GOP groups rushing to try to save Liz Cheney in her primary for some reason

Jim Bourg/Pool via AP

But why?

It’s not going to work. And at this point, I don’t think she wants to be saved. She’s accepted her fate and is prepared for civic martyrdom at the hands of MAGA.

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Does this sound like someone who’s trying to win over Republicans in a state Trump won by 44 points?

“Dick Cheney is a war criminal..lied to the American people and brought nothing but death and destruction to Iraq ….Cheney’s demon seed will be destroyed at the polls by the good folks in Wyoming… and then we will be done with them,” Steve Bannon said yesterday after Dick’s new ad appeared, no doubt expressing the views of many Trump voters.

You think the “demon seed” stands a chance in a Republican primary in the reddest state in the country?

Per Axios, there are still some righty groups out there fighting on her behalf for every remaining vote, God love ’em. Suddenly I hear Sean Connery’s voice in my head: Indiana, let it go.

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A handful of Republican operatives are quietly mounting a last-ditch effort to rescue Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) from a Trump-backed primary challenge, Axios has learned…

Wyomingites Defending Freedom and Democracy is running digital and television ads and encouraging Democrats in the state to cross party lines and vote for Cheney in the Aug. 16 primary.

Conservatives for a Strong America is portraying Hageman as a fake conservative secretly in league with Cheney and critical of Trump.

The latter group is also trying to boost two of Cheney’s other primary challengers in an apparent effort to split the anti-Cheney vote.

If they go all out and spend every available dime on this race, I’m confident they can reduce Liz’s margin of defeat from 40 points to 30.

My sense is that Cheney is far, far less concerned with winning or losing than with communicating her defiance of Trump to the bitter end. There was no need to showcase Dick Cheney attacking Trump in an ad that didn’t so much as mention the word “Wyoming.” Neither was there a need for Liz to sit down with CNN to reiterate her belief that the former guy should be prosecuted for January 6. All of that is certain to antagonize primary voters, which is nonsensical for a candidate who’s trying to win but quite sensible for a candidate whose priority is to hold Trump accountable at whatever personal cost, even if no other Republican will. Especially if no other Republican will.

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Besides, I think she’s already looking past her primary.

Apart from her and Adam Kinzinger, every House Republican who voted to impeach Trump tried in the aftermath to avoid talking about it in hopes that Republican voters would forgive and forget — and nearly all of them are headed out of Congress anyway. Cheney and Kinzinger owned their votes from day one and now they’re getting their money’s worth out of their time left as House members on the January 6 committee. That’s what the others should have done. Cheney will get obliterated in her primary, but between exposing Trump’s culpability for the insurrection and refusing him the satisfaction of seeing her clam up in fear of defeat, she’s getting her shots in before she goes.

In her heart of hearts, I wonder if she’d prefer a truly lopsided defeat at this point to one that’s closer than observers expect. Insofar as there’s an element of martyrdom here for having had the courage to do the right thing where so many others failed, it’s more glaring if she’s crushed than if she loses narrowly.

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If so, I think she’s going to get her wish.

Here’s one last clip about the sadness she and her father share about what’s happening to the party, which is … also not a natural message for a candidate who’s 11 days out from a party primary.

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John Sexton 9:20 PM | November 01, 2024
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