The Morning Dispatch: Down Goes Cheney

Plus: Alaska voters head to the polls, but the full results won't be known for weeks.

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Happy Wednesday! Every day we stray further from God’s light: “YouTuber decides to fix snakes, constructs robotic legs for them to wear.”

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

  • Wyoming and Alaska held primary elections on Tuesday. Some highlights:

    • Rep. Liz Cheney lost resoundingly to her Trump-backed primary challenger, attorney Harriet Hageman. Winning reelection “would have required that I enable [Donald Trump’s] ongoing efforts to unravel our democratic system and attack the foundations of our republic,” Cheney said in her concession speech. “That was a path I could not and would not take.” After retirements and primaries, just two of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump in 2021 will be on the ballot in November.

    • Chuck Gray—the Trump-backed candidate for secretary of state in Wyoming—beat out Tara Nethercott in the state’s Republican primary after campaigning on Trump’s claims of a stolen 2020 election.

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  1. Tim Moore

    Lis Cheney is a smart women; and I have no doubt whatsoever that she knew, when she opposed Trump, that she would not be reelected. She put truth above partisanship, justice above going along to get along, and duty to Country above position, influence and power. I am not a Trump hater; I like much of what he accomplished; but he is a self-centered, narcissistic New York bully and he should give pause to anyone who "hates politicians, particularly career politicians" and wants an outsider to run the country. Frankly, I hope that someone - the committee, a state AG, the Feds - indicts Trump. I don't care if he is convicted; just removed from the next political go-round. We have flaming Marxists in Congress and in multiple state governments And if Trump runs, he will lose again - leaving us with a Marxist Left hell-bent to revise this country.

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  2. Eklees

    What really struck me in The Dispatch today was the utter idiocy of Kari Lake's demands for eliminating mail-in ballots and ballot counting machines. Only someone who has never been an election judge or counted paper ballots could possibly suggest something this asinine.

    I was an election judge in Chicago for over 30 years. My first election was 1980 and I had to manually count hundreds (400+ voters per precinct) of paper ballots for Cook County judges. Big machines counted the national and local votes. The other judges and I were counting ballots until midnight.
    Thank goodness that was not repeated in 1984, although the Hanging Chad dilemma caused major problems in 2000. Today's ballot counters are light years better than the machines in the 1980s and only a complete imbecile would think hand counting would be a better use of time and money.

    What I don't understand is how anyone could vote for someone as brutal as Kari Lake. She is another Person of the Lie, whose primary objectives are to spread deceit, foment fear and create chaos.

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    Liz Linton

    There are only a few Republicans left whose history will be placed among the greatest.
    Liz Cheney is among those few.
    The elected Republicans who chose not to vocalize their support for her will not find redemption. They have no comeback story. It will take a generation for the party to cleanse itself and earn respect.

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    Greg Hurley

    QotD That question seems to be beside the point. She set out to live according to her principles. Like them or not, she did. So, yeah, she accomplished what she set out to do.

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  5. Mary Kathleen

    Liz Cheney is a moral hero, but not a martyr. She decided to be the point woman leading the charge of the serious conservatives against the Trumpists, hoping to marginalize Trump and reroute the direction of the Republican party. She may have succeeded with a portion of the Republican electorate. The problem with trying to marginalize Trump is that such efforts energize his true believers. If Trump fails to receive the Republican nomination for 2024, Cheney possibly will have been instrumental in that. Alternatively if he does receive the nomination, she possibly will have had a hand in that. I wonder if Cheney considered whether there are enough serious conservatives left to follow her lead, or whether she made a serious effort to try to rally them to her cause.

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    Nancy P.

    QOTD I can't say whether Liz Chaney's efforts have been "successful". We won't know until the 2024 election does not have Donald Trump running. What she HAS done is successfully given me hope that there are still people with integrity out there who care about what is best for the nation. If there never was a January 6th Committee and all that happened that day was never investigated, I would have been devastated. My hope for America would have been lost and I would have been emotionally traumatized. If we can't bring truth and justice about in something as big as what Donald Trump has been doing, then we have already lost our democracy and I should move to another country!
    Maybe I am naïve, but I am praying that people will come to see the true intentions of that man and that he will lose any ability to run for public office again. If I don't keep up that hope, I will lose all faith in our political system.

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      C C Writer

      Anecdotally, I know a few people who consider themselves not Republican who watched what I called the "Liz & Cassidy Show" and were riveted and impressed--as I was--not just by the introductory remarks and testimony but the demeanor, poise, and seriousness of both women. I like to think that has shown them that there is a real opposition element, and that it's all about integrity and principle. They tend not to hear about that from most of the sources they listen to, which are anti-Trump but act like all of us have a need to be liberated from Trumpism, when so many of us never went there, and so it gets to be tiresome. And maybe now they'll be like "you admire and agree with Liz? I didn't realize there were such Republicans."

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    Cscottkillgore

    Liz Cheney demonstrated the hazards of standing on cherished principles. Sometimes totally unprincipled people score short-term victories. I'm still convinced that standing on solid principles is the way to realize long-term success, even if it means short-term losses. What that looks like for Liz Cheney I haven't a clue. However, I do have a clue who I'll vote for in 2024 for President: Liz Cheney.

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    Michael Eskridge

    I don't think Cheney will be successful until someone other than Trump is on the republican ballot in 2024, but I do think that what she's doing is more important for the country than anything any other politician is attempting. A second Trump term might not be survivable.

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      PJ

      With any luck all this legal action will give the twice impeached biggest loser a fatal heart attack. Short of that I do not see anything stopping him other than voters. I am not optimistic on our legal system holding him accountable like a common person would be doing the same things he does.

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        Magpie

        "I do not see anything stopping him other than voters." It may not matter what the voters want. If Trump runs in 2024, he will spend much of his campaign talking about how the election is rigged against him and if he loses he will actually have won. Chaos and violence are likely to ensue. So I'm really hoping for a heart attack.

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          PJ

          Ultimately the voters are the ones in charge, which highlights the scary fact that this is not just about Don with the little hands. Heart attack would be a great start. But will voters ever take their responsibility seriously?

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        Michael Eskridge

        I agree I'm afraid..... Still, heart attack or indictment, small odds each, but you say there's a chance? The really depressing element is that, given what happened between the election and January 6, there's any discussion at all of his continued role in politics. It's like half the country didn't see what happened?? Let's give John Wayne Gacy another clown gig, right?

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          PJ

          I would say much better chance of heart attack. It is getting harder to find competent lawyers who will defend him, plus him and his groupies never have understood the difference between running a nation and running a business. BIG mistakes have occurred in his actions. Add in plenty of cheeseburgers and ketchup, his weight, his lifestyle, and all the serious legal action happening and I think we have some hope for change.

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  9. Sharon Smith

    What do you think Liz Cheney set out to accomplish over the past year-and-a-half? Answer: To (a) present the truth and (b) defend our Constitution.
    Do you consider her successful or unsuccessful on those terms? Answer: (a) Yes. (b) Too soon to tell.

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  10. Jim Carper

    Two cheers for Ms. Cheney. I would give her three but for her occasional sanctimonious lapses (a problem for many of us), her apparent failure to criticize the composition of the January 6 committee (if you refuse to seat hyper partisans like Jordan, the same should hold for the likes of Schiff), and her very mild case of TDS (I have long TDS!).

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      PJ

      I sure do not see Schiff in the same light as Jordan. I am a "liberal" though, NOT to be confused with "democrat". I have grown intolerant with the republican male cow manure games too. Today's republican party is traitorous in my opinion.

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      1. Jim Carper

        Dysfunctional, fractious, populated by some irresponsible and obnoxious folks for sure, but to brand the Republican party as traitorous contributes nothing to current debates/discussions.

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          PJ

          I discuss/debate the republican party as much as they "discuss/debate issues" with me and non-republicans. There are many jumping ship. Facts will be proven over time. I stand by my statement.

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          1. Jim Carper

            Indeed, facts are stubborn things (Adams), but at this point let's not confuse speculation with facts. Cheers.

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