of the 2020 election, Jordan was close with him, and Cheney expressed concern about that two weeks ago. “Jim Jordan knew more about what Donald Trump had planned for January 6 than any other member of the House of Representatives,” she stated at the University of Minnesota.
Cheney said on Sunday that she was relieved Jordan was not elected speaker, but that she hopes her former Republican colleagues will come up more forcefully against those who, like Jordan, grovel to Trump.
“I do think,” she said to host Jake Tapper, “that if we’re going to be able to get back to a place in this country where we actually have people who are advocating for the Constitution in both parties, then we’re going to need people to, you know, have some more courage than my former colleagues are showing right now and be willing to say no, I won’t accept this or stand for it.”
After serving on a House panel on January 6 led by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), Cheney, a former chair of the House Republican Conference, was defeated in Wyoming’s 2022 Republican primary. Trump supported her primary opponent, yet she has been continuously critical of him.
The former vice president declared Sunday that Trump cannot become the next president. Because if he is, he will accomplish everything he tried to do but was prevented from doing by adults in positions of authority at the Department of Justice and the White House Counsel’s Office. No barriers will be installed, and everyone is aware of this.
Cheney claimed the Republican Party has lost its course, and she has not ruled out a run for office herself.
We need a political party that stands for traditional values and the Constitution once again. She emphasised that the current Republican Party was not engaging in such policies.