Anyone out there live in Wyoming? Alaska? If so, close your laptop, drop your phone, and run to the polls.
Liz Cheney is on the primary ballot today in Wyoming, competing against Harriet Hageman for Wyoming’s lone House seat. Cheney will most likely lose. Cheney is one of the Impeachment 10, better known as “one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach President Donald J. Trump over the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.”
But Cheney’s star just started shining.
Even if (read: when) she loses today, Liz has only recently become the first name the general public immediately thinks of when hearing the surname Cheney. By telling the truth in January 2021 when the House voted to impeach then President Trump, she may have lost her seat in the House, but she gained notoriety.
And notoriety is vital. Whether she decides to pursue a Presidential bid, or becomes a political pundit, the differentiation from her father, Dick, her impeachment vote gave her is going to be paramount for wherever life takes her next.
But is she really that different from her father?
Because Liz decided to stand up to Trump, she’s become a feminist icon. She’s the only woman from the Impeachment 10 who is also on the House Committee investigating the Jan 6 Attack. Her stance against Trump has been made clear.
But Liz has also made another stance of hers clear. And this one has to do with her sister, Mary.
Liz has a sister, Mary. Both daughters of Dick and Lynne, Cheney. Mary married a woman. And the story goes that Liz supported Mary’s marriage privately. Until Liz needed to lasso in some votes. And then she voiced her opposition to same-sex marriage.
Liz has since admitted to being wrong on this stance. However, it’s a stance she held all the same.
For a second, I want you to take away the content of Liz’s two stances: Trump and same-sex marriage. I know both of those stances are extremely emotionally charged but do your best to wipe the actual content clean. But before you wipe, think about your own stance on Trump and same-sex marriage: pro or anti. For the next bit, let’s refer to Trump as Pineapple, and same-sex marriage as Kiwi. We are still in the dog days of summer, after all.
Liz is anti-Pineapple and (formerly) anti-Kiwi. You are (fill in the blank) pro/anti-Pineapple and pro/anti- Kiwi.
When I talked about Pineapple a few paragraphs earlier, I referred to Liz’s anti-stance as her “telling the truth.” When I talked about Kiwi a few paragraphs earlier, I referred to Liz’s anti-stance as her “voicing her opposition.”
Now, guess what stance I hold on Pineapple and Kiwi: pro or anti?
I am anti-Pineapple and pro-Kiwi. But you already guessed that because you’re a smart cookie.
There is hardly any truth in politics. There are only opinions. Even when the House voted whether Trump incited an insurrection, that was each House member’s opinion whether he did so or not. But if you personally believe that Trump did incite an insurrection, you’d be quick to call that “the truth.” I’m calling myself out: I just did it. You read it. You are my witness.
But true truth is hard to find.
Liz Cheney’s current opinion that Trump is a bad Pineapple that needs to be barred from holding office again at all costs is one that will (most likely) cost her a seat in the House.
But it is an opinion that has already gained her notoriety across the aisle with Democrats who have been calling Trump a bad pineapple since 2016.
Whether it’s the truth or not is your opinion to make.
But no press is bad press, and Liz Cheney’s name has been printed in black and white all week.