Liz Cheney: the Cindy Sheehan for our decade
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Mitt, “Literally Hitler” Romney should have already discovered this by now, but he’s slow, and ever-hopeful
Mainstream journalists and other Democrats can't get enough of Rep. Liz Cheney (R., Wyo.), who not only shares their view of former president Donald Trump but also has given them a convenient excuse to limit their coverage of more newsworthy events—violent clashes in Israel, a stagnant economy, and gas shortages resulting from an unprecedented cyber attack—that might reflect poorly on the current president, Joe Biden.
Cheney was formally removed from her leadership position in the House Republican conference on Wednesday. CNN's frontpage headline described the event, without evidence, as "a major turning point in US political history."
The move was prompted in large part by Cheney's refusal to stop criticizing Trump, whom she accused of leading a "crusade to undermine our democracy." That alone would explain the media's obsession, given their insufficiently sated lust for nonstop Trump content. Another frontpage headline on CNN asserted: "Liz Cheney's ouster from GOP leadership for criticizing Trump's lies shows the party has moved on from its beacon-of-freedom ideals."
CNN's Stephen Collinson, a "reporter" whose articles are frequently labeled "analysis," made use of opulent prose in his celebration of Cheney's courage, applauding the "powerful speech" she delivered earlier this week on the House floor and exalting her "spare but eloquent remarks that will embroider themselves in political lore."
Did you ever before hear a liberal describe the Republican party as a party holding “beacon-of-freedom ideals”? No, you didn’t, and you never will again. We’ll soon see a return to warnings of “the rising fascist threat”; and no more praise of Cheney as an ‘icon of liberation”. Down the memory hole, while the war resumes.
Over at Salon, the cudgels have already ben picked up;
The more complex (and depressing) truth is that the Republican Party's slide into neofascism, white supremacy and racial authoritarianism has been a long process, one that occurred gradually over the course of several decades. Trumpism is not some aberrant outlier, separate and apart from the Republican Party's agenda and orthodoxy. Trump's presidency and his movement are the logical result of that party's downward evolution, a type of endgame where friendly fascism and authoritarian impulses have been replaced with political sadism and outright contempt for democracy.
So who believes this stuff, this new affection for and admiration of the old-fashioned Republican party of the good old days? Certainly not the Democrats and their scribes with bylines. And certainly not the new Republican party. So that leaves the Lincoln Project and the neocon holdovers from the old GOP gin and tonic set. They always were chumps, and remain so today. Screw the fools.
