If one were writing a list of “Things Republicans don’t care about,” the item “What is Liz Cheney up to?” might be one of the first things on that list. But Cheney herself shows no signs of being relegated to political obscurity. She recently formed a Political Action Committee (PAC) called “The Great Task,” which task is apparently ensuring that presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump is denied a second term.
At The Hill, staff writer and co-author of The Hill’s Campaign Report newsletter, Caroline Vakil, has some thoughts on what Cheney may intend to do.
Cheney has vowed that she’ll do whatever it takes to keep Trump from returning to the White House. She has left the door open to running an independent bid and recently launched her political action committee, the Great Task, after Nikki Haley dropped her long-shot primary challenge against Trump.
At the same time, she has said she won’t be a spoiler third-party candidate if it helps Trump — leaving some Democrats curious, even hopeful, she’ll publicly endorse Biden instead.
It’s unlikely that her third-party candidacy would do anything but help Trump; she may well draw some votes from moderate Republicans and independents. Given her recent history and the animosity a majority of Republicans seem to feel towards her, and especially given Joe Biden’s increasingly obvious physical and mental decline and cratering approval ratings, it’s more likely that she will draw more left-leaning moderates and Democrats who can’t stomach another four years of this Weekend at Bernie’s presidency.
What’s really interesting is that at least one Democratic strategist, according to Caroline Kakil, is on record as welcoming a Cheney endorsement for Joe Biden.
“If you had asked me 20 years ago, whether I thought it was a really good idea for Democrats to team up with a Cheney, I would have told you that you were drinking something,” said Democratic strategist Jennifer Holdsworth. “But in this day and age, I think the more democracy-focused folks we have working towards the same goal, the better.”
Holdsworth said she would “welcome” a Cheney endorsement despite their policy differences and Cheney’s track record on issues such as women’s rights, while also acknowledging such a move would complicate the former congresswoman’s future political ambitions.
That last sentence begs the question, “What future political ambitions?” Because, after her performance on the January 6th Committee and her absolute trouncing by Harriet Hageman in the 2022 Wyoming Congressional primary, honestly, Liz Cheney has no political future — at least, not as a Republican.
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Indeed, the warmest accolades Liz Cheney is receiving these days seem to be coming from Democrats.
“That’s up to Liz, but she clearly has been a defender of democracy and someone who is sounding the alarm about how dangerous Donald Trump is. I’m comfortable if that’s the role that she occupies,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), who served with her on the House panel investigating the Capitol riot, when asked what role he believed she should play in the 2024 race.
“I think her continuing to talk about Donald Trump being a threat to democracy is enough,” the California Democrat added.
The irony in that statement is palpable: a whine about Trump being a “threat to democracy” from a member of the party that is trying to thwart democracy by having their opposition removed from the ballot in as many places as possible.
Vakil ends her piece with another glowing recommendation for Liz Cheney — again, from a Democrat:
“You don’t have to always put on the same jersey to be on the same team. And I think that there are ways that [anti-Trump Republicans] can play ball without wearing our jersey,” Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright said. “Because it truthfully could, again, have unintended consequences if they were to do so.”
It’s time Liz Cheney abandoned the pretext and changed her registration to Democrat. Every effort she is making right now is aimed at denying a Republican victory in this fall’s presidential election. Like him or not, Donald Trump will, barring some disaster, be the Republican candidate on the ballot in November, and it is baffling to see how anyone to the political right of Che Guevara could prefer a second term of Joe Biden — or Kamala Harris, or indeed anyone the current crop of Democrats could produce — to a second Trump term.
Liz Cheney is, of course, free to do as she sees fit. But she’s not fooling anyone. Not anymore.
