The GOP has been experiencing a significant amount of dysfunction in recent years. Donald Trump’s presidency created two factions of the party after he left office: those who support Trump, and those who don’t.
The Two Party System
In a normal, healthy political system, this separation of far-right conservatives and more moderate conservatives would, slowly but surely, create two distinct political parties with their own agendas and funding goals.
America is different from other first-world democracies, though. Where countries like Canada and Britain have four, five, six political parties, America only has the two, and the system is set up to support the two party system. This means that no matter how dysfunctional one of the parties, and no matter how intense the infighting can be, they’re stuck with each other if they want to have a prayer of staying in power.
A Highly Dysfunctional GOP
This desire to stay in power, as well as the forced proximity created by the two-party system, has created a particularly dysfunctional GOP. Trump loyalists have gone out of their way to wrangle the party into submission over the last five years, and there have been some unfortunate casualties of establishment Republicans on the way.
One such casualty is Liz Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President, Dick Cheney. Dick Cheney was George W. Bush’s VP while he was in the White House, and held a very powerful position in the government while he served under the president. He is a deeply conservative individual, and his daughter has followed in his steps both in belief and in career.
Cheney is Actually Deeply Conservative
Liz Cheney, when looking at her history and voting record from her time in Congress, is a deeply conservative Republican. She voted in line with former President Donald Trump’s policies more than 90% of the time, and in general, has walked the party line fairly tightly over the last twenty years.
However, she has not been locked to her party in all ways. Though she voted in line with his policies, one issue where Cheney has not, and does not agree with her former colleagues, is the support of former President Trump.
Vocal in Her Dislike of Trump
Cheney has been vocal over the years about her distaste for the former President. She doesn’t like the way he talks about women, and she doesn’t like the way that he has driven a deep wedge in the Republican Party. Cheney has called Republicans that support Trump traitors, a stance that she has doubled down on in the years since she was ousted from the House of Representatives.
Cheney’s stance against Trump did not make her popular with her Republican colleagues while she was in Congress. She was removed from her House leadership position for her opposition to Trump, and she was one of ten representatives who voted to impeach Trump in his second impeachment trial in 2021.
Unpopular Moves by Cheney
If this opinion made Cheney unpopular with her colleagues, one of her final moves as a Representative of Congress took her past the point of no return. Not only was Cheney one of the few Republicans in the House who voted to impeach, she was also one of only two Republicans who worked on the investigatory committee looking into the attack on the Capitol on January 6.
This painted a target on Cheney’s back, both with Trump and with the Republican Party as a whole. She was primaried in 2022 by a Trump-endorsed Republican, and lost the primary spectacularly. Cheney is an excellent example of what happens to Republicans who don’t fall in line in Trump’s America, and she knows it.
Warning Republicans About Trump
Since leaving office in 2023, Cheney has continued to use her platform to warn America, and specifically the Republican Party about the dangers of Trump. She sees the former President as an existential threat to America, a belief that is shared by many moderates and Democrats.
She has also gone out of her way to point out the flaws in the modern Republican Party. In Cheney’s eyes, Trump changed the party significantly, and not for the better. His influence can be seen in almost every facet of the modern Republican Party, which to Cheney, is deeply concerning.
Comments Regarding the RNC
Cheney’s comments regarding a recent matter concerning the Republican Party have gone viral, bringing her to the spotlight of American politics, yet again. On Thursday, Cheney warned Americans that the recent indictment of the head of the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) election integrity unit “tells you all you need to know” about the GOP’s governing body.
The RNC has recently undergone some significant staffing adjustments that have caused some drama on the national stage. The former head of the RNC, Ronna McDaniel, opted to resign from her position after running out of Trump’s good favor, and her position has since been filled by Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law.
The Beginning of Controversy for the RNC
Those initial adjustments in leadership appear to be only the beginning of controversial news around the RNC.
Cheney’s comments regarding the recent indictment were posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. She seemed to be referring to former Trump lawyer Christina Bobb, after the Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced that 18 people, including Bobb, had been charged with felony offenses, including fraud, forgery, and conspiracy.
About the Arizona Charges
These charges were in connection with a scheme to falsely declare that Trump had beaten Joe Biden in Arizona in 2020. This is not the first scheme that has been discovered attempting to overturn the 2020 election in Arizona, it is simply the most recent.
This charge against Bobb is significant. Not only has Bobb publicly disputed the results of the 2020 presidential election in the years since Biden took office, but she was also appointed as the RNC’s senior counsel for election integrity in March.
Cheney’s Comments
Cheney pointed this out in her statement. “This tells you all you need to know about today’s Republican National Committee: The person in charge of election integrity for the @GOP was just indicted in Arizona for lack of election integrity.”
Bobb is not the only Trump ally who was indicted in this case, either. Other individuals who were charged with attempting to overturn the 2020 Arizona election include former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, as well as Rudy Guiliani, the former mayor of New York and former legal counsel for Donald Trump.
A Grade-A Election Denier
Along with being a former lawyer for Trump, Bobb has also worked as a reporter for the One America News Network (OANN). This is a far-right conservative network that has been likened to little more than Trump propaganda, and which was removed from most cable tv offerings after slowly losing credibility as a news show.
Bobb also wrote a book about the last presidential election, Stealing Your Vote: The Inside Story of the 2020 Election and What It Means for 2024. Clearly, election integrity is an important platform for her, but not in the way that Cheney thinks it should be. Bobb seems to believe that election integrity is important, but only as long as former President Donald Trump ultimately comes out on top.
“Weaponization” of the Legal System
Bobb has not released a statement regarding her indictment, but when asked, Trump campaign Communications Director Steven Cheun said that Bobb’s indictment is “another example of Democrats’ weaponization of the legal system.”
“Christina Bobb is a former Marine Corps officer who served our nation and the president with distinction,” Cheung continued. “The Democrat platform for 2024: If you can’t beat them, try to throw them in jail.”
Plea Deal or Trial? It’s Uncertain
The legal case against Bobb and her fellow defendants is in the early days, and as of now, it’s unclear whether Bobb will seek to make a plea deal or if she’ll go through a trial instead.
The indictments in Arizona are just another example of the disturbing pattern of election denialism in the modern GOP. Trump is not only the political leader, but he has ascended to something akin of an idol for many of these Republicans, and it’s unclear whether anything or anyone will force Trump to fall from grace in the eyes of his fervent supporters.
