Liz Cheney Likely to be Ousted from GOP Leadership, Stefanik Waiting in the Wings

Rep. Liz Cheney appears to be heading for the exits of GOP leadership. NY Congresswoman Elise Stefanik is next up, and already getting the mainstream media treatment.

Summary

The House GOP is set to vote this Wednesday on whether to bounce Trump critic Liz Cheney from her position as GOP Conference Chair, the number 3 position among House Republicans.

• Reporter Byron York claims the reason Cheney is facing the wrath of colleagues is her refusal to move on from the Jan. 6attack on the Capitol and her resulting vote to impeach then-President Trump, which peers and observers believe have been used as a cudgel against them by the mainstream media.
• But Cheney is not the only Republican politician still facing backlash for their vote to impeach: Ohio Congressman Anthony Gonzalez was censured by his state’s Republican Party for going along with “an unconstitutional, politically motivated process that served no purpose”, referring to the second impeachment of Trump.
• Attention has already turned to Cheney’s likely successor, as New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik is getting the biographical treatment from the media, which is chronicling what is being characterized as an “evolution” from Trump-skeptic to Trump-supporter.
• Stefanik will likely only stay as GOP Conference Chair for the remainder of this Congress, as her public ambition is to take over as Ranking Member, or Chair if Republicans take back the House, of the Education and Labor Committee.
• Even before becoming Conference Chair, Stefanik is wading into high-profile political skirmishes, bashing “Big Tech” and pushing for the repeal of legal protections of online platforms after her communications director was temporarily banned from Twitter, which claims it was “an error.”

• Despite her public battle with former President Trump and his allies, Rep. Cheney is feeling little love from the left, as New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd ripped her for being related to former Vice President Dick Cheney, who she says “created the template for Trump’s Big Lie”, referring to the Iraq War.
• CNN’s Maeve Reston capitalized on the saga by mischaracterizing the criticism of Cheney, saying “independent thought” is no longer welcome in the Republican Party, and painting Stefanik as a Trump sycophant.
• The Washington Post’s newsroom gave further credence to the portrayal of Liz Cheney as a righteous crusader of truth, allowing unnamed sources to throw the entire Republican congressional campaign arm under the bus while revealing Liz Cheney surreptitiously organized a group of former defense department heads for a broadside op-ed against President Trump.

• RedState highlighted the Washington Post revelation about the op-ed Cheney organized, criticizing her for using the Washington Post repeatedly to target fellow Republicans, while another piece by RedState says replacing Cheney with a more moderate politician should raise eyebrows as well.
• Townhall wrote about Mollie Hemingway’s criticism of Cheney, saying not only can she not let go of Trump post-presidency, but that she failed to stand up against mainstream media misinformation about the 2016 election and the “Russian bounty” story which turned out to be false.
• The Federalist got Trump’s impeachment lawyers on record, saying to varying degrees of ferocity that Cheney’s actions and focus on Trump is not good for the party while the Biden administration is pushing for “radical policy changes.”

Author’s Note

As has been said before, when the leadership of the minority is talking about anything but taking back the majority, it is detrimental to the cause. Additionally, conservatives and Republicans must always be aware of the minefields and traps laid by the mainstream media and liberal activists all too willing to report on, amplify, and make wider any cleavages in Republican unity. For those like Cheney, there may be avenues to pursue to speak their mind (whether they’re wrong or right is immaterial to this consideration) while preventing the mainstream media from taking political advantage of it. Rep. Cheney’s repeated collaboration with one of the leaders of the liberal and mainstream media makes it clear there is no interest in doing so.

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© Dallas Gerber, 2021