If Liz Cheney (R-WY) needs help with the post-mortem after getting blown away in Tuesday’s Wyoming GOP congressional primary, The Daily Wire’s Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro is there for her.
Cheney, who in her concession speech compared herself to Abe Lincoln in what may have been a hint at a 2024 presidential run, was trounced by Harriet Hageman in the Republican contest. Cheney, who alienated Republican colleagues as well as voters as a member of the Democrat-run House January 6 Committee, also claimed that she only lost because she stood up to former President Trump.
Not so, said Shapiro in a Wednesday morning Twitter thread.
“Liz Cheney fundamentally misunderstands why people are so passionately angry at her inside the GOP base,” Shapiro wrote. “Which is why she actually lost.”
Liz Cheney fundamentally misunderstands why people are so passionately angry at her inside the GOP base. Which is why she actually lost.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) August 17, 2022
“She said last night that winning ‘would’ve required that I go along with President Trump’s lie about the 2020 election. It would’ve required that I enable his ongoing efforts to unravel our democratic system and attack the foundations of our republic,’” Shapiro continued. “That’s not true.”
“Winning simply would have required her not to act as a front person for a Democratic committee dedicated to lumping together all Republicans and conservatives with January 6 rioters, and suggesting that anyone who would consider voting Trump 2024 is an incipient fascist,” the Daily Wire’s editor emeritus added.
Other Republicans have figured out how to win GOP contests without alienating pro-Trump conservatives, Shapiro pointed out. The political podcast king said Cheney’s claim that she had to either back Trump’s claim the 2020 election was stolen or fall on her sword represents a false choice.
“Did Glenn Youngkin go along with the idea that Trump won the 2020 election?” Shapiro asked rhetorically, referring to the Virginia governor who triumphed last year in a blue state. “Did he ‘go along with ongoing efforts’ to undermine the republic? How about Dan Crenshaw in Texas? What they didn’t do is act as enthusiastic participants in a broader Democratic and media agenda.”
Hageman is considered a shoo-in to win Wyoming’s sole House seat in November. A longtime natural resources attorney and founder of the Wyoming Conservative Alliance, the 59-year-old Hageman ran for governor in 2018 and lost.
“We’re fed up with the Jan. 6 commission,” Hageman said at a victory speech in Cheyenne. “We’re fed up with Liz Cheney.”
The race was called Tuesday night with Hageman leading by 60% to 35% with more than half the ballots still to be counted. Cheney refused to endorse Hageman and vowed to do anything she could to stop Trump from being elected in 2024.
That apparently could include running for the White House herself.
“Abraham Lincoln was defeated in elections for the Senate and the House before he won the most important election of all,” Cheney said.