For the first time, The largest MAGA contingent in Congress on Tuesday She decided to test the rule that Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) is the only high-profile Republican who can criticize President Trump and get away with it.
By the end of the day, his efforts had made it clear that Cheney can still get away with it, at least for now, with his reputation intact.
In a closed-door meeting of Republicans in the House of Representatives, their first fully in-person meeting since early March, several lawmakers who portray themselves as unswervingly loyal to Trump took the opportunity to execute what seemed to some to be a coordinated side of the republican of the House of third rank. According to Politico, representatives Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Jim Jordan (R-OH), Chip Roy (R-TX) and others attacked Cheney for not sufficiently supporting Trump and his agenda, for supporting Dr. Anthony Fauci. , and for endorsing Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) as a primary challenger, among other things.
After news of the meeting broke, Gaetz raised the ante by publicly asking Cheney to step down from her position as conference chair. “Liz Cheney has worked behind the scenes (and now in public) against @realDonaldTrump and her agenda,” Gaetz tweeted. “Liz Cheney should resign or be eliminated.” The call was amplified with the timely launch of an episode of Gaetz’s podcast, “Hot Takes with Matt Gaetz.”
At least one high-profile Trumpworld citizen clearly heard the call: The president’s son Donald Trump, Jr. took advantage of Gaetz’s tweet and said, “We already have a Mitt Romney, we don’t need another.” Trump, Jr. is an influential and well-connected figure in House of Representatives circles.
But, as Cheney noted in a subsequent press conference, Trump’s son “is not a member of the Republican House conference.”
Ultimately, none of the members of Gaetz’s scribble gang backed his call to remove Cheney from his post, including those who reportedly relayed their complaints against her Tuesday morning.
In fact, one after another, those involved allegedly changed the subject.
“I am focused on making sure that the president wins reelection and helping us win back the majority. I want to stay focused on that, that should be what we are doing, “said Jordan, when asked if he had confidence in Cheney.
“We had a good robust private conversation,” said Roy, and called Cheney a friend, “just like all my other colleagues at this conference are friends. We’re going to be busy making sure we’re going to win this fall. “
And Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY), who was not at the meeting but is close to the Trump family, also refused to bite Cheney’s hook and told The Daily Beast: “I’ve gotten along with her all time”. That she has been here. And my interactions with her, where we are aligned with the issues, have only been positive. “
Other Republicans suppressed the momentum: Rep. Paul Mitchell (R-MI), who is retiring, said it was a bit “extreme” trying to kick Cheney out for his views on Trump. “She has done what she thinks is right,” said Mitchell. “I am not endorsing it, it is only if that is the criteria we use, I do not think that the unconditional support of the president is in the description of the position of president of the conference.”
Meanwhile, Trump himself has not publicly weighed in on the dust, and to date has never publicly attacked Cheney in the ruthless style to which he has gone after other Republicans who he considers critical of him. The White House did not respond to a request for comment about Cheney and the Republican meeting.
With aspiring insurgents largely silent, Cheney ended the day garnering public praise from allies and the full backing of Republican House Leader Kevin McCarthy, who appeared at his side at a press conference and proclaimed ” we are honored to have her as chair of the conference. ” . “
Privately, too, many Republicans criticized the views of male lawmakers who were after a highly visible Republican woman. “Where is the party fighting at the moment? With women, ”said a Republican House aide. “And the game plan is to chase the best elected Republican woman in all of Congress?”
“There is zero appetite,” said another House Republican aide, “to get rid of the only woman in leadership.”
In fact, an attack by House conservatives, who historically love to shake up their leaders, was unlikely to result in a significant effort to overthrow Cheney. But his first attempt may herald future turmoil within the Republican Party, especially a post-Trump party that many believe Cheney is positioning himself to lead.
The timing of the attack, which was unrelated to any specific news or provocation by Cheney, was “quite intentional,” according to a former Republican House aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity to freely describe the dynamics of the conference.
“It is also out of place and is purely personal. Cheney is a staunch supporter of the president, wants him to win in November and arguably is more conservative than those who sing, “said the aide.” But, those who have increased their influence due to President Trump’s aggressive and personal policy left it is clear today that they will not remain silent if it falls in November. “The fight for the future of the Republican Party has broken out in the open.”
The third-term congresswoman’s willingness to reject Trump at all, where she could easily remain silent or support him, has sparked talk that she is planning a future in which the party has drifted away from Trump.
His criticisms of Trump have barely reached the level of someone like Romney, who voted with Democrats in a impeachment that Cheney criticized as permanent damage to the country. According to trackers like FiveThirtyEight, Cheney has voted more frequently with Trump’s career agenda than detractors who question his loyalty to the president, such as Gaetz, who made his own time at the White House doghouse in January for his High-profile fight to control Trump’s war powers against Iran.
But within the House of Representatives’ Trump applause section, Cheney’s harsh criticism has sometimes been sustained, particularly when it comes to Trump’s national security platform and the little controversies the president regularly ponders, putting it on In contrast to Republicans like Jordan, who have joined the president so clearly that the association will be hard to shake, no matter what happens to him in November.
In fact, Trump’s political fortune was at the center of the closed-door discussion Tuesday morning, with Cheney’s critics accusing her of undermining the president’s chances of reelection and saying she was not a “team player.” According to reports, Cheney, one of the main fundraising officials in the Trump campaign, stopped the attacks with subtle excavations to his rivals, wishing Gaetz luck in his new HBO documentary and raising Jordan’s past reputation like any other. thing less a team player.
But coming out of that meeting, Cheney illustrated one reason he was able to go so far while criticizing the president: choosing his battles.
“We had an exchange of views,” Cheney told reporters, without saying a word about what he had just faced. “I think it is clear that we are unified in terms of recognizing the danger … if Joe Biden were elected president.” We talked at length about Vice President Biden, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi and the kind of America we would be living in if they prevailed. That was really the focus. We had a healthy exchange of views. “
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