Today, Rep. Liz Cheney will be voted out of leadership by her Republican House colleagues for refusing to back down in a condemnation of Trump and his role in the Jan. 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol. A few quick thoughts on this.
Rep. Cheney is absolutely in the right, and yes, her speech last night was powerful. But it is critically important that we all acknowledge something: she was elected to this leadership position in the first place because of lies, disinformation, and an abdication of ethics.
Rep. Cheney bears a great deal of responsibility along with the other leaders among her GOP colleagues in fostering the conditions for what led to the Jan. 6th attack. We need to acknowledge this. More importantly: she needs to acknowledge it.
I have tried to type out the word "courage" for what Rep. Cheney is doing in this moment, and I simply can't. She has failed to recognize her role in the decay of the Republican Party. It seems she is being celebrated by some for sleeping in a bed of her own making.
Courage in this moment would be Rep. Cheney standing before the country and acknowledging her own complicity, not as punishment but for the credibility of an undertaking to remove the rot from our democracy. She seems unwilling to do that. Thus, this rings a bit hollow.
In "Profiles of Courage", JFK wrote (well, Ted Sorenson, but I digress): "...in the final analysis, the kind of government we get depends upon how we fulfill those responsibilities."
We've arrived at this point because of the irresponsibility of Republican leaders like Cheney.
We've arrived at this point because of the irresponsibility of Republican leaders like Cheney.
I hate to be this harsh. I would love nothing more than to highlight a leader of character among Republicans in this grave moment. But the bar has become so low that any Republican who picks up a shovel is applauded, and I'm tired of it. /thread
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