The Right Resistance: Four bits of free advice for Liz Cheney before it’s too late

Liz Cheney needs a political consultant with a brain. And possibly some sedatives.

This fact has been evident for a long time, but with multiple commemorations of the January 6, 2021 riot streaming across TV screens like a snake through a grade school kid’s backyard birthday party last week, one couldn’t help but conclude that Cheney’s dour and sulking face has been around much too frequently. As the most prominent Republican on Nancy Pelosi’s “January 6 Select Committee,” practically every liberal establishment media outlet -- a.k.a. all of them except Fox News -- has rolled over to get Liz to appear on their shows, say something incendiary and anti-Trump, and then forget about her as she slinks to the background, never to be seen again until they need a cheap “quote for hire” bagwoman again. Cheney doesn’t appear to notice that the liberal opportunists want just one thing from her, to say dumb things that make her colleagues look awful while depicting herself as a bumptious, sanctimonious hack from a political family who’s so obtuse that she doesn’t grasp how much people from both sides of the aisle really loathe her. Seriously, would any Democrat love a member of the Cheney family? They’re about as popular in Democrat-land as an Alabama fan at a Georgia home football game. To make matters worse -- if it’s even possible -- Liz is bent on running for reelection this year. It’s not Democrats who will be casting ballots to determine her future -- and let’s face it, liberals wouldn’t vote for her no matter how many times she’s puckered up when Pelosi walks by -- it will be Wyoming’s conservatives doing the handy work. It’s conceivable Cheney could curry favor with her state’s party establishment leadership by being a good girl and walking an intermediate path like her dad and former president George W. Bush and the Karl Roves of the world always did. But she doesn’t. Liz chooses to make a spectacle of herself and add fuel to the fire instead. Which is why she needs a good consultant, and possibly some meds to sustain her through this most difficult of upcoming political seasons. What would he or she say to someone as hopeless as Liz? Kerry Pickett reported at The Washington Times:

“The Wyoming Republican Party lashed out at Rep. Liz Cheney after she called the top official in the state GOP ‘quite radical.’

“The state party hit her for sounding more like Hillary Clinton than a Republican and for embarking on a crusade against fellow Republicans.

“’If Ms. Cheney wants to continue to pick a fight with the majority of Wyoming Republicans and accuse the vast majority of being deplorables and radicals, then of course she can continue that foolish ploy,’ the Wyoming GOP statement read. ‘She can also continue to engage in the politics of personal destruction with other Republicans – which is her specialty and only real qualification to sit on the farcical January 6 Commission – but that is unlikely to improve her position in the polls.’”

Let’s face it, if there were a hall of shame for worst politicians of all-time, Cheney wouldn’t even need the institution’s membership to vote her into it. Liz is so horrible that an invitation’s already been sent to Dick Cheney’s daughter to take a seat in between Jimmy Carter and Richard Nixon who’s seated just to the left of Walter Mondale next to Michael Dukakis. I haven’t seen any polls lately, but her favorability rating with Republicans must be below twenty percent. Or maybe even ten percent. News travels slow in the wide-open spaces of The Cowboy State, doesn’t it?

There’s probably some cabin dwelling hermit in the Teton Range who still thinks Liz Cheney is the best thing since sliced bread. But there can’t be many with the same belief.

I say this as someone who has family in the state. On-the-ground reports indicate Cheney is toast. One such individual who’s very knowledgeable but not overly politically active said he’s going to personally start working for Liz’s removal. That’s saying a lot, trust me.

Of course former President Donald Trump has already endorsed Liz’s main intra-party challenger, attorney Harriet Hageman, in the Wyoming GOP primary contest (which will take place in August). I’m not sure how many contenders there will be when summer comes around, but the only way Cheney could possibly squeak by is for conservatives to split their votes. There aren’t enough suckers anywhere to make it happen otherwise.

I’m not a political consultant, but if Cheney were to offer me an adviser position, I wouldn’t take it! But advice is worth what you pay for it, so here’re a few tips for nothing, Liz.

First, during the next meeting of the Pelosi “January 6 Select Committee”, ditch the normal Democrat talking points and start asking the witnesses questions from conservatives. Liz can beg forgiveness from Jim Jordan for all her heresies against him and other conservatives, then beseech him to jot down what he’d ask if he were in the chair.

Wouldn’t you love to see the look on Nancy Pelosi’s face as Cheney begins interrogating the Democrats’ star witnesses about why the Speaker and other party leaders rejected Trump’s offer to send as many as 10,000 National Guard troops on 1/6/21? Or why the crowd size and intensity took them by surprise when practically everyone was warned ahead of time about the possibilities for emotion-induced trouble?

Second, make a very public demonstration of remorse and contrition to Donald Trump.

Everyone knows Liz Cheney is one of a dwindling contingent of RINO Republicans who believes American foreign policy should be based on spreading democracy to nations where it would never succeed and deploying America’s sons and daughters in situations where there is no mission objective and therefore no chance of success.

Cheney’s was one of few voices who advocated for staying in Afghanistan indefinitely. She’s also still delusional and likely believes the United States won the Iraq War. But at what price? Over 4000 dead U.S. servicemen and women weren’t enough to convince intractable neoconservatives that nation building exercises don’t work and George W. Bush is a political pariah because his presidency accelerated the decline of fiscal sanity in the new century.

Cheney’s father and George W. led to the rise of Donald Trump. Without Jeb Bush being in the 2016 Republican race, it wouldn’t have been nearly as easy for Trump to convince national security-minded Republican voters that endless wars don’t produce anything positive and only ruin the country’s reputation abroad and make lots of widows at home.

Apologizing to Trump probably wouldn’t improve Cheney’s contemporary political prospects but it might eventually lead to better feelings towards she and her family. To make the scene more convincing, perhaps papa Dick and his buddies George W, Laura and Jeb! could join Liz in the public demonstration. A little -- or a lot -- of groveling could win some favor back. Republicans generally aren’t vindictive, are they?

Third, calm down. Someone like Donald Trump is very effective at displaying a wide range of emotions publicly. Trump feeds off the energy of a crowd where he’s happy as a pitcher on opening day, tossing high ones, low ones and an occasional delivery right across the plate. Then there’s his opposite side, exhibiting righteous anger at all the opportune times.

Liz Cheney isn’t like that. Anger doesn’t work for her, especially since the object of her ire -- Trump and his supporters -- have already tabbed her as an out-of-touch elitist establishment goon. Coming across as an old grouch isn’t helping her. Voters prefer a happy warrior with substance. Cheney is neither. Sedatives, anyone?

Lastly, resign. Say what?

Removing herself from Congress would throw a definite cog in Pelosi’s retribution machine and help convince the few remaining fence-sitters that the Democrats’ January 6 witch hunt isn’t any different than the Russian collusion farce Democrats prosecuted during Trump’s presidency. Wimpy weakling Adam Kinzinger couldn’t do anything without big sister Liz telling him what to say and where to stand.

Removing Kinzinger’s security blanket would leave him squalling like an infant and his invitations to Democrat talking heads’ shows would dry up accordingly. Pelosi might try to fill Cheney’s seat on the committee with one of Liz’s fellow RINOs who voted for Trump’s impeachment, but the others lack the stature and name recognition of the former GOP vice president’s little girl.

Pretty much anyway you look at it, Liz Cheney’s political career is over. There’s very little that can be done to bring it back, too. Politicians often have as many lives as the proverbial cat, but Cheney’s made too many enemies to be viable again in the future. Trump can cross her name off his hit list, and conservatives will be glad for it.

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