Liz Cheney, elected Republican, opposed to Donald Trump, lost her seat as representative of the State of Wyoming on Tuesday August 16 against the pro-Trump candidate, strengthening the grip of the ex-president on the party already become “Trump’s” according to the historian and political specialist of the United States Nicole Bacharan. “Liz Cheney embodies something much less easy to generate popular enthusiasm“than the pro-Trump Republican candidates, notes the specialist on franceinfo this Wednesday.
franceinfo: What differentiated Liz Cheney from her Trumpist competitor?
Nicole Bacharan: The Cheney family is a pillar of the elites of the State of Wyoming: we remember the ex-vice-president [de George W. Bush] Dick Cheney. Liz Cheney is very conservative, and anti-Trump when it comes to exposing his lies and breaches of the Constitution. Certainly, as a representative of Wyoming during the 4 years of Trump’s mandate, she voted for most of the measures of the government. But she refuses the decisive cardinal point between the pros and anti-Trumps of the conservative party: to say that the election of Joe Biden is illegitimate. She recognizes the truth, that Joe Biden won by a large majority in 2020. But the candidates supported by Donald Trump, whether opportunistic or convinced, must assert loud and clear that he is the real winner of the election of 2020.
How to explain his defeat?
Liz Cheney embodies something much less easy to generate popular enthusiasm. Donald Trump, like all populists, stirs up resentment and anger. Liz Cheney is rigorous, she clings to the rule of law and the Constitution. She took a lot of risks since she is one of only two Republican representatives on the commission of inquiry into the invasion of the Capitol on January 6. We saw her a lot, she chaired many hearings and she was the bane of many elected Republicans (opportunists or ideologues) who linked their fate to Donald Trump.
“She received so many death threats that she was only able to do small events at home or by invitation, which embarrassed her in her campaign.”
Nicole Bacharanfranceinfo
What does this mean for the Republican Party?
Today, the Republican Party is Donald Trump’s party. But there are independent and Republican voters whom Trump’s candidates can scare because they are into the conspiracy theory. There has been a transformation of the Republican Party, originally primarily pro-business, anti-tax and for minimal federal government intervention. These are far-right candidates, and they go so far that it gives a boost to Democrats who lacked it. Extremist positions on abortion, conspiracy theories, the court cases piling up on Donald Trump’s head and Joe Biden’s successes on climate and health contribute to this. On the other hand, the 2022 class of Republican representatives will be essentially Trumpist, and it will give the Democratic president a lot of trouble.