Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney has lost her position as chairwoman of the Republican Congressional Conference. She lost her battle for control of the “party of elephants” after Trump’s resignation in just a couple of months
This conference is the main “caucus” of the Republicans, where all key intra-party decisions are made. And the chairmanship de facto means being at the very top of the party hierarchy. Cheney was the third person in that hierarchy – but is now left with nothing.
In fact, the very fact that she is in such a position is surprising in its own way. After all, she is a neophyte politician who was only elected to Congress in 2014. But Cheney had the “right” last name and she was helped by gender. She was literally promoted through family ties and the right “quota”.
Earlier this year, Cheney supported Trump’s impeachment and then went on to launch a series of publications about how Republicans need to throw away his legacy and move somewhere else.
Such a viewpoint is not particularly popular in the camp of the party, which continues to support Trump’s ideas. And any alternatives to his populist revolution – such as a return to the neoconservatism of the Bush Jr. era – do not seem particularly promising.
In 2008, at the end of Bush’s presidency, Dick Cheney, Liz’s father, was polling at a mere 13 per cent. Republicans then definitively rejected the neocon ideology, which had shown utter failure over years of endless wars and attempts at “national-building” in the Middle East.
Curiously, Trump, even in retirement, was able to do away with yet another political dynasty in America. He already has the scalps of Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush in his collection. The time has now come for Liz Cheney, whose hardware loss closed the last chapter in the book on the neocons.
But her status as a rank-and-file congresswoman won’t leave her in trouble either. In her native Wyoming, most voters view Cheney negatively and she could easily be rolled in 2022.
In the next election, the Republicans hope to take the majority in the House of Representatives and renew the party in the primaries. The current episode with Cheney’s departure fits into the general pattern of “self-cleansing” of the Republicans from the clan apparatchiks in favour of fresh faces.
Malek Dudakov