GOP’s Trump-Loyalty Test

During the debate over Representative Liz Cheney’s role in leadership, there were plenty of arguments offered as to why her ouster wasn’t really about her refusal to accept the stolen-election narrative. But Elise Stefanik’s defeat of Chip Roy in the race to replace Cheney as conference chair removed any doubt that there is currently a very special Trump-loyalty test within the Republican Party.

There were no serious doubts about Roy’s conservatism. He has a 96 percent lifetime score with Heritage Action compared with Stefanik, the liberal-leaning New Yorker, who has a lifetime score of 48 percent. Of course, Cheney had a lifetime score of 98 percent, so we already knew this had nothing to do with conservative voting records.

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Philip Klein

Philip Klein is the editor of National Review Online.

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During the debate over Representative Liz Cheney’s role in leadership, there were plenty of arguments offered as to why her ouster wasn’t really about her refusal to accept the stolen-election narrative. But Elise Stefanik’s defeat of Chip Roy in the race to replace Cheney as conference chair removed any doubt that there is currently a very special Trump-loyalty test within the Republican Party.

There were no serious doubts about Roy’s conservatism. He has a 96 percent lifetime score with Heritage Action compared with Stefanik, the liberal-leaning New Yorker, who has a lifetime score of 48 percent. Of course, Cheney had a lifetime score of 98 percent, so we already knew this had nothing to do with conservative voting records.