Does Liz Cheney actually believe voter suppression laws are the key to fair elections?
Axios interviewed Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney about her relationship with the Republican party and her thoughts on the Trump presidency. The interview, conducted by Jonathan Swan, opened with the question to Cheney: How open are the voters of Wyoming to you?
Cheney replied they “tell it like it is” and that most of these retaliation comments stem from her vote to impeach former President Donald Trump following the Jan. 6th insurrection.
While this vote separated her from the majority of the GOP and resulted in extreme backlash from the representatives and constituents of her home state, Cheney has firmly opposed the actions of the former President and denied any claims of a stolen election.
Swan even claimed that she is “Empirically three times more popular among Democrats than Republicans.” Asked about how she is still holding on to a Republican party without Trump, Cheney said that it is time to move towards a Republican party with the “foundation of loving this country and the belief in a strong democracy and in our Constitution.”
Republican at heart
While her Trump-related actions have put her in hot water with the GOP, Cheney reminded the American public that she is still a Republican at heart.
She vowed not to support Democrats in their fight against the GOP’s push for more restrictive voting laws, such as showing ID at the voting booth. “I will never understand the resistance, for example, to voter ID,” she said. “There’s a big difference between that and a president of the United States who loses an election after he tried to steal the election and refuses to concede.” She said that having strict voting laws is essential in a democracy to ensure accurate and fair elections.
Many Democrats saw her statements as hypocritical and unfair. Many believe her fight to increase voter suppression laws is a ploy to save her career and be liked by Republicans again. Cheney attempted to define the difference between voter fraud at a smaller scale and the “fraudulent election” posed by Trump, but Swan repeatedly asked her to differentiate and explain her stance.
“What was the big problem in Georgia that needed to be solved by a new law? What was the big problem in Texas? What was the big problem in Florida?” Swan continued. “These laws are coming all around the states and, like, what are they solving for?”.
Cheney ignored his questions and proceeded to talk about Al Gore losing the election and conceding to Bush, something which Trump, even to this day, failed to do.
Does Cheney actually believe voter suppression laws are the key to fair elections? Or is she saving her political career in an attempt to win back her Republican constituents after voting to impeach Trump and repeatedly condemning his actions? Only time will tell.