Liz Cheney warns U.S. can't 'survive' another Donald Trump presidency

Rep. Liz Cheney, a one-time Wyoming lawmaker turned fierce critic of former President Donald Trump, said the Republican party is currently threatening democracy and that the nation is undergoing a political shift during a speech at Drake University’s Knapp Center on Wednesday.

The lecture, part of Drake’s Bucksbaum Lecture series, was moderated by Lee Ann Colacioppo, the executive editor of the Denver Post. Colacioppo is a Drake graduate and previously worked for the Des Moines Register.

Cheney said the nation’s politics are undergoing a shift

After the violence of Jan. 6, 2021, Cheney became one of ten House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump on allegations he sparked the violence of that day.

A former Republican powerhouse, she now advocates for Trump’s defeat in the November polls and hopes the political shift will prompt a reevaluation of how Americans engage with politics.

The country’s politics are undergoing a “tectonic shift,” with Cheney pointing to examples of GOP members supporting Trump’s claims of the election having been stolen as key evidence.

“Certainly, what’s happening in the Republican party is dangerous,” Cheney said. “We now have one of our two major political parties that has abandoned the constitution.” 

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“We all have a responsibility to encourage our public officials to engage in substantive debate (and) to be respectful,” Cheney said. “I hope we will walk back from … the edge of the abyss that we’re looking into that has become so divisive and partisan — and so toxic — in so many ways.” 

The nation can’t survive a president who would ‘torch the Constitution’

Cheney warned that despite Trump’s sweeping success in Republican primaries, he shouldn’t feel confident for the general election.

“In a number of these primaries, what we saw was that in some instances, close to 30% of the Republicans said they won’t vote for Donald Trump,” Cheney said. “So although he won, that is not a basis on which someone should go into a general election feeling any comfort about being able to prevail in the general.”

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The future of the country’s democracy hinges on Trump’s defeat in November, cautioned the Wyoming Republican.

“We know (Trump) tried once not to leave office, and he will have no incentive to guarantee a peaceful transfer of power and to leave office should be selected again,” Cheney said. “As frustrated as I know people get sometimes with policy disagreements you might have — and I certainly have policy disagreements with the Biden administration — I know the nation can survive bad policy. We can’t survive a president who is willing to torch the Constitution.”

Former Wyoming lawmaker doubts Trump’s longevity in the party

According to Cheney, the former president is supported by Republican officials who continue to justify and enable his actions on Jan. 6. She added that their ongoing backing of Trump lends legitimacy among voters.

“Republican elected officials excuse the behavior — enabled the behavior — and by doing that, it created a situation where voters thought, ‘Well, you know, it must not be that he’s that dangerous, because if he were, then you would have more people saying so,’” Cheney said.

Trump, who has called for prosecuting a number of political opponents should he return to the White House, targeted Cheney earlier this month over dubious claims that the House committee that investigated the Capitol riot sat on evidence related to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

“She should go to Jail along with the rest of the Unselect Committee!” the Republican presumptive nominee said in a Truth Social post.

Biong M. Biong is a reporter at the Register. Reach him at bbiong@dmreg.com