Liz Cheney, avenging angel of the deposed neo-con wing of the Republican Party, has a book coming out soon. CNN got its mitts on a pre-publication copy. From the excerpts I read, it seems that Cheney, unlike certain political reporters, didn’t hold back material details to drive book sales. But the book contains color that may interest DC soap opera addicts.
Cheney describes Kevin McCarthy as a craven liar, which isn’t news to anyone, Republican or Democrat. Contempt for McCarthy (along with loathing for Vivek Ramaswamy) are among the few bipartisan political beliefs Americans still share. But Cheney adds details on the motives behind McCarthy’s post-J6 maneuvers to effect a Trump rapprochement.
I figured McCarthy walked back his initial assertion that Trump bore responsibility for the mob attack on the Capitol after seeing polls indicating Trump was still popular in his district. Turns out the danger McCarthy perceived was related but much graver than that: Cheney says McCarthy feared alienating Trump would affect McCarthy’s “ability to fundraise,” which prompted the about-face on Trump.
Cheney, who was still in House leadership at the time, says when she first saw the photo of McCarthy shaking hands with Trump in Florida three weeks after the coup attempt, she thought it was photoshopped. When she found out it was real, Cheney demanded answers.
“Mar-a-Lago? What the hell, Kevin?” Cheney asked.
“They’re really worried,” McCarthy said. “Trump’s not eating, so they asked me to come see him.”
“What? You went to Mar-a-Lago because Trump’s not eating?” Cheney responded.
“Yeah, he’s really depressed,” McCarthy said.
The not eating thing has to be a falsehood. I mean, maybe for five hours he didn’t eat, but for three weeks? McCarthy lies a lot, but the Trump muumuu-suits don’t. (Still, I do hope he was despondent, if only temporarily. Despite the pending legal matters, I suspect a psychological toll is the only measure of justice we’ll ever get out of the traitorous orange fart cloud, so every bit of distress should be relished.)
Cheney describes the House Repubs’ descent into cowardice and madness, which we all saw in real time. She says one colleague praised her courage for standing up to Trump but declined to do so himself out of fear for his family’s safety. (Take note, New York appeals court!) She describes a caucus session after she voted to impeach where she was hectored by a colleague in dumb sexist terms:
She refused to back down, and what followed was a four-hour meeting where colleagues attacked her for standing up to Trump. In one memorable exchange, Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania said to her, “It’s like you’re playing in the biggest game of your life and you look up and see your girlfriend sitting on the opponent’s side!”
The remark provoked a chorus of female members who yelled back, “She’s not your girlfriend!”
Good God. But Cheney didn’t fit in anywhere anymore. She writes about working with Democrats on the January 6 inquiry, saying it was like being “a visitor from another planet.” Pelosi understood the value of Cheney’s participation and brushed off staffers’ objections:
Cheney writes that Pelosi’s team “pulled together a list of the 10 worst things I had ever said about her. Speaker Pelosi took one look at the list, handed it back to her staffer, and asked: ‘Why are you wasting my time with things that don’t matter?’”
It was an unexpected alliance, but Cheney says Pelosi always backed her up, and in turn, she was immediately impressed by Pelosi’s leadership.
“We may have disagreed on pretty much everything else, but Nancy Pelosi and I saw eye to eye on the one thing that mattered more than any other: the defense of our Constitution and the preservation of our republic.”
I don’t know if Pelosi holds grudges or settles scores, but if she does, she waits until the object of her ire is no longer useful to Democrats. Smart lady!
According to CNN, Cheney ends the book with a plea:
“Every one of us – Republican, Democrat, Independent – must work and vote together to ensure that Donald Trump and those who have appeased, enabled, and collaborated with him are defeated.”
Cheney concludes: “This is the cause of our time.”
Well, Cheney is wrong about almost everything, but she’s not wrong about that.
Open thread!