Liz Cheney is no hero

Liz Cheney’s father once shot his friend in the face. I say that not to be provocative, but to illustrate a point. Donald Trump once claimed he could shoot someone and still have the support of the Republican Party, but Dick Cheney did it. Indeed, there was a time the Cheney name engendered the kind of cultish loyalty on the right that the Trump name does today. 

This is bad news for Liz Cheney, and for the country. The Chair of the House Republican Caucus is in the fight of her political life. After voting to impeach the former president for his alleged role in the Capitol insurrection, it looks increasingly likely Cheney will be forced from her leadership position. 

Despite this, the lady’s not for turning. “The 2020 presidential election was not stolen,” Cheney tweeted on Monday. “Anyone who claims it was is spreading THE BIG LIE, turning their back on the rule of law, and poisoning our democratic system.” 

Though I oppose nearly every political position Liz Cheney holds, I agree with her and commend her stalwart defense of democratic values. But simply put, this is not enough. Not anymore.

Yes, voting to impeach Donald Trump took courage. So few Republicans are willing to admit the emperor has no clothes — or perhaps more precisely, that the emperor is wearing jackboots and a silver shirt — that when one does, it is commendable. It is also the bare minimum we should expect.

Despite his trouncing in 2020, Donald Trump remains the Republican kingmaker, and Trumpism the prevailing ideology of the Republican Party. Together, they represent the greatest existential threat to the American experiment since the Civil War. Simply acknowledging that on the right might once have been enough, but that time has passed. 

The party of Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan, and Dick Cheney is no more. Insurrectionists breeched the Capitol. Republican members of Congress have “liked” tweets advocating the execution of the Democratic speaker. The call is coming from inside the House of Representatives. 

In a naked attempt at suppressing Democratic-leaning voters, Republicans are limiting ballot access in Georgia and Florida. Here in Tennessee, they’re punishing protestors by stripping away their right to vote and making it legal for drivers to hit protesters with their car. And, of course, Republicans like Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley tried to overturn the results of the last presidential election because they did not like the outcome.

We are at an inflection point in this country. The only way we can continue our trajectory towards a more perfect union, improving with each generation upon the founding promise, is to buttress our democracy against the authoritarian forces of Trumpism. This requires more than symbolic political stands. It requires action. 

This is where Liz Cheney and her fellow Republican dissidents are falling woefully short. Rather than helping to protect voting rights, Cheney voted against the For The People Act, claiming it “steals power from the people” and “is designed to protect Democrat politicians” — Trumpian rhetoric if I’ve ever heard it.  She voted against enfranchising the voters of Washington DC, with her spokesman complaining that the bill “would have given DC six electoral votes” — because that’s how many they should have.  

Far from doing more to expand American democracy, Cheney is joining her fellow Republicans in limiting it. Sure, she draws the line at outright stealing elections, but she has little to say on repressive voter laws at the state level or gerrymandered districts. Instead, she toes the party line in Congress, voting with her Trumpist colleagues against protecting the franchise. 

The time for soaring rhetoric and empty promises has passed. If Republicans like Liz Cheney are serious about rescuing our nation from the scourge of Trumpism, they must put their money where their mouth is. That means working with Democrats to shore up access to the ballot box and to continue to expand and protect rather than contract and imperil voting rights at the federal level. It means finding ways to ensure that every American’s voice is heard, whether they live in Washington or Wyoming. 

It is not enough to simply pay lip service to democracy. Liz Cheney and every Republican who is serious about saving America from Donald Trump needs to step up and back Democratic efforts to protect our democracy. Voting to impeach Trump and speaking out against his lies is welcome. But until Liz Cheney does something to protect voting rights, she will remain the friend who shoots us in the face.