Cheney had the temerity to refuse to forgive or forget the January 6 insurrection. In addition to being ousted from her leadership role in the party, she has been criticized for everything from her politics to her decision to politely greet President Biden during the State of the Union address. One of her colleagues, in display of the sort of juvenile trolling increasingly common among Republicans, tweeted a childish “hey, hey goodbye” at her after she lost her position. The events of January 6 are sufficiently recent that the effort to erase the memory of them is still ongoing. Some Republican members of the House are trying to recharacterize the riot as a “normal tourist visit” and condemned the FBI’s investigation of the insurrection as the “harassing peaceful patriots.” Likewise, Sen. Ron Johnson has claimed that the assault was “by and large” a peaceful protest, which is true in the same sense that Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865 was “by and large” free of assassinations. Cheney’s refusal to let this destruction of history stand unchallenged is what they fear. Projection is a strategy born of weakness and the recognition that there is no defense for the Republican party’s actions. By refusing to be deterred, she exposes the Republican party to scrutiny for inciting and defending the insurrection.