Kamala Harris and Tim Walz embrace support from Liz Cheney and her father as an example of their supposed bipartisan appeal, but is it accurate? Maybe it is for Dick Cheney, who nobody likes. Cheney, who shot a man, left office with a 13 percent approval rating. His daughter Liz had one of the worst primary losses as an incumbent U.S. Representative in American history two years ago.
Liz Cheney calls herself a Republican and voted with Donald Trump over 90 percent of the time while in Congress, but we should no longer think of her as a Republican. In October 2024, Liz Cheney’s a Democrat. Both major parties are filled with wide-ranging views. The Republican Party, for example, includes centrists in the northeast—especially in state legislatures—along with people who are staunch social conservatives and those who want to make the government drastically smaller. The Democratic Party, conversely, includes self-proclaimed socialists on college campuses in big cities, some of the wealthiest men on earth, and Latinos who oppose abortion and transgenderism.
The purpose is to elect more members of their respective parties, with plenty of room for disagreement on specific political issues. Both parties would oppose an avowed Nazi running under their moniker, and running as a socialist in the GOP is likely a no-go, but those are extreme examples.
That matters because Liz Cheney is serving the purpose of the Democrats. She not only supports Harris, but also wants Democratic control of Congress. Cheney donated $2.5 million to American Bridge 21st Century this month, an organization that does pro-Democratic opposition research. Its opposition research hits Republican Congressmen in Democratic-leaning swing districts like Brian Fitzpatrick in Pennsylvania and Mike Lawler in New York. They’re both moderate Republicans. If they lose their seats—a realistic possibility—it’d increase the chances of Democrats having a House majority next year.
Cheney also endorsed U.S. Rep. Susan Wild (D-PA); Wild represents a Republican-leaning swing district. If after four years of a Biden presidency and the inflation this country endured, in part due to the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act rammed through by Democrats, someone donates to Democratic organizations and endorses Democratic politicians, that’s a full-blown Democrat.
Cheney has also flip-flopped on abortion. That’s no surprise as many people with Trump Derangement Syndrome abandon their previously-held values, like Jennifer Rubin and Bill Kristol. Cheney attempted to make the case last week that women should vote for Harris because of abortion. It’s the same Liz Cheney who, while in Congress, supported a bill to clarify that the 14th Amendment protected the right to life of unborn children from the moment of conception. I like that idea, as politically unpopular and unviable as it is, but Cheney no longer does.
Former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) is a similar case. He not only endorsed Harris for president, but also supports Democrats for other positions. Last week, Kinzinger was at an event for Missouri Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Lucas Kunce, where someone injured a reporter with a firearm. Kinzinger was there to bolster the man running against U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley. This is something you do if you want Democrats to control the United States Senate—the body where Democrats want to kill the filibuster to ram through controversial social policy.
These two are worse than prototypical RINO politicians like Charlie Baker or Bill Weld. I’m no fan of these former Massachusetts governors. At least those men consistently back local moderate Republicans, with Baker doing more than Weld; Baker has even occasionally supported more conservative state legislators and sheriffs.
Even Tulsi Gabbard, a progressive Democrat when she ran for president five years ago, is more of a Republican than Cheney and Kinzinger these days. That’s hard to believe based on their Congressional voting records, but Gabbard supports Republican candidates—including Trump. She also became a registered Republican last week. If a mechanism exists to kick Cheney and Kinzinger out of the party, the GOP should take it after the election. They’re using the fact that they are registered Republicans to delegitimize Republican candidates and the Republican Party.
