Talking with popular podcaster Jon Favreau, former Congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-WY) was asked how she squared her ‘unlikely” new role as a “resistance hero” against Donald Trump and a MAGA movement Cheney has characterized as authoritarian. (Cheney’s longstanding anti-Trump stance — manifest in her leadership role on the Jan 6 Committee — got her booted from Congress by irate MAGA adherents.)
But her rejection by voters hasn’t slowed Cheney’s criticism of the former President, who she portrays as a threat to Constitutional democracy, nor of his “crackpot” enablers. Cheney, like many Democrats on high alert, takes Trump at his word when he says things like that he wants to be a dictator on “day one” of a second term.
It’s that authoritarian tendency that fueled her podcast answer about leading the Trump resistance — or at least being among the most prominent anti-Trumpers in the Republican Party, a party which censured Cheney for her role on the Jan 6 committee.
"One of the things that does give me hope is how many people have said…they don't think about 'Well, am I a Republican or a Democrat?' They're saying, 'Are we going to live in a country that's governed by the Constitution?'" —@Liz_Cheney
— Pod Save America (@PodSaveAmerica) January 26, 2024
Full interview: https://t.co/9KCff8AJ5i pic.twitter.com/gHS0GIlx7U
Cheney says she is heartened that the Trump presidency and his 2024 campaign have changed the big question that people — especially young people — are asking themselves. The new binary for young voters, Cheney says, is not between Republicans and Democrats — instead it’s the question of whether they want to live in a country “governed by the Constitution” or governed by a regime with (at least) one foot in fascism.
