GOP Poised to Eat Its Own

by Pa Rock

Amused Spectator

House Republicans are expected to caucus on Wednesday morning where the main order of business will be to vote on a motion to remove Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming from her leadership post as the GOP Conference Chair, the third most powerful position among House Republicans.  The move to fire Cheney as the Conference Chair has been endorsed by Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the GOP leader in the House.

Cheney is being driven from the GOP leadership because of her steadfast refusal to pay homage to the most recent Republican president, a man she voted to impeach after the attack on the Capitol on January 6th.  The Wyoming GOP voted to censure Cheney after that vote, and Congressman Matt Gaetz (who is currently a target in an FBI sex-trafficking probe) went to Wyoming to speak against her in Republican gatherings.  The GOP members of the House also attempted to remove Cheney as Conference Chair after the impeachment vote, but she survived that attempt in a secret ballot vote that was 145-61 in her favor.

Wednesday's vote will also be a secret ballot, but Leader McCarthy, who supported Cheney previously, has turned on her and says that he has enough votes to remove her from her post.  McCarthy and Cheney had previously held very similar views of the ex-president's involvement in the January insurrection, but McCarthy has since bowed to party pressure to make nice with the tantrum-prone former leader - and Cheney has not wavered in her criticism.

The former president has been loud and belligerent in his insistence that House Republicans chastise Cheney, his political foe, and many members of the House seem fearful that if they are not openly critical of Cheney the Big Orange Menace will show up in their districts and campaign against them.  However, some may not be quite as intimidated when it comes to casting their vote in secret - and it is entirely possible that Cheney could survive politically.

It seems to be a certainty that she will not back down - and she will not be silenced.

The GOP, a political organization that has a history of being far more at ease under the control and guidance of old white men, took the cosmetic precaution of finding a woman to replace Cheney in the event that she is removed from her position on Wednesday.  Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York is already being touted as Cheney's replacement as Conference Chair.  Ironically, Stefanik has a more liberal voting record than the dyed-in-the-wool conservative Cheney, but Stefanik had the political savvy to not vote to impeach the former president, and she has been playing to his ego for the past several days on social media.

Will the Republican Party continue to live in fear of the angry troll from Mar-a-Lago, or will it throw caution to the wind and move into the future?  Wednesday will tell the tale, or perhaps twist the tail - but either way Americans should have a better understanding of where the party that once supported good people like Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Dwight Eisenhower is headed.  

Liz Cheney has tried to provide her party with a spine and a moral compass.  If the party rejects her, it will be hastening its own demise.