House Republicans Boot Liz Cheney from Leadership, Then Give Her a Standing Ovation

I n the end, they didn’t even record the vote: House Republicans ousted Liz Cheney from her post as the conference’s third-ranking member on a voice vote.

Then they cheered.

“She got a standing ovation when she walked off the stage,” Colorado GOP congressman Ken Buck told reporters after the vote. According to Buck, “more than half” of the caucus stood to cheer Cheney. “People wanted to show respect for her service, not necessarily for her position,” he said. “It wasn’t a standing ovation for disagreeing with the Trump narrative, it wasn’t a standing ovation for disagreeing with members of the conference. It was a standing ovation for her willingness to serve as conference chair. I don’t think it’s hypocritical.”

But not everyone in the conference wanted to show respect for Cheney’s service on Wednesday. Shortly after the voice vote to remove Cheney, 25-year-old Republican congressman Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina taunted her on Twitter, writing: “Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey, goodbye Liz Cheney.” This is the same Madison Cawthorn who said after the House GOP voted to keep Cheney in leadership in February that “our party has never been more united.”

And some House Republicans booed Cheney as she spoke before the vote to kick her out of leadership.

“We cannot let the former president drag us backward and make us complicit in his efforts to unravel our democracy,” Cheney told her colleagues at the closed-door meeting, according to a source familiar with her remarks. “Down that path lies our destruction, and potentially the destruction of our country.”

“If you want leaders who will enable and spread his destructive lies, I’m not your person, you have plenty of others to choose from,” Cheney continued. “That will be their legacy.”

Cheney promised that she would be “leading the fight to restore our party and our nation to conservative principles, to defeating socialism, to defending our republic, to making the GOP worthy again of being the party of Lincoln.”

Then she closed her remarks with a prayer:

Dear God, Fill us with a love of freedom and a reverence for all your gifts. Help us to understand the gravity of this moment. Help us to remember that democratic systems can fray and suddenly unravel. When they do, they are gone forever.

Help us to speak the truth and remember the words of John 8:32 — Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.

May our world see the power of faith. May our nation know the strength of selfless service. And may our enemies continue to taste the inescapable force of freedom.

In Jesus’s name we pray, Amen.

Ken Buck, a member of the conservative Freedom Caucus, was one of the few Republicans who publicly opposed removing Cheney. “Liz Cheney was canceled today for speaking her mind and disagreeing with the narrative that President Trump was putting forward,” Buck told reporters. “I think it’s pretty clear that this was all about a particular narrative. It had very little to do with other factors.” He noted that this particular issue is the only thing that’s changed since Cheney was unanimously elected to her position in November.

Asked if Cheney could have kept her post in leadership by being a little more strategic — speaking out against Trump’s narrative in personal media appearances but not at House GOP press conferences — Buck said, “I don’t believe it would have mattered either way.”

“I think that Kevin was boxed, frankly. I think he did this reluctantly,” Buck said, referring to House minority leader Kevin McCarthy. “Kevin is very aware of the feelings of the base. I feel like the base in our party has listened to President Trump.”

Buck said that he has not spoken to a single House Republican who actually believes that Joe Biden is not the lawfully elected president of the United States. “We’ve had a lot of things that indicate the election wasn’t stolen. If anybody is saying the election was stolen,” Buck said, “the burden is on the proponent of that argument.”

As for Cheney’s replacement, Buck said that he strongly opposes appointing New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik, but he thinks there’s no doubt she’ll win the vote to be the next Republican conference chair.

“I think she’s liberal,” Buck said. “I will not vote for Elise Stefanik.”

Given that Stefanik has the support of Trump, McCarthy, and GOP whip Steve Scalise, “I don’t think there will be anybody that wants to risk a future chairmanship or future role in the party to take on Elise Stefanik, unfortunately,” Buck said. He is still hoping a “nominal candidate” will emerge so he can vote for someone other than Stefanik during Friday’s vote to elect the next House conference chair.

“I would vote for 210 other people if we have 212 members. The only person I would not vote for is myself and Elise Stefanik,” Buck said.

Why wouldn’t Buck vote for himself? “Because I would not put myself through this brain damage.”