Who would have thought Wyoming — one of the most Republican-leaning of our 50 states — would serve as a petri dish to examine what has become of a once-great political party.
Its sole member of the House, Liz Cheney, got hammered in the GOP primary, losing to Harriet Hageman by more than 30 percentage points. Hageman had earned the endorsement of the Cult Leader in Chief, Donald Trump. Why would the former POTUS go against a House member — Liz Cheney — who voted with him more than 93% of the time? Because Cheney voted to impeach Trump after he incited the 1/6 insurrection.
Let’s look briefly at Cheney’s electoral history in Wyoming.
- She was elected in 2016 with more than 60% of the vote.
- Cheney won re-election in 2018 by an even greater margin and then was named House Republican Conference chair, putting her third in line in power behind GOP leader Kevin McCarthy and GOP whip Steve Scalise.
- Cheney won the GOP nomination in 2020 with 73% of the vote and the general election with a 69% margin.
- Then came the 2022 Hageman/Trump cult buzzsaw.
Now she’s out … or will be by the end of the year.
The only thing Cheney did “wrong” was to turn against Trump, who has captured the hearts, minds and what passes for the “soul” of the Republican Party, which he has transformed into a cult cabal.
Wyoming has served up the perfect test case for what is wrong with the Grand Old Party.