House GOP Set to Oust Cheney

With Rep. Liz Cheney’s days as the No. 3 ranking House GOP official numbered, Sarah ...

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With Rep. Liz Cheney’s days as the No. 3 ranking House GOP official numbered, Sarah and Steve are joined by The Dispatch’s own Haley Byrd Wilt and Audrey Fahlberg to talk about what that means for the party. Next Wednesday, the Republican caucus will meet and a vote to oust Cheney is expected to take place. The four lay out what they see happening on Wednesday and what they expect the aftermath may be.

Show Notes:

–Haley’s latest Uphill

–Audrey’s piece from the GOP Orlando retreat

–Elise Stefanik on Steve Bannon’s show

–Ruthless Podcast

–Steve’s piece on the GOP leadership issues

–Liz Cheney’s op-ed in the Washington Post

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Comments (31)
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  1. The.Cullens

    Please stop calling Trump “The President “. Only Biden is The President. Clinton Obama Bush are referred to as President Clinton, President Bush, etc.

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    Ben Connelly

    I liked hearing from Audrey and Haley. This was great. Always like their stuff on the site and (as much as I like hearing from the usual suspects) I always like it when other members of the Dispatch are on the podcast (Tom, Scott, Ms. Pletka, etc.).

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    Aylene Wright

    So in addition to the commentary, it just occurred to me that one of the tidbits of actual reporting here, that the other 9 House GOP members who voted to impeach Trump planned to support Cheney on the vote next week somewhat contradicted other reports that even some of them were getting annoyed at Cheney for continuing to discuss Trump's Big Lie.

    I say somewhat because obviously it's possible for someone like say, Tom Rice who's in a rather Trumpy district to be annoyed at Cheney but not enough to actually vote against her, especially if it's a secret ballot.

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    MarqueG68

    I'm starting to have my doubts about the presumed GOP House takeover next year. The story was, after all, quite similar beforehand about the two GA Senate seats--until the candidates and party followed El Bozo over a cliff.

    Just watch as he makes everyone in the party, with the House GOP organization acting as his personal enforcement GeStaPo, swear that DJT is the only person on the planet with the whole truth about the 2020 presidential election. That will sink every close, purple, or moderate district, even putting safe seats in jeopardy.

    If anyone can blow this thing, Schlitz-for-brainz Donnie can!

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      Rajeev

      I think the best chance for the Dems to maintain the house and senate is to have Donald Trump spend 90% of his efforts supporting stop the steal candidates in their efforts to take out fellow Republicans. Maybe he will find a way to put forth 1 or 2 less electable candidates in lean red states.

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      Steve Hayes

      Hey! Some of us (from Milwaukee) grew up drinking Schlitz! It's good!

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    Adicesa14

    Cheney, Stefanik, McCarthy, Jordan, … et al, are beside the point. They are distractions. The Republican unity problem is caused by Donald Trump, and they need to ignore that adolescent when they can and confront him when he attacks. Like ‘Fram,’ now or later, they will pay a price, regardless of their appeasements. Trump does not care about Party or Nation, will continue malevolent provocations, and relentlessly pursue revenge against all that disagree with him. He only cares about himself. That is his modus operandi. At some point, he will turn on everyone. Get it over with, move on.

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    J. Eric

    I appreciate the opportunity to hear TD writers every single time. It may not be conducive to clear thinking, but it’s nice to know I like the people I’ve trusted my information stream to.

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  7. BMW

    Normally I'd be encouraged by Republicans putting someone a little more liberal in leadership. It seems like it could make bipartisanship more likely. But someone who helped push election conspiracy and voted to overturn election results? No thanks.

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  8. GregS

    I'd like to see an update on the "burn it down" vs "support the GOP" debate. Having seen what a lack of firm repudiation of Trump and the GOP has wrought, do any of the Dispatchers look back at their positions pre-Nov 3rd and say, "damn, I was wrong about whether down-ballot Republicans should be supported."

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      Rajeev

      If they had burned it down and actually removed more senators and house members then 95% of Republican Congress members wouldn't have likely spent all of November and December pouring gasoline on the lie that resulted in January 6th and all the evils associated with it.

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    2. BMW

      I didn't vote for any down-ballot Republicans last November, but there are definitely some Republicans out there that I'd vote for, they're just not on my ballot.

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      1. GregS

        Sure. I also don't doubt that Steve Hayes would say that Liz Cheney is someone he still supports.
        But I want to know what their thoughts are about all the GOPers who, it turns out, may be rock-ribbed, but have no spines to which those ribs can attach.
        Is, "but if I don't keep quiet about this lie, someone who I think is worse will beat me in the primary" still a valid reason that one should vote for such MAGA-ists in a general election?
        What do they think about people like Ron DeSantis who will happily support the lie with their strategic silence and by passing voting laws meant to assuage the "stop the steal" crazies?
        Do they think it is a *good* thing that the Republicans will (in their opinion) likely retake control of the House and possibly the Senate in 2022? They've been curiously silent about this.
        Jonah loves to say, "oh I'm just a commentator, not a political pundit." To which, I say, "baloney." First of all, he has plenty of opinions, and he's not afraid to share them. Second, I'm not asking him to go and campaign for someone - I just want to know what he thinks would be good for the country. Would it be good for the GOP to win, led by the likes of McCarthy, Scalise, Stefanik and Jordan? Or would it be preferable for the GOP to lose big in 2022?
        This is an opinion site where readers come to hear the opinions of people they have grown to respect, and potentially to be persuaded in one direction or another. Jonah might think that the "to burn down or not to burn down" debate is pointless because Bill Kristol lacks the ability to burn down the GOP. But the act of having the debate and announcing your opinion is part of the process of trying to persuade people to follow the path you believe is the right one. You don't have to convince 50% of Republicans to be able to burn down the GOP, you only need to convince 5-10%, because without that group, you can't win.
        So where does he stand? Where do the rest of the Dispatch writers stand?

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        1. BMW

          I think the question about what Dispatch writers think about potential GOP control is interesting. It's their prerogative to share opinions when they think they are adequately informed, but I don't think they *owe* us their opinions on that, particularly a year and a half before the election. They are first and foremost journalists, not activists. The stated purpose of The Dispatch is provide fact based reporting and commentary while disclosing their biases. It's not to persuade people to vote a certain way.

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          1. GregS

            Disagree entirely. Jonah is like primarily a commentator not a fact based reporter. Ditto Sarah and David. Some of the others are more on the reporter side. Steve seems to fall somewhere in the middle. They "owe" us nothing - not even reporting. Commentary by its definition is meant to provide interpretation of current/past events and opinion on future events. The articles here have, for example, been talking about whether Bidens spending proposals are good or bad. Similarly, they could tell us if they think a Hluse and/or Senate controlled by today's GOP would be good or bad.

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  9. Richard Kennedy

    I’m wondering about the actual breakdown of the the Trump votes in November. Just yesterday, Jim Jordan used as a criticism of Cheney the fact that she was going against 74 million voters even as Stefanik has used that number while pushing it as the largest GOP vote in history. I wrote in Ben Sasse. I wonder how many of the 74 actually pulled the lever, filled the little box, or whatever, affirmatively and with exhortation. I suppose a vast majority did, but how many held their noses? How many were as averse to voting Dem like me, but still voted for the fake tan? This has bearing on how much potential there is in the Cheney Charge of the Light Brigade. I’m inspired by her on this. I’d guess that most reading this are too, but the Dispatch is probably wise not to disclose subscription numbers. In all the post election excitement and vitriol, has anyone crunched *these* numbers?

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      Steve Hayes

      This strikes me as an important point. Trump's base support is strong and deeply committed. But he undoubtedly won many votes from folks who were unenthusiastic about him but voted against Biden. (Trump's low favorables and high disapproval gives some indication of this -- there was a sizable group that didn't like him and voted for him anyway.) And I'd add this question: How many of those 74 million voted for Trump reluctantly but would have retracted that vote after the post-election conspiracies and his behavior on 1/6?

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        Rajeev

        I also think it cuts both ways. While I am vehemently against Donald Trump, the Republican Party takes their cue from him. Ben Sasse purposely stayed away from criticizing Donald Trump until after his primary was over. If Trump had endorsed his opponent Sasse would not be in the senate today.

        If you look back at the last several Republican presidents (or even nominees), you could make the same argument about the difference in core support versus unenthusiastic voters voting for the party nominee. It is clear that he is significantly more popular among the broad Republican electorate than his predecessors. People like Mike Pence or Marco Rubio rode Donald Trump's coattails and will find out how little the Republican voters actually care for him.

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  10. Aileen Gronewold

    Please stop referring to Donald Trump as “the President”! He’s the FORMER president, and it matters that you refer to him accordingly, given his ongoing assertion that he didn’t really lose the election. Thanks!

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    1. GregS

      They were falling right into that trap weren't they? It's Trump's super power - like when he co-opted "fake news." Now he's trying to make it so that "the president" means Trump.

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    2. Richard Kennedy

      If only. If one quotes Stefanik, one has to go with the president. I notice that most outlets who quote her accurately do not capitalize president, hopefully to make just the distinction you suggest. At least that is pretty clear to me.

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