AMAC Exclusive – By Daniel Berman
It was an ominous sign for soon-to-be former U.S. Congresswoman Liz Cheney that the national press corps which traveled to Wyoming to cover her primary night chose to set up shop not in the state’s largest city, Laramie, or the capital Cheyenne, but rather in Jackson Hole. A world-famous golf and ski resort which, along with surrounding Teton County is Wyoming’s only Democratic stronghold, the press’s choice of location conveyed more of an interest in an August getaway than in what Wyoming as a whole thought of Liz Cheney. While Cheney carried Teton County by a margin of 80.9% to 18.4%, she lost the statewide vote by a margin of 66.3% to 28.9%.
The reasons for Liz Cheney’s defeat are quite simple really. Cheney aligned herself with Democrats and against her own party on a high-profile issue, and then proceeded to continue making herself the face of it, even as the January 6th process morphed into a primary Democratic line of attack against the GOP in the 2022 midterms (if it had ever been anything else).
The final numbers in the race look remarkably like the 2020 election in the state, which makes sense as the vast majority of Wyoming’s few Democrats seem to have crossed over to vote for Cheney in the GOP contest. Only a little over 7,000 votes were cast in the Democratic primary for Wyoming’s at-large House seat, whereas nearly 170,000 votes were cast in the GOP contest, an astronomical 96% of all votes cast.
The ultimate margin also reflected the 2020 result. That year, Donald Trump defeated Joe Biden by 69.94% to 26.55%, remarkably close to the 66.3% to 28.9% margin by which Cheney lost to Trump-endorsed Harriet Hageman. Nor can turnout be blamed. At 178,000, primary turnout was well over 80% of that of the 2018 general election. Cheney got her Democrats, or at least a decent portion of them. She just lost Republicans. In Wyoming, that means losing 68-27 or so.
The simplicity of the story will not stop Liz Cheney, or her allies in the media, from trying to build a greater narrative, apparently as preparation for a potential presidential campaign. They will portray Cheney as a martyr, crushed by overwhelming forces, ignoring that she massively outraised her rival and had the support of big donors and K Street. Her supporters include a “who’s who” of big finance, including Blackstone, Coinbase, Forbes, CVS, and even the National Mining Association.
Nor was Cheney crushed because she revolted on one vote. Lisa Murkowski – who voted in the Senate to convict Trump last year – also faced challengers this week, and currently leads her strongest by a margin of 44% to 41%. With a Democrat taking 6%, Murkowski will likely be a narrow favorite in November given Alaska’s complex top-four voting system. But Murkowski, after supporting impeachment, did not double and triple down by becoming a mouthpiece for Democrats in their effort to demonize every Trump voter and turn January 6th into the new 9/11.
Cheney is also not the only one who chose this path. So too did Democrats by embracing her. Consider once again her donors: Coinbase, Forbes, Blackstone, the National Mining Association. Consider even her last name, Cheney, and ask yourself why genuinely liberal voters, not “woke” ideologues, but voters who distrust the power of corporations, worry about pollution, not abstractions, and care about the elderly being scammed out of their savings would look at this list and say, “This is who our party should be identifying with?”
There are many causes for the collapse in support for the Biden administration and the Democratic party. They include policy failures across the board, the clear unfitness of the President for office, and a worsening economic and social situation the party seems indifferent to at best. At a deeper level, the Cheney drama shows that Democrats have made a strategic choice not to move to the left or right per se, but to define the breadth of their coalition by how many different elites they bring together. Democrats in D.C. and the media genuinely cannot understand why they are charged with being “far left” when they have come to embrace Dick Cheney, Bill Kristol, and other neoconservative luminaries. Does that not show how large their tent is?
The problem is that politics is not merely about how broad your invite list for parties is. If it was, then Democrats might have some claim to being inclusive of everyone willing to respect neopronouns, a major shift from the Bush-era of the mid-2000s. But as Democrats have become more inclusive of elites by simple virtue of being elites, they have become less representative of everyone else.
The major story of the 2020 election and every special election since has been Democrats losing support among previously core voter groups. Having lost working-class white voters between 2012 and 2016, they are now losing Hispanics, Asian Americans, and increasingly African American men. The unifying reason is that Democrats are making it clear they care more about Liz Cheney and her father showing up to their cocktail parties than about the thousands of Americans who died in Iraq, the tens of thousands crippled, or the trillions spent in the Middle East. Provided someone is willing to denounce Donald Trump, they are happy to embrace anyone.
It is hard to imagine one voter who was not already a Democrat who will be swung over to support the party by the endorsement of the Cheneys or their attack on Donald Trump. On the other side, it is possible to imagine countless left-leaning individuals who remember the Bush-Cheney years. Democrats may well have taken the black vote for granted when they recalled Kanye West saying, “George Bush does not care about black people,” but now those individuals who supposedly “did not care” are being feted as heroes by Democrats as black communities burn, and as their schools remain crippled post-COVID.
Liz Cheney did not bring over any new voters for Democrats from 2020 this week. But she and her father seem primed to cost them quite a few elsewhere going forward. Republicans can only hope that this is the start, not the end, of her national political career.
Daniel Berman is a frequent commentator and lecturer on foreign policy and political affairs, both nationally and internationally. He holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from the London School of Economics. He also writes as Daniel Roman.
Next up for Liz Cheney will be the Never Trumpers putting her up for a presidential run in 2024 as a Republican or Independent alternative to either Trump or DeSantis. She won’t win of course, but her objective isn’t to win. Just peel off enough people to ensure the Democrats win in 2024. She made it quite plain in her parting speech that she opposes any Republican candidate that supports anything close to the MAGA agenda. She and her financial backers are completely aligned with trying to ensure the Republican Party returns to its pre-Trump roots of “go along to get along”, “business as usual”, don’t rock the DC boat politics that dominated the Republican Party for decades. Where the only winners where the select few and the American people always ended up getting the short end of the stick. The “good old days” many Never Trumpers long for.
So I’m sure Liz Cheney will be getting a lot of TV air time on CNN, MSNBC, NBC, ABC and CBS between now and 2024. She will bad mouth any Republican that isn’t aligned with her vision and say she is trying to save the Party from itself. She will be the media darling the left trots out to criticize every Republican and Republican policy that isn’t defacto, old guard Republican Party. Yes, Liz Cheney has a lucrative future ahead of her as long as she serves their purpose.
LIZ CHENEY FOR PRESIDENT 2024!! – Nobody
l heard they are doing a remake of The Wizard of Oz. The scene where the house drops on the witch and you see the witch’s legs protruding out will now be a house that drops on three witches. Pelosi, HiIIary and Lezzy Cheney.
The newest John McCain for the fawning press. That’s all this is. Liz will be loved until she runs for President. Then the press will turn on her just like they did with McCain.
It is beyond obvious that she needs psychiatric help. Her hate has taken her to an abyss from which the only recovery is hard core counseling, most likely for the remainder of her life. Wait until she realizes Nancy is done using her.
Daughter like Father, Fat, Stupid and a War Monger, makes money off our Young Men and Women by sending them off to War, hates the Republicans because the new Republican Party tries to find peace through strength. Here is how stupid the Cheney’s are, the Eight years he was Vice President, the Dim’s trashed him and now are happy to be used by the left and will get thrown overboard when the ship starts to sink.
You can bet the only people in Wyoming who were supporting her were RINO’s.
Liz Cheney “thinks” she is more important than she really is! . . . I believe she should be brought up on charges of “TREASON” and forever relegated to the political trash heap of “has beens”! . . . Bye Liz, we’re sure going to miss you! . . . NOT!
Liz is no different then any one of them no shame,no pride no character soul for sale
I find it really sad the politicians have to buy and lie their way into government positions. SO MUCH MONEY is raised and spent by candidates for each election. With the proposed limited terms just think how much more money will be spent. Surely with all of our technology– TV, internet, newspaper (though we can’t always believe what is written) the publicity and education about candidates, there could be a way to reduce money spent for pre-election lobbying. I’m all for limited terms but there surely is a better way. All that money spent by candidates it’s no wonder our country is so in debt when the rich and the big spenders are the ones in office. The money could be used for more needed situations. And it would be nice if our elected officials, Congress and the President and the media would do what they were elected to do instead of spending all their time trying to make former President Trump go away.
Wonder what promises Biden made to Lis when he talked with her this week. I am sure he will be offering her an unelected swamp job in hopes of bringing her elist followers into his fold of American and America haters. I encourage each and everyone of her donors to dump alot more money into this election cycle. With the economy on the verge of tanking, again, thanks to utterly stupid political moves. Other more conservative businesses will be happy to replace these elist corporations in the market. Happy Desolving!
Lizzie’s net worth tripled while she was “serving the people.” Sounds like Pelosi or Biden or Obama, doesn’t it? Trump made money THEN became a politician. Swampers become politicians THEN make money (millions). I know whom I trust more!
What made her so mad? What did President Trump do to anger her so? When and how did the feud start?
It is becoming a two-party country: elites vs. peasants (variously dissed). The common man continues to be thankful God only made a few (snobs).
Liz Cheney’s father never served his county in uniform. He was granted deferments for college and then marriage. The closest he came to combat was when he ( accidentally) shot a Texas attorney while in a hunting trip in 2006. Whops!
Cheney is a democrat.
I find it extremely interesting the level of hubris the Cheney family thinks they as individuals think oof themselves. Dick Cheney has BLOOD ON HIS HANDS from our prized possessions, the military. This old evil fool needs to be reviewed for his criminal conduct over the devastation in the Middle East. He also benefited by the millions through all of his connections to entities that raped our treasury coffers. Our country will be better off when this Piece of Schiff and his delusional daughter are dead or in prison. MAGA TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP
The GOP has more Rino weeds to remove;
Cheney has a heart and soul of pure hate. If she was a true Republican and wanted Republican values she would have insisted on fair representation on the Jan 6 committee. Equal is fair
all democrats and 2 Rino is not equal representation.
I understand the politicians fighting among themselves but I don’t understand the hatred for Trump by the working class people of the United States who Trump helped so much by his policies. He was making America great again.
Cheney is no longer any factor going forward. She committed political suicide. I don’t understand how anyone could lower themselves to vote for biden. More honorable to not vote at all,
Now she is free of the encumbrances of having to pretend she is representing any constituency. She is also free to go just as far as her monumental conceit can take her. It will be gratifying to watch.
ARREST CHENEY FOR TEASON!
She is getting her just due for her treasonous acts toward her own party!
Liz will run as an independent in 2024 if Trump is the Republican nominee. Enough Rhino Republicans and Republicans who can’t get past their dislike of the Trump personality will vote for her and take away enough votes from Trump to allow the lame Democrat nominee to win. After the election Dems will ignore her for being the useful idiot.
My comment is this Administration is not and has nothing to do with Washington there are very powerful people pulling all the strings… Liz is being controlled by a Dark Force in Washington.
No ONe that I have Interviewed on my Radio Shows or Talked to in person has a different idea they all agree.. No One in America would “ON PURPOSE” turn America in to a Third World Country in less then Two Years/Overnight We the People will pretty soon be the force behind a Revelotion that the Dark Ones want to come so they can Jail and confine everyone in a Countrywide Lockdown in fear of the IRS, FBI, Homeland Security, or SWAT coming to our doors… And now they are pushing Digital Money to end the use of CASH to be put in place before the end of Biden’s Term that means that the Government has total control over your money. So Hypothically if you don’t like what they are saying they just turn your Digital account off, if you disobey their New World Order Rules they turn off your money, You want to purchase FOOD over a set money amount you won’t be able to because your only cleared to use the amount allow to be spent that week. And if you make a Mistake, Forget, or can’t pay your taxes on time, they take everything you own in payment, but to be nice if you pay up in 72 hours you can buy back your Home, your Car, and anything else they took. Yes this is on the Stove cooking in WASHINGTON you can say Nah this would never happen. Well friends who think that we’d be in such an Economy mess that was not caused by anything we did it was caused by MAGA OVER SPENDING, and the Ending of being Energy Independent and now begging Communist Countries for oil… We the people did not plan or want this to happen but the Dark Side through Cheating Ballots in an Election made this happen and people like Nancy Pelosi can buy 5 Million Dollars worth of Stock in a Company that is being given Billions from Biden which now makes Pelois’s investmant worth over 35 Million… But Heck if you don’t stand up and Fight you must be really dopey or you just think it’s all OK
She is just like her father…. Nasty Two-Faced Wolf in sheeps clothing who are actually liberals registered as Republican.
I have a difficult time admitting this becuase I do not believe in white privilege in most cases. Liz Cheney is proof of white privilege and becuase she is so stupid her father could not have been very bright which means he is an example of white privilege too.
With that is still done believe most people advance via white privilege and trailer parks prove that.
However the vheney’s clearly did.
Liz Cheney and her father are “PURE EVIL”
RINOs like this belong in their own separate tiny party—Mitt Romney should join her since they don’t represent their actual constituents but their own personal opinions and beliefs. Remember we are the undeplorables who don’t deserve to question them
Delusional backstabbing RINO.
When a congresswoman cares only about degrading a past president and cares nothing about what she can do for her country, she needs to be recalled out if congress!!
John Kennedy said it quite well “ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country”!
During Trump’s 4 years he accomplished more positive change for the people than any other US president! And he all but embarrassed the rest of congress for not being able to do what he did in that four year period.
She doesn’t recognize any of this and is doing her nasty deeds letting her emotion rule her instead of real facts! Therefore she becomes totally useless to lead anyone in our government much less the country! She should have been ridden out if town on a rail long ago, along with the other turncoats!
What they have to say might mean something if they had factual information to back up the characterizations they make concerning Trump. What any truly conservative American can appreciate were the policies of the administration which were far better for the country than what we have endured from both parties over the past 50 years. The elitists are, firmly, committed to interventionism, the attrition of the nation’s young people, foreign alliances that do not benefit us at all, and wholesale abortion for the mistakes of unwanted pregnancies. These things are all economics and, like the waste of the space industry, do nothing at all to ameliorate the conditions of the homeless, the drug-addicted and the chronically poor. They have no sense of what the rule of law ought to be.
She got what she deserved her only job she thought was to go after Trump, she did nothing to make this country better or for her state she represents She should retire that would be her best bet more should be overturned, many think they only job is to go after President Trump more states should get rid of those that are so corrupt not working for there well being from there state. I do not stand alone there are many more sick and tired that every word that come out of Washington Dems is nothing but Trump they live every day with just pure hate for him they do nothing to make this country better time for a change up there this November time for a Red wave to take over.
I love it when a rino incumbent loses, especially an arrogant one.
The RNC needs to plan now to neutralize her. We need another Lee Atwater to show that she is a neo-Con Establishment hack who resented Trump’s attack on the Establishment and the threat he posed to her wealth and power. She will run as an Independent and take votes away from the Repub candidate, unless the RNC gets tough and finally plays like Dems.
Liz Cheney is an elitist who chose the GOP label because that is where the votes are in Wyoming. Without her dad’s name, I doubt she would ever have run for Congress.
Nancy Pelosi chose RINO Liz to be on the JAN 6th witch hunt, hoping that gesture would show the Speaker’s fake Impartiality.
Wyoming’s common sense voters saw through it all, as I hope a majority of our nation can on November 8th.
Evidently this arrogant, spiteful, selfish woman does NOT understand what REPRESENTATION is! The majority of Wyoming citizens, she is suppose to be working for, sent her a clear message! This women is not listening and, STILL DOESN’T GET IT! Along with a lot of others! If they will not do their job and represent, then they are derelict in their duties and DO NOT belong in office. The Constitution says a, REPRESENTATIVE Republic, NOT, an ACTIVIST democracy! We want REPRESENTATION! We The People Are The Government, Sovereign and Free!
Unfortunately for Liz Cheney, she like 90% of elected officials, “forget” that they were elected to “represent and serve” their constituents and not themselves! A clear message has been sent from the Republican voters that I hope is an example to EVERY and ALL “elected” officials that We the People AREN’T going to just shake our heads anymore and allow them to ignore OUR representative rights and views! . . . REPRESENT US and OUR VIEWS or go back to honestly earning a living as a regular citizen. We NEED term limits to help guarantee that the People are better represented so! . . . Enough of these “career” politicians!
I enjoy the fact-based reporting and conservative point of view reflected in your reporting and opinion pieces. Thanks be to God for faces which turn to Him as darkness attempts to destroy our Republic founded in Jesus Christ.
One down, hundreds to go. Will they catch on before being voted out? Doubtful.
Liz Cheney and her father who was responsible for thousands of Americans who died in Iraq, tens of thousands crippled, and trillions $$$ spent on the Middle East. All the while, the Cheney’s became super RICH! They take blood money. Both Cheney’s are disgusting people!
The ego! She actually compares herself to Abraham Lincoln? Nothing like being voted out of office by 30 points and insinuating you’ll run nationally in 2024… she’d have better luck running as a Democrat. The average Wyoming didn’t want you… get a clue.
Let’s all send Lizzy some flowers, well maybe not flowers let’s send her Stink Weed!
Jackson Hole is beautiful…too bad it’s being ruined by too many California democrats; the same as Montana. We can only hope they freeze their a–es off; but that’s unlikely.
She’ll be another version of Slithery KKKlinton, and never go away. We will be stuck listening to/looking at her forever.
Another turn coat tyrant (RINO) from the republican party. She doesn’t have the guts to make the switch to the socialist/marxist/democrat party. She thinks she can destroy the republicans from the inside by being one of them. Despicable hypocrite!
Goodbye RINO Cheney. And Goodbye to ALL the other RINO’s.
And GOODBYE to ALL those that don’t FIGHT for AMERICANS, U.S. CONSTITUTION , and the UNITED STATES of AMERICA.
GOD BLESS the UNITED STATES of AMERICA.
Cheney is a trader to the Republicans party and her country. Run for president HAHA
The GOP needs more house cleaning. Mitt Romney, Susan Collins, Mitch McConnell & hopefully Lisa Murkowski…GOP needs fighters
I used to refer to Dick Cheney as a slithering snake and now we have a slithering LIZard Cheney. Like Father like daughter. Talk about a perfect example of Washington Elitists. You can add the Bush family to that group as well. These Rinos are really something. It’s pretty bad when you can name the Rinos who vote with Demonrats almost all the time. I’d really like to see all of them be replaced by real Republicans and Conservatives. Because the Senate is pretty much split, these Rinos try to cause problems by threatening to vote with Demonrats. It’s like they’re holding their constituents for ransom. Lizard Cheney is cut from that cloth. Some of these fools in the Senate better watch what they’re doing. The McConnells, Collins, Murkowski, Cornyn, Cassidy, Romney, etc. may be looking for other work. I’ve never voted or not voted based on the candidates personality. There’s Presidents that I liked and some not. What I looked at was their ability to help ALL of American Citizens. These Rinos might want to take a look at that. PresidentTrump took his responsibilities more seriously than his predecessors and that’s the rub for Demonrats and Rinos. Some of these people have been in DC way too long and here’s a businessman that accomplished amazing things for all Americans in a very short time. It’s obvious that Demonrats hate Trump and anyone who supported him. Then you see some of these politicians trying to protect their own power and control. They come first, along with special interest groups, big tech, Hollywood and most of the so called media. The House of Reps is showing some promise but it’s time for America to do surgery on the Senate. If they don’t want to do what the people want, it’s time for them to leave and we’ll replace them with patriots that remember that this country is a democratic republic run by THE PEOPLE!