May
16
Out with Cheney, In with Stefanik
“[L]et us contemplate the message Republican leadership is about to send by rushing to coronate a spokesperson whose voting record embodies much of what led to the 2018 @$$-kicking we received by Democrats.” — Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX)
Earlier this week, neocon Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) was removed from her position as Chair of the House Republican Conference. To be clear, she did not lose her job as a member of Congress, nor has she been censored from railing against Trump and his administration. So, it is an unwarranted accusation to claim Cheney was “cancelled”, thereby implying hypocrisy by anti-“cancel culture” conservatives. It is also untrue (as some have claimed) that those who voted her out (or supported the action) are all mindless Trumpers, members of a cult of personality. (Read Mark Davis’s piece titled “Top Ten Lies About the Fall of Liz Cheney” for more.)
On the contrary, Cheney was removed from her position because she wasn’t doing her job. Matt Schlapp, Chair of the American Conservative Union (ACU), explains:
“[GOP members of Congress] felt like Liz Cheney was distracted by Trump derangement syndrome. She was so transfixed on taking every reporter’s question about her belief that Trump incited a riot or her belief that Trump should have been impeached or whatever fantasy of the day that was focused on the never-Trump crowd that it was getting them off-topic.
When you’re Chairman of the House Republican Conference your number one job is the message. All Republicans who want to pick up the majorities in the House and Senate know that we have a singular message. Push back on the socialism and the radical policies coming out of the Biden White House with Nancy Pelosi’s leadership in the house. Focus on these policies. We have gas lines in northern Virginia and across the country. Focus on the Republican policies that would fix these problems in society. Stop talking about how you…what your feelings are about the Donald Trump presidency.”
So, on Wednesday, May 12th, House Republicans voted Cheney out of the party’s 3rd most powerful post and subsequently gave it to the only official candidate, moderate Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY). This, despite a last-minute challenge by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) of the Freedom Caucus. But, Stefanik had the support of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA), as well as Donald Trump. The vote was 134-46.
But, wait… Wasn’t Stefanik, who voted for Obama in the past, a harsh critic of Trump and voted against many of Trump’s efforts as President? Yes. Check out this list of highlights from Stefanik’s record, as included in Roy’s memo to his fellow GOPers:
• Voted against President Trump’s signature “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017;”
• Voted repeatedly to undermine President Trump’s border security agenda:
o Voted against (opposed from the left) Goodlatte 1 (193 votes) and supported Goodlatte 2 (121 votes) -– notable because the push for Goodlatte 2 at the expense of Goodlatte 1 (or better) was a critical moment for President Trump to get a border security bill passed when our nation needed it most -– leading to the revolt that cost us 2018
o Voted for HJ Res 46 to end Trump’s emergency declaration to fund the wall;
o Voted for SJ Res 54 to override President Trump’s funding of the wall;
o Co-sponsored permanent status for Dreamers without any actual badly needed border security to stem the tide of the crisis in the 115th (USA Act);
• Voted for HRes 271: to Condemn President Trump for the important ACA lawsuit fighting its unconstitutionality;
• Voted for an amendment to HR 2500: To override President Trump’s transgender troop policy;
• Voted for HR 5: the Equality Act (but flipped and voted against this year in the 117th);
• Voted for HR 9: the Climate Action Now Act (to force America to remain in the Paris Climate Agreement);
• Voted for HR 205: to ban drilling in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico
• Voted for HR 8015: Delivering for America Act — playing into Democrat Party conspiracy theory that President Trump was trying to destroy the post office;
• Many other concerning votes and positions, including absence and the use of unconstitutional proxy voting.
So, why would Trump support Stefanik now?
Answer: Back in Nov. 2019, she came out as a vocal opponent of Trump’s first impeachment, for which the President called her a “new Republican Star”. A year later, she supported and echoed Trump’s claims of fraud in the 2020 election. She is now being called a “Trump loyalist”.
I agree with the removal of Cheney from the #3 position in the Republican Party, but like Rep. Roy, I have equal concerns about Stefanik. After all, thinking that the grounds (or even just timing) for Trump’s impeachment were weak/wrong, or that there was too much evidence of pro-Democrat shenanigans in the election to ignore, does not necessarily mean a person’s core views have shifted from moderate to conservative, or from Establishment to populist. Also, her congressional voting record (as reflected above) is overall less conservative than Cheney’s. For example, ACU: Stefanik 44%, Cheney 78%; Heritage Action: Stefanik 48%, Cheney 80%. (Also disturbing, the Club for Growth gives Stefanik a 35% conservative rating, whereas anti-American Rep. Ilhan Omar gets 38%!) Chip Roy, on the other hand, gets a 95% from the ACU and 96% from Heritage Action.
Obviously, I truly hope that Stefanik proves to be a very good choice for Chair of the House Republican Conference. (Note: She has reportedly said that she will only serve through next year.) But, I’m not going to be overly optimistic until she proves herself and, of course, stays on message. Then again, it doesn’t look like GOP leadership or the majority care much for actual conservativeness. So, is it really likely? Does it matter?
