Liz Cheney and Harriet Hageman are former allies whose careers are moving in opposite directions, thanks to former President Donald Trump.
Hageman walloped the three-term congresswoman by nearly 40 percentage points in the August Republican primary, a victory so resounding it slammed the door shut on Cheney’s political future in Wyoming.
Opinion
But Cheney is far from done with Trump or national politics. And while Hageman will be off to Washington after a general election contest she’s poised to win by another landslide, she may find life in the Beltway far less satisfying than she imagined from Cheyenne.
Cheney has three months left in office, time she will maximize to sink Trump’s chances of returning to the White House. That’s been her goal since a week after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection, when she and nine other GOP House members voted to impeach the lame-duck president.
Though it took a year and a half for Cheney’s party to give her the heave-ho in Wyoming, that single vote sealed her fate. Hageman wasn’t initially even considered a dark horse candidate to replace Cheney. But after a job interview with Trump she won his seal of approval, and that was that.
Cheney’s lasting legacy will be her work as vice chairman of the House committee investigating what happened before, during and after Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol. The panel has painstakingly connected the dots between the mob’s actions and the efforts of Trump and his cronies to keep him in office. The committee will hold its final scheduled public hearing Wednesday and, ultimately will issue its official report,
Last week, the House approved a bill sponsored by Cheney and committee colleague Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-California) to reform the 1887 Electoral Count Act. The measure is aimed at preventing another assault on American democracy during congressional certification of presidential elections.
The measure makes it clear the vice president’s role presiding over the Senate is only ceremonial, with no “authority or discretion” to reject an election’s result or delay certification. Trump applied intense pressure on former Vice President Mike Pence to do just that. Pence refused to stop the count.
Instead of allowing a single lawmaker to delay the proceedings by objecting to a state’s electors, the House bill requires 30% of the body to do so. More than half of the members in both chambers would have to vote to sustain an objection.
The House measure appears to have strong bipartisan backing with the support of all 50 Democratic senators plus 10 Republicans, which means it can survive a filibuster and win approval. The two bodies will likely squabble over the final version, but Democrats see this as their golden opportunity to prevent the type of parliamentary coup Trump envisioned. They won’t be denied, and Cheney — a conservative at odds with Democrats on just about every other major issue — will be integral to their success.
“This bill will preserve the rule of law and defend election integrity,” Cheney said.
As a freshman representative from the state with the fewest people, Hageman normally wouldn’t attract a lot of attention. But her massive win over Cheney, with Trump’s backing, will put her in the national spotlight.
That doesn’t mean the coverage will be positive. In fact, Hageman is already controversial thanks to her insistence that the 2020 election was “rigged” against Trump.
“We feel compelled to express our deep concern and disappointment that in recent weeks you have chosen to lend your credibility as a Wyoming lawyer to the myth that the 2020 presidential election was stolen,” 41 attorneys stated in a recent letter to Hageman.
The lawyers and retired judges said Hageman’s claims are contrary to the rule of law and destabilizing to democratic institutions. In response, she seized the opportunity to defend Trump and play the victim.
“Make no mistake, this letter is meant as a threat against me simply because I hold a different political opinion, one that is shared by a majority of Wyoming voters,” Hageman responded. “And this is exactly what Liz Cheney’s allies and the left do to Trump supporters and conservatives at every turn —attempt to threaten, intimidate and cancel anyone who doesn’t see the world the way they do.”
Which is pure nonsense. Hageman owes her political career to Trump, but she can’t change what the courts, cybersecurity experts, the Department of Justice and battleground-state recounts affirm: He was dumped by voters fair and square.
At the Heritage Foundation’s recent Constitution Day event in Washington, Hageman called the FBI’s search for documents Trump took to Mar-a-Lago a “partisan witch hunt.” She sympathized with Capitol rioters and claimed they are being punished by Democrats, the “political elite [who] celebrate their suffering” in jail.
It’s more likely Cheney puts the Equality State in her rearview mirror and heads home to Virginia.
If she’s so confident she’s right, why won’t Hageman participate in a Wyoming PBS debate with Democratic nominee Lynnette Grey Bull and their two minor-party opponents? Hageman relishes lobbing grenades from Washington in front of a right-wing audience, but she does a disservice to all Wyoming voters by refusing to share the stage with her competitors.
In D.C., Hageman trotted out the same boogeymen she did in her Wyoming campaign: Joe Biden, federal bureaucrats, the EPA, federal overreach, Hunter Biden, all of Roosevelt’s New Deal programs and “Silicon Valley oligarchs” out to silence Trump and all conservatives. She accused Democrats of “despising what America stands for.”
Such radical diatribes suggest Hageman is poised to join her party’s most embarrassing lawmakers, including Reps. Paul Gosar of Arizona, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Lauren Boebert of Colorado.
Meanwhile, what happens to Cheney when her Jan. 6 committee work is done? Some observers think she might lead what’s left of her party if Republicans grow weary of Trump’s criminality and election whining. A White House bid is possible, if only to take votes away from Trump or prevent an heir apparent like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis from following in his footsteps.
Cheney is a prolific fundraiser, as she demonstrated in her primary race against Hageman. But I don’t expect Democrats across the country to keep contributing to someone who’s the antithesis of their party.
It’s more likely Cheney puts the Equality State in her rearview mirror and heads home to Virginia, which just happens to have two Democratic U.S. senators to run against. If she can’t jump-start her political career there, other options include TV talking head, think-tank director or lobbyist. A best-selling memoir on her battle with Trump is a no-brainer.
When it comes to predicting what’s in store for Cheney, I’ve mostly failed. When I peer into my Magic 8 Ball and ask about her future, it should respond, “Why bother? You stink at this.”
Nearly everyone immediately wrote Cheney’s political obituary after her impeachment vote, but I thought she could eke out a win if her opponents split the vote and Democrats crossed over in droves for the GOP primary. The latter happened, but Trump’s Hageman endorsement had an even greater influence.
By Election Day it was clear Cheney would lose, but I didn’t believe my Republican friends (yes, I have some) who promised a blowout. They knew the anger of voters who felt betrayed was off the charts.
But Cheney has secured her place in U.S. history as a profile in courage. When you help save our constitutional republic by taking down a former president who will stop at nothing to retain power, you don’t need to pad your resume.
Country will always be first….Hag man
Minor players that will be skipped over and soon forgotten by all except as footnotes.
Hahaha
Why would Harriet lend her credibility to scammers and hoaxers?
Another funny piece from the Mr Haney of Wyoming politics.
HAHAHA. She has no credibility.
Since there are not enough unethical creeps to pull off a vote swindle here in Wyoming…. Harriet and the truth will win. That won’t prevent the apocalypse that Democrats are causing, but at least the traitors won’t have a demon in Congress to stab us in the back.
Most people know who the vote “swindlers” are, and they’re not the Democrats. Even you know who they are.
More doom and gloom hyperbole.
It’s a shame that differing opinions scares the chrump fanatics so much.
Some may call this an “analysis”, but for the most part this qualifies more as an “opinion” piece. Along that line, what view does the writer hold of the reported 74 million voters who cast their vote for Trump? Chumps?
It says opinion on the top of the article.
Will you be informing everyone that water is wet as well?
Hageman and the Wyoming GOP that wholeheartedly backs her engage in a couple of “criminal thinking errors.” One is closed channel thinking. “Criminal thinkers are closed off from being receptive, are closed to any interest in being self-critical and also shut down from disclosing the truth about their destructive behavior.” Hageman refuses to debate her Democratic opponent. She will not illuminate or demonstrate the foundation of her assertions that the election was stolen, that the Dems are elitist, etc. She will not entertain the idea that being closed off from debate and making claims refuted by legal evidence is destructive of a fair political process and the moral and ethical well-being of the citizens of Wyoming.
Another criminal thinking error used by the Wyoming GOP and their mouthpiece Hageman is the victim stance. Criminal thinkers blame others for situations they themselves have caused. Trump lost the election and fostered the 1-6 resurrection in DC. His lies are well-documented. He refuses to accept the fact he lost the election and blames county election officers, the media, Biden, et al. Hageman regurgitates Trump’s lies and paints herself and fellow liars as somehow fighting for freedom.
If it is the freedom to lie and create false narratives in the overt effort to grab maintain and expand power, then the Hageman and the Wyoming GOP are doing a good job. Big Tent Republicans are being picked off one by one in Wyoming. There is no room anymore for reasoned debate about what’s best for Wyomingites. What’s mind boggling is the number of citizens who would rather blindly follow people who lie to them rather than ask what their self-interests are, and who best is working for them. Closed channel thinking permeates deep into the citizenry.
There are still rational Republicans out there. Maybe someday the “party” will see the light and be open to other conservative perspectives, perspectives not based in a bald faced set of lies.
Thanks Kerry Drake. It’s not about winning a battle in the struggle for justice but winning the war. Liz Cheney lost a battle, but she can be a major player in winning the war. She is only an ally with Democrats in being against Trump, who is now the leader of the threat to the survival of democracy and of upholding truth, counter to any notion of justice and equality.
Good article Kerry. Thank you.
If you want a real American to represent Wyoming, vote for Lynette Grey Bull. She’s the only real American in this race.
Well said.
I am of the opinion that any Wyoming resident with half a brain who can their own critical thinking , upon seeing this situation en toto , starts doing everything at their disposal to make statewide elected office an utterly miserable experience for Harriet Hageman , and by default Chuck Gray and anyone else who rode in on Trump’s Big Lie backflap.
sour grapes?
I am ashamed of Wyoming. I wonder if we can sink any lower…
When Chuck Gray controls election oversight, you will see how much lower Wyoming can go. All lies with no evidence is his and Hagemann’s agenda.
Go Liz Go. Down the floor and out the door – Go Liz Go !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂
Great analysis, Drake! Keep up the good work.
I think Biden will offer Liz, rival Republican or not, a major government slot but maybe partisan politicis don’t operate that way??? You’re assuming that Greene and Boebert will win their elections and become buds with Hageman, but Boebert , who is being challenged by Adam Frisch, a rich Aspen councilman who has put Sol Sandoval, a primary opponent and Latina Pueblo activist on his team, is keeping a low profile lately ,though Greene remains completely off the rails and her opponent is raising a ton of money . Meanwhile, Kerry, Mark Danner has a fabulous article about Trump in the current edition of New York Review of Books in which he explains the Trump supporters’ mind– why the more proof that is offered that Trump did not win the election, the more they believe that he did. It is hard for us rational Dems to understand .
What makes you think Hageman will be going to the White House? I am counting on Grey Bull winning the primary.