Chris Lange, FISM News
Arizona’s Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake mocked Liz Cheney’s vow to ensure her defeat in the midterms as a “gift” during a Sunday appearance on Fox News.
Lake told Sunday Morning Futures Host Maria Bartiromo that the soon-to-be ousted Wyoming congresswoman’s promise to do everything within her power to help send Democratic nominee Katie Hobbs to the governor’s mansion “might be the biggest, best gift I have ever received.” The Trump-backed candidate added that “the people of Wyoming can’t stand Cheney,” a sentiment which she said is shared by Arizonians.
“Liz Cheney probably should change her voter registration. Turns out she really is a Democrat after all,” Lake quipped.
Cheney’s support of the Democratic nominee appears to make good on her promise to continue her efforts to take down the former president and his allies following her censure by the Wyoming Republican Party and removal from leadership. Cheney’s double-digit loss to Trump-backed primary challenger Harriet Hageman was largely seen as a blistering repudiation of her role as vice chair of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) Jan. 6 committee investigating Trump’s role in the Capitol riot and her fierce criticism of the former president.
“In this election you have to vote for the person who actually believes in democracy,” Cheney said on Saturday.
Speaking at the 2022 Texas Tribune festival, Cheney doubled down on her assertion that Trump and his allies pose the greatest threat to democracy in the U.S., borrowing from Democrats’ midterms campaign playbook.
“If we elect election deniers, if we elect people who said that they’re not going to certify results or who are going to try to steal elections, then we really are putting the republic at risk,” she told Texas Tribune CEO Evan Smith at the annual event.
The former lawmaker showed no signs of letting up in her machinations against Trump and his allies, telling Smith “I’m going to do everything I can to make sure he’s not the nominee.”
She further also seemed to take up Lake’s recommendation to turn in her voter resignation, pledging to disavow the GOP and sever all ties with the party if Trump becomes the Republican nominee for president in 2024.
“And if he is the nominee, I won’t be a Republican,” she added.
Asked if she would consider running for the nation’s highest office to prevent a possible second term for the 45th president, Cheney coyly replied, “I certainly will do whatever it takes to make sure Donald Trump isn’t anywhere close to the Oval Office.”
.@Liz_Cheney says if Donald Trump is the Republican nominee in 2024, she will not be a Republican. #TribFest22 pic.twitter.com/3PXuOTBTDy
— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) September 25, 2022
Cheney, a lifelong Republican and the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, was once the No. 3 House Republican before the GOP stripped her of her leadership position last May over her planned participation in the Jan. 6 committee.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) tapped the former Wyoming Rep. and never-Trumper Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) to represent the GOP on the panel after rejecting House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) picks for the committee.
This article was partially informed by The Hill and Washington Examiner reports.