Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), whose criticism of former President Trump has alienated some Republicans, said in a new interview that the GOP is “very sick” and predicted it could take “several cycles” for the party to heal from internal strife and aggressive extremism.
Cheney told The New York Times a little more than a week before her primary challenge against a candidate endorsed by Trump that she is a Republican for life but not a supporter of the current state of the GOP.
She said the GOP is “continuing to drive itself in a ditch and I think it’s going to take several cycles if it can be healed.”
Cheney also questioned other rising stars in the Republican Party, such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Reps. Marjorie Taylor Green (Ga.) and Lauren Boebert (Colo.).
The Wyoming lawmaker told the Times that DeSantis has “lined himself up almost entirely with Donald Trump,” which she said could be “dangerous,” and also that she would rather serve with most Democratic women than Republicans like Greene and Boebert.
“What the country needs are serious people who are willing to engage in debates about policy,” she told the Times.
Cheney, the vice chair of the House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, was among 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump over the rioting.
The congresswoman also went to great lengths during a series of congressional hearings this summer to place Trump at the center of the Capitol attack, alleging he was directly responsible for the attempted insurrection after repeating false election claims, pushing to find ways to swing the 2020 election in his favor, and urging rioters to march on the Capitol.
Cheney’s campaign against Trump has had an impact on the race. She is trailing Trump-backed candidate Harriet Hageman ahead of the primary by around 20 points, according to a Casper Star-Tribune poll released last month.
Facing an uphill battle, Cheney has listed instructions on her website informing Democrats and independents how to register as Republicans to support her in the primary.
Last week, she also aired a new campaign ad with her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, who said Trump was a “coward” and a “threat to our republic.”
Liz Cheney, however, has said telling the truth about Jan. 6 is more important than winning reelection.
“If I have to choose between maintaining a seat in the House of Representatives or protecting the constitutional republic and ensuring the American people know the truth about Donald Trump, I’m going to choose the Constitution and the truth every single day,” she said on CNN last month.