Liz Cheney Will Not Stay Silent

She voted for Donald Trump for President. Twice. 

But several weeks after the 2020 election, Liz Cheney began getting deeply concerned. She watched as Trump lost more than 60 "election fraud" lawsuits in the courts. Then came the press conferences by the President's counsel, alleging criminality and fraud among state election officials without producing a shred of evidence. Perhaps by December 14 when the electoral college met, Trump would finally concede and that would be the end.

But it wasn't, so Cheney did a 180. When it became clear that Trump was plotting to use fake electors to seize power, she told NPR's Terry Gross it was no longer business as usual, democracy was at stake:

"Given this existential threat, we're at a moment where Republicans and Democrats and Independents have to be willing to come together and work on behalf of the Constitution. I'm going to do whatever it takes to make sure that he's defeated because the threat's that grave."

It's extremely rare to see a prominent politician demonstrate true leadership in these hyper-partisan times. Among the very few is Liz Cheney, the former third-ranking leader in the Republican-controlled House, who would go on to become vice chair of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol.

But that bold determination to go against her party's devotion to Donald Trump would cost Liz Cheney both her conference chair and ultimately the lone Congressional seat from Wyoming.

For her singular mission — to keep Trump from being President again — she not only took political risks, but also security risks. After her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, watched President Trump's speech on the ellipse on January 6, 2021, he phoned his daughter with an urgent message: 

"Are you listening to Trump? He just told the crowd they should 'get rid of the Liz Cheneys of the world.' He has created a serious threat to your security." 

But Liz Cheney was not prepared to let Trump intimidate her and told her Dad: "There was no world in which I would let Donald Trump threaten or bully me into abandoning my duty. I can't stay silent out of fear, Dad." 

And she hasn't. Her new book, "Oath and Honor," is subtitled A Memoir and a Warning (It's probably more warning than memoir.). It's making a splash and will debut at #1 on the Christmas Eve edition of the New York Times Best Sellers list. Earlier this month, Cheney spoke with Amna Nawaz on PBS NewsHour on what a second Trump turn would look like.

As we approach the third anniversary of the insurrection at the US Capitol, Liz Cheney stopped at the Sixth & I Synagogue last week, just six blocks from the US Capitol. Before a sellout crowd, she took questions at her first book talk at the Politics and Prose event from The Atlantic's Mark Leibovich. This is a condensed version of the interview: 

Mark Leibovich: When we were waiting in the wings, I asked you, 'Are you still a Republican, Liz?' And you said, 'Yeah' and your body language seemed less than enthusiastic. So I'm going to ask you the follow up question: Is there a reason why you're still a Republican? 

Liz Cheney: The Republican Party of today is not a party that reflects my views in terms of the Constitution. And when I watch how far they've moved away from the most conservative of conservative values, which is fidelity to the Constitution, it's hard to see a fit. I think the party is going to have to fundamentally rebuild, which I don't know is possible or we're going to have to start a new party. But starting a new party is something that has to happen after [the] '24 [election] because it takes focus and attention away from beating Donald Trump.

There are a lot of seemingly 'very Republicans' critical of Donald Trump. And you ask them, so what are you doing in November of 2024? And they say, I will support the nominee. Some people will say I'm not voting for Donald Trump. I'm going to write in Ronald Reagan or something like that. What do you think when you see that? 

I don't even know where to start. First of all, I do think what happens is you get sometimes politicians who — this will surprise you — operate on autopilot. I know this is like breaking so much news tonight. There's this automatic 'I'm going to support the nominee of my party.' And what's been so surprising to me is how few political leaders have broken out of that, how few have realized you can't support somebody who tried to seize power and who has said he'll do it again. Often, I will have Republicans say to me, how can it be as bad as you say if nobody else or very few other people are saying it? And so there's a real need for leadership, for people to understand that there's no gray area here, that you can't support him if you say that you support the Constitution. 

One of the things I really enjoyed about the book is that I wanted to see what you would say about some of your old colleagues. You left it all out on the field about Kevin McCarthy. You were extremely blunt about your feelings about him, the dereliction that he brought to his job. I'm assuming you're not talking to him on any regular basis these days, but given how his speakership went and how it ended up, I mean, do you think it was worth it for him?… I know I'd have to ask HIM.

Yeah. But I think that it's not surprising where the whole thing ended up. I think it's the fact that, even now, he's [Kevin McCarthy] saying that he's going to support Donald Trump and he'd really like to be in Donald Trump's cabinet. How many times is Donald Trump going to take a shot at you and you're going to crawl back? It's pathetic. 

You study history. And one of the things that has always struck me about talking to some of these folks is you ask them, do you worry about what the verdict of history will be on you? And I asked Kevin McCarthy specifically this. And he looked at me like he just rolled his eyes. And I guess as someone who studies history and who has invoked how historians will look upon this time and the character of certain actors, do you worry that history has become just so partisan or so cheapened by some of the messengers? 

Well, I think that we have a real problem in this country in terms of not teaching American history. All of us, regardless of party, ought to want our kids to study the lives of great people, leaders and to understand the mistakes, but also what it took to succeed in the past. If you asked every member of Congress to choose between your political survival or defending the Constitution, what would you choose? All of them will tell you we're going to defend the Constitution. And what was one of the most surprising and also heartbreaking things to me was how few did... what happens is you say I'm going to make sure I survive politically. And then you start to rationalize why that really wasn't what you did. 

So you have said that you will do everything in your power to make sure that Donald Trump does not get near the Oval Office again. You've been a very effective spokesperson for why that would be a terrible thing. How do you plan to spend the next several months between now and Election Day 2024 to further that cause? 

I think there are several important things. One is I began in the 2022 cycle, for the first time ever, supporting a couple of Democrats that I had worked with closely in the House, Elissa Slotkin and Abigail Spanberger. Both of whom I have policy disagreements with on some issues, but I would trust them. And I know that they want to do the right thing for the country. And those are the kinds of people that we have to elect. So I'm going to work particularly hard to make sure we defeat election deniers, down ballot, not just at the top. And that's important because we could have a situation where this next election does not result in a presidential candidate getting 270 electoral votes and it could get thrown into the House. And in my view, we cannot have the Republicans in charge in the House of Representatives if that happens. I'm going to be working hard to help elect good candidates and I'm going to be making a decision about exactly what role I plan to play in the presidential race over the next couple of months. 

Here's a question to Liz Cheney from Katie, a member of the virtual audience. "I don't agree with you on anything politically, but you are full of integrity and character and spread truth to power. Who or what has led to this sense of integrity you have?" 

Katie might not like this answer, but Dick Cheney and Lynne Cheney, my parents. It's humbling and very moving but it's not courage, because you think about people that landed at Normandy. That's courage. You think about people that have made tremendous sacrifices in war. That is courage. These last couple of years have been about duty and what's required. And I think that's how I look at it. 

Despite how Cheney defines courage, she was a 2022 recipient of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award. She received a commendation for her "consistent and courageous voice in defense of democracy." 

At the end of her book, Cheney left no doubt what her mission will be at least through the election. The final line, "This is the cause of our time," is Cheney's way of telling you she has the bit in her teeth and won't let go.