I watch talk shows on Sunday mornings, including Meet the Press, whose host Chuck Todd says America
is angry and anxious. I agree with him, and I’m frightened. What is happening in this country
politically is a non-violent civil war. The body politic is upset, torn, and flipped.
The media plays into the hands of popular politics, and ratings matter.
We owe that delivery to former President Donald Trump, who has challenged the very soul of America’s
democracy and upset its politic. Trump’s tactics very much represent fascism. It is disheartening to
believe that a President leaving the Oval Office would take government files and store confidential,
classified documents in his basement. The documents were classified, and the President might be guilty
of espionage. Is this still America? On trial facing a jail sentence might be the 45th President of the United States.
Politics is a fluid proposition, and 74% of the American public believes the country is headed in the wrong direction. That’s one statistic, but the other statistic is that Trump wins. He has changed the face and character of the Republican Party. When the Republicans say things like “take back the country,” it sounds racist and is ethnically charged. It sounds hateful and like a gang of force is coming for you. So when you have a Republican candidate for Illinois governor, Darren Bailey, comparing abortions to Hitler, it’s time to stand up and beware.
Enters Liz Chaney…
Enter Liz Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney. He served as a congressman from 1979 to 1989, and she has held his congressional seat since 2017. She is a Republican congresswoman from Wyoming, the cowboy state. She was beaten last week in a primary by Donald Trump-endorsed challenger Harriet Hageman by more than 30 percentage points. Hageman has backed Trump and has supported unfounded claims of election fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
Cheney may have lost the race, but hopefully, she will win the war.
Cheney stands tall for the constitution. Not one to play party politics, she crossed over for what was right and spoke with a moral voice as to what is right and what is wrong. She says the Republican party is sick. I translate that to mean sick and racist too.
Serving as the Vice Chair of the House Select Committee on the January 6 attack on the Capitol, she has since aimed to frame the loss as a new beginning in her efforts to oppose Trump. Hours after her loss, she filed with the Federal Election Commission to transfer the remaining cash from her federal campaign to a new political-action committee. She had more than $7 million in cash in her campaign funds at the end of July.
Cheney will be remembered as having a conscience for the history and direction of the country. Courageous, she has proven forthrightness, truth, honesty, and integrity. She will move on to become bigger and better than ever. She is at a turning point in her career and can provide the leadership America should be.
Cheney has said with conviction that Donald Trump should not be allowed to be in the oval office again or to run for any political office. She said she is “sad about where my party is” and expressed disappointment that “so many people have failed” the “great moral test” of upholding democracy.
Trump is not fit to serve as he creates big lies. The world, on the one hand, is closing in on Trump, but his people, his following, might turn it around and make Trump a martyr. He’s not a politician but only a popular populist character – a businessman who took the government as a business.
As Trump plays party politics across the country, he is also playing a racial politic, between Black and Brown and male over female. He is a dangerous character to the American public for democracy and freedom. Where he insists upon loyalty from his inner circle, he provides none. Just look at what he did to his loyal Vice President Mike Pence. It’s shameful by all standards (although Pence played a critical role on January 6). The chants of ‘let’s get Pence, let’s hang Pence‘ was Trump’s worse moment, and he almost got his Vice President killed and had him running for his life on Capitol grounds. Despicable.
The story of Pence has not been fully told.
Today, America lives in uncharted territory. The Trump challenge is a serious one. The public is somewhat disgusted with both parties as we struggle with classroom shootings, carjackings, inflation, and the newest infectious viral disease, monkeypox. So whom do you vote for and why?
Liz Chaney, the conservative, the political woman, might be in the right place at the right time. America is ready for a third party.
