The Morning Dispatch: Cheney in Trouble

Plus: Arizona Republicans go hunting for election fraud yet again.

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Happy Wednesday! First, this crucial news bulletin: Here’s why that picture of the Bidens and the Carters looked so strange. Now, on to the rest of the news.

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a new government prior to his mandate expiring last night. President Reuven Rivlin will now grant the mandate to one of Netanyahu’s political rivals, who may be able to form a government without him.

  • The legal team for former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin filed a motion yesterday asking for a new trial, alleging the state “committed pervasive, prejudicial prosecutorial misconduct, which deprived [Chauvin] of his constitutional rights to due process and a fair trial.”

  • Rep. Charlie Crist on Tuesday became the first Democrat to formally launch a bid to unseat Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2022. Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and Rep. Val Demings are also expected to jump in the race.

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  1. Gene Benedict

    I'm responding to Wednesday's Dispatch. I very much agree with Liz Cheney.
    Thank you,

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    Russell Board

    I think both Cheney and McCarthy are wrong. There are too many Republicans profiting from the lies about the 2020 election for the GOP to confront them. And the split between principle/truth and expediency/lies makes it impossible for the party to be united. Still, I think the party can stumble ahead and take back the House because local candidates can win from one or the other position, and the Democrats have a lot of weaknesses to be exploited.

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  3. Jeffrey Peoples

    "Is Liz Cheney right that, in order to move forward, the GOP needs to confront the lies about the 2020 election that led to January 6?"

    No, she isn't. It would be foolish to take the stance that "lies" led to what happened January 6th. In fact, it is possibly a "lie" that "lies" led to January 6. No doubt, erroneous views about the legitimacy of the election contributed to what happened on January 6th. But, people can be wrong about something and not be lying. Someone can legitimately believe the election was stolen and express that belief, be wrong, but not be lying. There is a strong desire for anti-trumpers to turn an irrational belief into a lie because such a transformation has more moral weight. Unfortunately, such efforts is coming across as deceptive, particularly to people who have not had their rational faculties compromised by their hatred of Trump.

    Christians believe that Jesus rose from the dead. I think that is irrational; certainly less likely than the election having been stolen. Yet, when Christians suggest he did, I do not go around saying that Christians are lying. I know that people can believe things that aren't true, thus, I do not assume people are lying simply because they express something I think is false.

    People who hate Trump do not seem to recognize this reality. It is quite plausible that Trump believed and still believes that the election was stolen; he is a narcissist, which even the people who hate Trump recognize; as a narcissist its quite possible he just can't believe the possibility he lost. People everyday continue believing with certainty totally irrational things because their psyche cannot handle the truth even when there is enormous amounts of evidence that should make that person at least skeptical. It is not hard to understand why Trump, of all people, would have a hard time believing he lost.

    Furthermore, all the people who shared that belief and pushed it were not necessarily liars. Calling people liars when it is quite plausible they are just in error is actually good reason to think a person is lying about the supposed liars. Although, admittedly, people who express so much certainty about the idea of the election being stolen as lies could just be irrational themselves.

    Personally, I think there is much more potential danger that could arise from the people who insist that to question the legitimacy of the election, even thinking that it was stolen, is tantamount to treason. While I do not think Biden won because of voter fraud, I think attempts at making the belief that he did win from voter fraud morally culpable for the riots on January 6th to be more worrisome than the riots on January 6th. Currently there is lots of efforts stirring to expand the federal monitoring of "domestic terrorists" based on the mythological existential threat to Democracy that the January 6th riot represented, where no gun was found on anyone who entered building because any brought were actually left outside(not the best way to overthrow a government). Similar to 9/11, political factions are using January 6th as an excuse to chip away at the constitutional rights of American citizens.

    People should be more concerned about that than the Q-Anon Shaman. Americans spent 4 years listening to Democrats suggesting that Donald Trump was an illigitimate President only in office because of Russian collusion -- aka that the election was stolen. And we spent a year while people rioted throughout the U.S. with our now current vice president Democratic politician funding their bail. Now the same people who had no problems with all that horseshit are rending their garments because Trump and some Republicans are suggesting that this latest election was stolen and insisting that Trump "instigated" the riots. Cheney obviously hates Trump and his faction, and has no interest in a rational assessment of what happened on January 6th, nor does the Dispatch staff. She and the Dispatch Staff are willing to nuke the GOP to root out the Trumpians and have no qualms about "lying" about "lies." I mean obviously, since they are making claims that I think are not justified, right?

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  4. Meg S

    It saddens me that so many can put party above integrity and principle. It is not a healthy place for our democracy and I applaud Liz Cheney for standing by her principles. I do not think history will be kind those who were complaisant to false narrative of the BIG LIE.

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    Angie

    As to the question of the day IMO Cheney's is the only one that is not only best for the Republican Party, but best for the country as a whole
    There is no way they could both be right, other than in theory...yes, it is better if they stick together, but, not on this one as far as I am concerned...we need to heal/remove that line of thought to proceed..


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    Matmos

    What Cheney herself says: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/05/05/liz-cheney-republican-party-turning-point/

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      Matmos

      "While embracing or ignoring Trump’s statements might seem attractive to some for fundraising and political purposes, that approach will do profound long-term damage to our party and our country. Trump has never expressed remorse or regret for the attack of Jan. 6 and now suggests that our elections, and our legal and constitutional system, cannot be trusted to do the will of the people. This is immensely harmful, especially as we now compete on the world stage against Communist China and its claims that democracy is a failed system.

      For Republicans, the path forward is clear."

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    Jen

    Senate Republicans on the Finance committee are asking Ron Wyden to open an investigation into Cuomo’s nursing home coverup in New York. It’s disgraceful this hasn’t gotten nearly the attention it deserves from national media. If it was Ron DeSantis the media would have destroyed him with non-stop coverage. Instead it’s mostly crickets.
    https://www.sasse.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/d5bb5100-2792-46d5-a483-d78503c76ea1/senate-finance-republicans-letter-to-wyden.pdf

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  8. Bill Pennell

    We know one thing for sure. For nearly all Republican politicians loyalty to Trump, when it is required for saving one’s political skin, trumps loyalty to democratic norms, constitutional processes as well as acceptance of empirical evidence.

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    Jen

    I was listening to the National Review weekly podcast and both Rich Lowry and Jim Geraghty made good points re: Cheney/Trump. Lowry said you can be Jeff Flake or Mitch McConnell; Justin Amash or Ben Sasse and that he’s more of a pragmatist so would side with McConnell and Sasse. I don’t think there’s any ambiguity about Sasse’s position regarding Trump, conspiracy theories, the 2020 election lies and Jan 6. But it’s not something he’s shoving in people’s faces all the time. Geraghty - who is no Trump fan - says he’s a little annoyed with Cheney right now because the focus should be on Biden and his policies and instead she’s playing right into Trump’s hands. We’re all talking about Trump again and he loves nothing more than Republican infighting over him. And of course the media loves nothing more than Republican infighting period.

    I’m torn. On the one hand I applaud Cheney for telling the truth regardless of the consequences. On the other I think the best way to rid ourselves of Trump is to stop focusing on him. Pay no attention to the statements he puts out. Let him and his die hard supporters keep saying the election was stolen - you’re never going to change their minds anyway - but ignore them. Focus on the future not the past. And can I just say I have NO time for all these journalists who are suddenly Liz Cheney’s biggest fans and are so concerned about the future of the Republican Party. It’s complete BS. They don’t care about Cheney and they certainly don’t care about the health of the Republican Party. They’re just popping the popcorn over Republican infighting about Trump. And Trump is back dominating the news so he loves it too.

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      Paul Montagu

      And yet Trump is still "shoving in people's faces all the time" that the election "stolen". You can't criticize Cheney for her statements while Trump is doing the exact same thing.

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    2. Stephen Nielson

      I personally think Cheney would be happy to ignore Trump. The problem is that leadership keeps bringing him in just as Gil Lasso discussed. If Kevin McCarthy, Donna "Romney" McDaniel, and Steve Scalise keep bringing Trump into everything, this problem is not going away.

      Everyone tried to ignore Trump after the election, 'let him have his day in court', etc, and it just got worse and worse. The guy is in my opinion truly suffering from Narcisstic Personality Disorder (NPD), the only way you can deal with NPDs is to have hard and strong boundaries. Unfortunately a great deal of the country still listens to him, I mean looking at David's articles a great many people STILL believe in prophecy that the guy will be president again. The republican leadership is not going to be able to ignore Trump because the republican regular membership is not going to LET them ignore Trump.

      Sadly I just don't see a way Liz Cheney will get out of this. The GOP Party has to put a hard stop on trump but I just don't see that happening. So out goes Liz Cheney. Maybe she'll register as independent haha. Doubt it, but maybe.

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      Gil.Neumann

      I want to agree with this. As you are aware, I am a Sasse guy through and through. Yes, in response to those voting to censure him in his state, Sasse made his position clear. He called a spade a spade and let that message stand. I do not disagree that Trump loves the focus on him and Cheney is playing right into his hand. But let’s also clarify: this would not be possible unless Kevin McCarthy, Ted Cruzy, and the majority of the Republican caucus were not allowing it, dare I say, inviting it by always wining and dining alongside “your cousin’s wedding party” at Mar-a-lago.

      But Liz Cheney is in the leadership of the Party as the Conference Chair, so she's more in line with a McConnell than a Sasse or a Flake. And while she has remained relatively quiet, the Party was meeting over the weekend in Florida and hammering through its obtuse future. This is a tough one, because generally what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas; however, the difference here is that we are not talking about battling out policy nuance behind closed doors. This appears more along the lines of whether or not setting aside the truth matters. It is saying the future of the party is Donald Trump and those who are loyal to him will reap the whirlwind of votes and staying power, even if it means setting aside principles to do so.

      The Party leadership want her to lay down her convictions; to remain quiet about incessant post-election lying, holding rallies that likely cost the Senate majority, tore down one of our primary institutions; and to look the other way regarding Trump’s role in terms of his rhetoric inciting the 1/6 breach of the Capitol. I realize this is not exactly apples-to-apples, but I am trying to envision Dick Gephardt and David Bonior telling John Lewis or Martin Frost or Maxine Waters that they need to be quiet about Bill Clinton if he repeatedly lied about Gore’s election being stolen (or, on a moral level, kept throwing Monica Lewinsky under the bus), that his post-election rallies to point the finger at voter fraud, in effect, cost the Democrats the Senate majority and drew into question the peaceful transfer of power, and if his repeated rhetoric eventually somehow incited the 9/11 attacks.

      If they all stood on principle, drew the line on something as basic as lying / telling the truth, this would not be a problem. Imagine if one-by-one, McConnell, McCarthy, Scalise, etc. started to peel off the layers of onion and allow Trump to shoot himself in the foot and eventually go away into his lounge act. Imagine if they actually stood for telling the truth. The healing effect would be remarkable. Instead, they have all invited the popcorn-eating press into the fray to celebrate the infighting.

      But let’s not lose sight that McCarthy is the waffle king of waffle kings; and he looks horrible in the process. His leadership (or rather, lack thereof) is allowing all of this to happen.
      This is where Steve’s article – especially the ending – is completely on point!

      ------------

      “McCarthy is one of the top Republicans in Washington. His time is valuable, and how he chooses to spend it says a lot about how he views his job and, for better and worse, the modern Republican party. McCarthy sits atop a fractious caucus with its fair share of freaks. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is an ardent conspiracy theorist and an ugly racist. Rep. Matt Gaetz is credibly accused of paying for sex with a minor. Rep. Paul Gosar attended a conference hosted by a white nationalist who’s toyed with Holocaust denial. And on it goes.
      To the extent McCarthy has spent any time on these problems, it’s been to downplay or dismiss them. But Cheney’s political apostasy has earned his full attention. At the House GOP retreat in Orlando last week, McCarthy called yet again for unity and went out of his way to suggest that Cheney’s criticism of Trump was a distraction. His allies have been trashing her anonymously ever since, setting up the coming vote on her ouster.

      The takeaway is unmistakable: Consort with white nationalists, hook up with teens, peddle QAnon craziness, and you’re okay; but condemn Donald Trump’s election lies and you’re a target.

      What kind of leader prioritizes the baseless ravings of a political loser over the leadership of a truth-teller who has the temerity to object when the serial liar lies?

      Kevin McCarthy is that kind of leader. He may get the kind of unity he wants—the kind of unity his master in Mar-a-Lago demands. And he may well become speaker of the house. A party so unified will have the leader it deserves, but it won’t deserve power and probably won’t have it for long.”

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      Hopefully, Geraghty and Lowry absorb that point. This popcorn show is all on McCarthy, not on Cheney. She's standing for what is right and true, while McCarthy is trying to navigate and pander to the freak show.

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        Jen

        I should be clear that Lowry and Geraghty were not defending McCarthy in any way. My guess is if they had a choice Cheney would stay and McCarthy would go.

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          Gil.Neumann

          That's good to hear. I generally like both of those guys. I do get baffled from time to time when they play the game a bit too much like the mainstream media does. I'm just tired of reading story after story about how Cheney is going to lose her position, while to me the primary culprit in all of it is McCarthy. I was cheering Steve's article this morning -- huzzah, Steve! -- my thoughts exactly. What is sad is that he's probably going to win the Speakership, the R's are going to think they're "doing it right," and then the next election is going to be complete fubar when they decide to take things into their own hands. Hopefully, I'm completely wrong.

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            Jen

            It’s depressing but I think it’s better to deal with reality than fantasy. And there are two realities right now: one, Republican voters, especially primary voters are with Trump; two, 3rd parties have no history of success so trying to start one would be pointless. With those realities I’m sort of in the McConnell camp of trying to ignore Trump as much as possible. Unfortunately McCarthy and Cheney are giving Trump exactly what he wants - attention. And Adam Kinzinger doesn’t help matters when he demands every House Republican go on record as to whether they will support Cheney or not. He’s just making it more likely she will be ousted.

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    BrettH

    Cheney and McCarthy both make fair points but the route McCarthy is taking to continue to kneel before Trump is pretty pathetic.

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