Maryland Republican Gov. Larry Hogan came to Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney’s defense Tuesday, who stands at risk of losing her House leadership position after continuing to undermine the conference she chairs.
Hogan derided Republican lawmakers for engaging in “cancel culture” for their pursuit to remove Cheney from her post after House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was caught on a hot mic where he shared he had “lost confidence” in Cheney’s ability to lead Tuesday morning.
“Republican leaders are rightly opposed to cancel culture on the left,” Hogan wrote on Twitter. “They should not be using it against their own members.”
Republican leaders are rightly opposed to cancel culture on the left. They should not be using it against their own members.
After losing the House, the Senate, and the White House, our party desperately needs a bigger tent, not a smaller one. https://t.co/ksvuFedwCk
— Larry Hogan (@LarryHogan) May 4, 2021
The Maryland governor’s defense came after McCarthy’s comments made clear where the most powerful Republican in the lower chamber stood on a second referendum over Cheney’s seat in leadership.
“I have heard from members concerned about her ability to carry out the job as conference chair – to carry out the message … I think she’s got real problems,” McCarthy said before an interview on “Fox & Friends.” “I’ve had it with her, you know. I’ve lost confidence.”
As House Republican conference chair, Cheney undermined the conference she leads by going off message and out of her way to antagonize the party’s base which still embraces Trumpism. Emboldened by surviving a first referendum in February to follow her pro-impeachment vote, Cheney vilified her own party as one rooted in white supremacy.
She continues her public feud with the former president who remains the most popular Republican in the country. The Wyoming representative’s aggressive pursuit of a GOP civil war to weed the party of Trumpism, an ideological battle that doesn’t exist outside the beltway, has provoked the backlash in the lower chamber among those who seek accountability, smeared as “cancellation” by Cheney’s ally.
Cancel Culture is the deliberate de-platforming and/or ultimate unemployment of an individual for views fraudulently held to be outside an increasingly turbulent public square, which often features past statements dug up in bad faith to deploy online mobs against the dissident. The culture is wielded as a tool to penalize people for things that could otherwise be a justifiable position or an apology-level offense, and excommunicate the guilty culprit from the public square. Cancel culture is not a symptom of clear-cut accountability.
While Cheney’s January crusade on impeachment, where she led the futile effort to recruit Republican colleagues to join Democrats on the vote helped fuel the first recall vote on Cheney’s role in leadership, her persistent efforts to divide the party since have only infuriated members who defended her, including McCarthy.
New reporting to surface since then on the blockbuster Russian bounties story of last summer has also exposed Cheney as a primary culprit of spreading fake news to undermine the Trump administration and prolong the forever wars in the Middle East.
Fed up with the three-term at-large congresswoman of Wyoming, House Republicans on the verge of a second referendum within four months have opened an opportunity for New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, a clear front-runner to replace Cheney in leadership. Sefanik played a major role in successful candidate recruitment and fundraising of last year’s cycle.
Cheney’s lackluster performance supporting candidates in the November election has only contributed to the stark contrast between the incumbent conference chair and her potential replacement, whereas Stefanik has been a consistent and articulate defender of Republican unity and the America First agenda.
