Any lingering doubts about Representative Liz Cheney (R-Wy.) being a Republican in Name Only (RINO) were dispelled on Sunday when she appeared on CBS’ 60 Minutes with Lesley Stahl. The puff piece sounded more like a job interview than an objective journalistic effort.
It started off with CBS declaring that Cheney was “like a lone ranger riding out of the West.… one of the few Republicans willing to, daring to, stand up to Mr. Trump and the House Republicans who opposed her joining [Nancy Pelosi’s January 6 investigation] committee.”
Stahl asked her how that came about:
Cheney: She [Nancy Pelosi] called me. And asked me to be a member of the committee. And I accepted and…
Stahl: Right away?
Cheney: Right away.
Stahl: No hesitation?
Cheney has decided this is the hill for her to die on. She told Stahl:
I think that millions of people around the country have been betrayed and misled and deceived by Donald Trump. He has said that the election was stolen. He continues to say that. He continues to say things that aren’t true and continues to raise money off of those claims. And so, to me, there’s just not a question….
I watched while the attack was underway — understood very clearly what he did on January 6, what he failed to do on January 6. Instead of stopping the attack while it was underway, he was busy calling up senators trying to get them to delay the count. So, there was no calculation.
I think he’s very dangerous.
Cheney confirmed her close ties to her father, Dick Cheney, who served as President Gerald Ford’s chief of staff and George W. Bush’s vice president. Richard B. Cheney is a long-time member of the world government-promoting Council on Foreign Relations (CFR):
Stahl: Did you go to your father and ask for his advice on this? And did he encourage you to wage this rebellion?
Cheney: I talk to my dad probably just about every single day. And he sees things the way that I see them.
Recent polling shows that three out of every four Republicans in the Cowboy State will not vote for Cheney next year. She would lose overwhelmingly to any of her Republican opponents. Pollster John McLaughlin says Wyoming voters “want to see Liz Cheney defeated next year.” And pollster Lee & Associates “found … Liz Cheney [to be] incredibly unpopular.”
Stahl asked her about this:
Stahl: The Republican Party here has disowned you. They’ve called for your resignation. We’ve been told your approval rating here is down around 30%. Can you win this seat?
Cheney: Absolutely. I think it’s going to be the most important House race in the country in 2022.… It will be one where people have the opportunity to say: “We want to stand for the Constitution.”
Stahl: Do you think a vote against you is a vote against the Constitution?
Cheney: A vote against me in this race — a vote for whomever Donald Trump has endorsed — is a vote for somebody who’s willing to perpetuate the big lie, somebody who’s willing to put allegiance to Trump above allegiance to the Constitution. Absolutely.
In its follow-up story after the interview, CBS pointed out that RINOs haven’t given up on Cheney: “Former President George W. Bush is holding a fundraiser for her. And Senators Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham have sent in donations from their political action committees.”
Bush is hosting a fundraiser in Dallas on October 18. Dallas is about 900 miles from Cheyenne, and that is a very good thing. Few would likely attend if it were held anywhere in Wyoming. Polls continue to show Cheney proving to be, in the words of Tristan Justice, writing in the Federalist, “the most unpopular Republican in the country among GOP voters.”
CBS doesn’t talk to Wyoming, and Wyoming doesn’t tune in to CBS. All the interview confirmed is that Cheney will likely find a position at CBS as the network’s “conservative” voice in the liberal network following her overwhelming defeat in the primaries next year.
Related articles:
New Polls Show Liz Cheney in Deeper Trouble Than Ever
George W. Bush to Host Fundraiser for Liz Cheney’s Flailing Reelection Campaign
