Liz Cheney: the GOP rebel who took on Donald Trump

To some, Liz Cheney is viewed as a Republican-in-Name-Only, driven by personal ambition rather than principles. To others, she’s a staunch conservative committed to rescuing her party from demagogues and extremists. Who is Liz Cheney? Join us as we dive into her story.

Liz Cheney is no longer a member of the House of Representatives. However, that doesn't mean she has not left her mark on US politics and the Republican Party.

Elizabeth Lynne Cheney was born on July 28, 1966, in Madison, Wisconsin. She’s the oldest daughter of former US Vice President Richard Cheney.

The family divided their time between Wyoming and Washington, D.C, after her father was elected to Congress as a Republican Representative for the state in 1979.

Young Cheney graduated from Colorado College with a Bachelor of Arts degree, where she presented her thesis: “The Evolution of Presidential War Powers”.

After college, Elizabeth Cheney worked for the State Department between 1989 and 1993. In 1996, she received a Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago Law School.

After that, she spent some time working for a private consulting firm and the World Bank. She returned to the State Department during the Condoleezza Rice years as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs.

By then, her father had become Vice President to George W. Bush, with a reputation of being ‘the power behind the throne’.

In March 2006, she headed the Iran Syria Policy and Operations Group, an interagency organization with the US government that sought to influence regime change in Iran and Syria. The group was disbanded one year later, in favor of a less militaristic approach.

Cheney and her father are very close. They have co-authored his autobiography 'In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir', and a book on foreign policy titled 'Exceptional: Why The World Needs a Powerful America.'

Liz Cheney served as a senior policy advisor for Mitt Romney’s presidential nomination campaign in 2008.

In 2012, she became a Fox News collaborator, specializing in foreign policy. She left the network in 2014 to pursue a US Senate bid.

The younger Cheney was aiming to become senator of Wyoming, the same seat her father had from 1979 to 1989. However, her campaign was mired with issues.

Liz Cheney had only lived in Wyoming for a few years while growing up and was perceived as being a carpetbagger, foreign to the life and interests of the least populated state in the Union.

The former Vice President’s daughter also publicly opposed same-sex marriage during her campaign, causing friction with her openly lesbian sister Mary Cheney.

Cheney lost the senate bid, but eventually was elected into the House of Representatives in 2016.

That same year, Donald Trump got elected as President of the United States. A FiveThirtyEight analysis at the time revealed that Cheney and the new Commander-in-Chief converged in political views by more than 90%.

As chair of the House Republican Conference, she was the third-highest Republican member of the House of Representatives.

During her tenure, Cheney voted in consistently in favor of Trump’s policy, following the presidential line 93% of the time, according to Forbes.

However, things changed for Liz Cheney after January 6, 2021, with her announcing that she would support the second impeachment of Donald Trump for his role in the capitol assault.

“The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed was his doing”, Cheney stated on her official website on January 12.

Cheney also took part in the January 6 House Select Committee as Vice Chair, investigating if there was a presidential conspiracy behind the mob.

A few important conservative politicians, such as Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham sided with Cheney, but many, including the Wyoming Republican Party, requested her to step down.

Cheney lost her seat as chair of the House Republican Conference. Also, the 2022 Wyoming Republican primary for the House against Pro-Trump candidate Harriet Hageman.

What’s next in store for Liz Cheney? Well, she expressed interest in a presidential bid in 2024, but that seems unlikely. According to USA Today, she still hopes to be “the leader, one of the leaders, in a fight to help to restore our party”.

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