At its meeting in Salt Lake City, the Republican National Committee took the unprecedented step of condemning Rep. Liz Cheney for her participation on the January 6 Committee and funding her primary challenger, Harriet Hageman.
The Wyoming GOP privately signed a letter that would allow the RNC to financially support Hageman and recognize her as the presumptive nominee for the seat.
Unlike the other GOP heretic sitting on the January 6 Committee, Illinois Representative Adam Kinzinger, Cheney is not resigning.
In response to the party passing the “Rule 11” resolution that could fund Cheney’s challenger, a spokesman for Cheney said: “Wyoming Party Chairman Frank Eathorne and the Republican National Committee are trying to assert their will and take away the voice of the people of Wyoming before a single vote has even been cast.”
Kinzinger’s fate was sealed by Democrats when they redrew his district, making it 60% Democratic. Local Republicans didn’t object much, so Kinzinger decided to retire from the House and perhaps make a run for higher office later.
Related: Nick Searcy Blows the Lid Off the Jan 6. Narrative With ‘Capitol Punishment’
Cheney was at 18% in the latest district poll so even if she decides to stick it out, she won’t have much of a chance. The party leadership will make sure of that.
Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel also worked behind the scenes with David Bossie, a top Trump ally, to author and push a resolution that attacked Cheney’s work on the committee, called her a “destructive” force in the GOP and vowed the party would no longer support her.
“We’ve had two members engage in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens who engaged in legitimate political discourse. This has gone beyond their original intent. They are not sticking up for hard-working Republicans,” McDaniel said in a joint interview with Bossie at a Salt Lake City hotel where the party is holding its winter meeting.
Bossie called it a “one-two punch” against Cheney that signaled a message from the GOP at the state and national levels.
That message is that we must all hang together or each hang separately. Cheney and Kinzinger believed that their individual consciences were more important to them than the party. Now the party is showing them what they think about their consciences.
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