Washington, (Asian independent) US Representative Liz Cheney has vowed to keep up her fight against Donald Trump and his supporters despite her resounding loss at the polls to a diehard supporter the former President.
In an ABC News interview on Sunday, Cheney touted her new political action committee targeting politicians who back Trump’s disproven claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him, reports dpa news agency.
“I’m going to be very focused on working to ensure that we can do everything we can (to) not … elect election deniers,” she said. “I’m going to work against those people. I’m going to work to support their opponents.”
The three-term Congresswoman lamented Trump’s hold on the Republican Party and bashed fellow Republicans days after losing her primary race in Wyoming by more than 35 points to challenger Harriet Hageman, who had Trump’s backing.
“People continue to believe the lie. They continue to believe what he’s saying, which is very dangerous,” Cheney said.
“Large portions of our party, including the leadership of our party, both at a state level in Wyoming as well as on a national level with the (Republican National Committee), is very sick,” she added.
The daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney rose to national prominence with her strong denunciations of Trump’s incitement of the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot.
She has served as top Republican on the special House committee probing the siege, drawing the wrath of party bigwigs like House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
With Republicans hoping to take control of Congress in the midterm elections, Liz Cheney said McCarthy doesn’t deserve to become speaker.
“He’s been completely unfaithful to the Constitution and demonstrated a total lack of understanding of the significance and the importance of the role of speaker,” she said.
She also blasted Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is considered a likely contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
“DeSantis is somebody who is, right now, campaigning for election deniers,” Liz Cheney said. “That is something that I think people have got to have real pause about.”
Republican Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Josh Hawley of Missouri did not escape her ire, either.
“Both took steps that fundamentally threatened the constitutional order and structure in the aftermath of the last election,” she fumed. “So, in my view, they both have made themselves unfit for future office.”
President Joe Biden called Cheney after her primary loss, she said.
“We had a very good talk, a talk about the importance of putting the country ahead of partisanship,” she recounted.
Liz Cheney has said she’s considering a possible presidential run herself.
“Any decision that I make about doing something that significant and that serious would be with the intention of winning and because I think I would be the best candidate,” she said on Sunday.
While her opposition to Trump has endeared her to many Democrats, Cheney pointed out that she is very much a Republican at heart. In fact, she voted with Trump 93% of the time their terms overlapped.
“I believe in Republican policies,” Cheney said. “I believe in a strong national defence, I believe in low taxes. I believe in a limited government.”
Even as she touted her Republican creds, she threw in another dig at Trump and his supporters.
“We have no chance at winning elections if we are in a position where our party has abandoned principle and abandoned value and abandoned fundamental fidelity of the Constitution, in order to embrace a cult of personality.”
