Bad idea Liz:
Liz Cheney, one of the most vociferous critics of Donald Trump in the Republican Party, says she is weighing whether to mount her own third-party candidacy for the White House, as she vows to do “whatever it takes” to prevent the former president from returning to office.
While promoting her new book “Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning,” the former Wyoming congresswoman — who was defeated by a Trump loyalist last year — is warning that Trump could transform America’s democracy into a dictatorship if he is reelected; anticipating, she said, that he would attempt to stay longer than his term.
“Several years ago, I would not have contemplated a third-party run,” Cheney said in a Monday interview with The Washington Post. But, she said, “I happen to think democracy is at risk at home, obviously, as a result of Donald Trump’s continued grip on the Republican Party, and I think democracy is at risk internationally as well.”
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Given her appeal to independents, former Republicans and some Democrats, many Trump critics in both parties have noted that a presidential run by Cheney could undercut her stated goal of defeating Trump, because it could draw some votes away from President Biden. Cheney said those considerations would all be part of her analysis, and underscored that she would not do anything that would help Trump return to the White House.
Cheney, whose father is former vice president Dick Cheney, said she will make a final decision in the next few months. “We face threats that could be existential to the United States and we need a candidate who is going to be able to deal with and address and confront all of those challenges,” Cheney said. “That will all be part of my calculation as we go into the early months of 2024.”
The former congresswoman would face a daunting task if she decides to run — and not just because of the deep antipathy toward her that Trump fostered among many Republicans as he urged them to cast her from office. To run for president outside the two-party system in America, candidates must either attach themselves to third parties that have ballot access or petition for their own place on state ballots, which can be a costly and cumbersome process. In order for a candidate to participate in the debates organized by The Commission on Presidential Debates next fall, they must have at least 15 percent support in national polls and are required to meet other criteria.
If she does not run for the White House, Cheney is not ruling out voting for Biden or campaigning for him if he is the 2024 Democratic nominee. In a remarkable turn of events for a former member of House GOP leadership, Cheney also said she would use her influence in 2024 to ensure voters do not elect a pro-Trump Republican majority in the House and that she will back “pro-Constitution candidates” and “serious people,” regardless of party.
She argues that the Trump “enablers” who control the House — among whom she includes House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) — pose a serious threat because they would likely accede to Trump’s demands. That includes the possibility that Trump loyalists in the House would try to interfere with the election results in January 2025 if given the opportunity.
Cheney writes in her book that voters from throughout the political spectrum should unite behind the cause not only of stopping Trump from regaining the White House, but also curbing the power of those “enablers” who she says have “preyed on the patriotism of millions of Americans.”
“This is more important than partisan politics,” she writes in the epilogue. “Every one of us — Republican, Democrat, Independent — must work and vote together to ensure that Donald Trump and those who have appeased, enabled, and collaborated with him are defeated. This is the cause of our time.”
At a moment when Trump is leading his GOP rivals by more than 40 points in many polls of the Republican race, she contends that not just the Republican primary electorate but the party itself has “lost its way,” caught in the grip of what she calls the “cult of personality.”
Because of that, the “tectonic plates of our politics are shifting,” she said, and conventional wisdom about third parties and the bifurcated primary process that produces a Republican nominee and a Democratic nominee is “pretty irrelevant, in my view, in the 2024 cycle, because the threat is so unique.”
Liz Cheney, one of the most vociferous critics of Donald Trump in the Republican Party, says she is weighing whether to mount her own third-party candidacy for the White House, as she vows to do “whatever it takes” to prevent the former president from returning to office.
While promoting her new book “Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning,” the former Wyoming congresswoman — who was defeated by a Trump loyalist last year — is warning that Trump could transform America’s democracy into a dictatorship if he is reelected; anticipating, she said, that he would attempt to stay longer than his term.
“Several years ago, I would not have contemplated a third-party run,” Cheney said in a Monday interview with The Washington Post. But, she said, “I happen to think democracy is at risk at home, obviously, as a result of Donald Trump’s continued grip on the Republican Party, and I think democracy is at risk internationally as well.”
ADVERTISING
Given her appeal to independents, former Republicans and some Democrats, many Trump critics in both parties have noted that a presidential run by Cheney could undercut her stated goal of defeating Trump, because it could draw some votes away from President Biden. Cheney said those considerations would all be part of her analysis, and underscored that she would not do anything that would help Trump return to the White House.
Cheney, whose father is former vice president Dick Cheney, said she will make a final decision in the next few months. “We face threats that could be existential to the United States and we need a candidate who is going to be able to deal with and address and confront all of those challenges,” Cheney said. “That will all be part of my calculation as we go into the early months of 2024.”
The former congresswoman would face a daunting task if she decides to run — and not just because of the deep antipathy toward her that Trump fostered among many Republicans as he urged them to cast her from office. To run for president outside the two-party system in America, candidates must either attach themselves to third parties that have ballot access or petition for their own place on state ballots, which can be a costly and cumbersome process. In order for a candidate to participate in the debates organized by The Commission on Presidential Debates next fall, they must have at least 15 percent support in national polls and are required to meet other criteria.
If she does not run for the White House, Cheney is not ruling out voting for Biden or campaigning for him if he is the 2024 Democratic nominee. In a remarkable turn of events for a former member of House GOP leadership, Cheney also said she would use her influence in 2024 to ensure voters do not elect a pro-Trump Republican majority in the House and that she will back “pro-Constitution candidates” and “serious people,” regardless of party.
She argues that the Trump “enablers” who control the House — among whom she includes House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) — pose a serious threat because they would likely accede to Trump’s demands. That includes the possibility that Trump loyalists in the House would try to interfere with the election results in January 2025 if given the opportunity.
Cheney writes in her book that voters from throughout the political spectrum should unite behind the cause not only of stopping Trump from regaining the White House, but also curbing the power of those “enablers” who she says have “preyed on the patriotism of millions of Americans.”
“This is more important than partisan politics,” she writes in the epilogue. “Every one of us — Republican, Democrat, Independent — must work and vote together to ensure that Donald Trump and those who have appeased, enabled, and collaborated with him are defeated. This is the cause of our time.”
At a moment when Trump is leading his GOP rivals by more than 40 points in many polls of the Republican race, she contends that not just the Republican primary electorate but the party itself has “lost its way,” caught in the grip of what she calls the “cult of personality.”
Because of that, the “tectonic plates of our politics are shifting,” she said, and conventional wisdom about third parties and the bifurcated primary process that produces a Republican nominee and a Democratic nominee is “pretty irrelevant, in my view, in the 2024 cycle, because the threat is so unique.”
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