The Cheneys Take on Trump

Democrats will always dislike, if not revile, Dick Cheney for the Iraq War and associated activities. But at least at the moment, Dick and his daughter Liz are two of Donald Trump’s most visible and aggressive opponents in what is his final ruinous end.

The senior Cheney orchestrated an opinion column in the Washington Post with nine of his fellow Secretaries of Defense – both serving Democratic and Republican presidents – rebuking Trump’s obstruction of the transition of power, eschewing military involvement in the disputes and accepting the election results.

“Our elections have occurred. Recounts and audits have been conducted. Appropriate challenges have been addressed by the courts. Governors have certified the results. And the electoral college has voted. The time for questioning the results has passed; the time for the formal counting of the electoral college votes, as prescribed in the Constitution and statute, has arrived.” (Jan. 3, 2021)

Liz Cheney, the day before the impeachment vote, provided the go-to quote in the House debate indicting Trump’s behavior before and during the riot.

“The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed was his doing. None of this would have happened without the President. The President could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not. There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.” (Jan. 12, 2021)

Dick Cheney is an icon of the Republican Party, who is very popular in Colorado (he won the Citizen of the West award in 1993. His wife Lynne won it in 2011). He’s retired and will likely suffer no repercussions. But Liz is an ambitious politician who currently is third in the House minority leadership, and is receiving considerable criticism from Trump acolytes and, of course, Trump himself. (At the January 6 rally he said: “We got to get rid of the weak congress people, the ones that aren’t any good, the Liz Cheneys of the world.”)

What is the Cheneys’ motivation?

Of course, Trump has disparaged establishment Republicans for years and vociferously criticized the Iraq War, a Cheney project. But the current payback is likely accompanied by a political strategy. Are they betting that once Trump is out of office it will create a party vacuum? Are they creating a platform for moderate Republicans post Trump? Is Liz Cheney positioning to be a hero with party members who want to move beyond Trump? Does her father’s involvement say to establishment Republicans that there’s political life after Trump? This story is just starting to be written.

Read Liz Cheney’s full statement here

Dick Cheney and his daughter Liz on
Fox News, 2015 | Paul Zimmerman/Getty Images