I write in response to a post today by Gary Robbins, “The Great Task”: Liz Cheney’s Closing Campaign Ad.  I think that I have something to say about this that should be addressed in a post, not a comment.  I hope you won’t mind.

In the comments to his post, Gary challenged us to take the time to listen to this 141 second campaign ad.  Gary, my friend, I did so.  I am actually appalled by what Cheney said.  Here is the full text of her comments (from this transcription at Cheney’s campaign website).  The highlights are mine:

As Election Day nears, I want to talk to citizens across our great state and all across our country.

America cannot remain free if we abandon the truth. The lie that 2020 presidential election was stolen is insidious. It preys on those who love their country. It is a door Donald Trump opened to manipulate Americans to abandon their principles, to sacrifice their freedom, to justify violence, to ignore the rulings of our courts and the rule of law.

This is Donald Trump’s legacy, but it cannot be the future of our nation. History has shown us over and over again how these types of poisonous lies destroy free nations. 

Like many candidates across this country, my opponents in Wyoming have said that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen. No one who understands our nation’s laws, no one with an honest, honorable, genuine commitment to our Constitution would say that. It is a cancer that threatens our great Republic.

If we do not condemn these lies, if we do not hold those responsible to account, we will be excusing this conduct and it will become a feature of all elections. America will never be the same. 

Nothing in our public life is more important than the preservation of the miracle given to us by God and our Founding Fathers. Nothing. 

Here’s my pledge to you: I will work everyday to ensure that our exceptional nation long endures. My children and your children must grow up in an America where we have honorable and peaceful transitions of power. Not violent confrontations, intimidation, and thuggery. Where we are governed by laws and not by men. Where we are led by people who love this country more than themselves.

No matter how long we must fight, this is a battle we will win. Millions of Americans across our nation – Republicans, Democrats, Independents – stand united in the cause of freedom. We are stronger, more dedicated, and more determined than those trying to destroy our Republic. 

This is our great task and we will prevail. I hope you will join me in this fight.

I don’t think that the claim that the 2020 election was “rigged” or “stolen” is a lie.  It is a difference of opinion.  I’ve looked into this issue in some detail, as have others.  Our own Mark Boone (@saintaugustine) has done several detailed posts on the issue.  I did some myself, digging into details from the county-by-county votes in Pennsylvania to legal analyses of some of the many court cases.   Vince Guerra has provided helpful links.  Mollie Hemingway wrote a book on the subject, and Dinesh D’Souza made a movie.  (I do have to confess that I haven’t yet read the book or seen the movie, but I’ve seen summaries.)

At the moment, my conclusion is that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen.  I don’t accept all of the allegations.  My own impression is that the claims regarding voting machines haven’t been proven, and the claims of massive ballot-box stuffing haven’t been proven, at least in my view.  My own impression is that other claims, relating to illegal votes in a variety of ways such as the use of drop boxes, ignoring address requirements, some votes by people who died or lived out of state or had moved in-state, are sufficient to call the overall result into question.  I think that reasonable people may disagree with me about either of these conclusions — some may be convinced of wrongful conduct when I am not yet convinced, and some may not be convinced of other irregularities when I am.

I look at what Cheney said about me:  “Like many candidates across this country, my opponents in Wyoming have said that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen. No one who understands our nation’s laws, no one with an honest, honorable, genuine commitment to our Constitution would say that.”

So, according to Cheney, I don’t understand our nation’s laws, and I don’t have an honest, honorable, genuine commitment to our Constitution.”  Well, I think that I do have such an understanding and commitment.  How am I to respond?

Cheney is the one demonizing everyone who disagrees with her.  I do think that, sometimes, this is appropriate.  I don’t mind someone demonizing a person who supports, say, child rape and cannibalism.  But this is a disagreement about facts, relating to an election, and I don’t think that the facts are clear at all.  I think that reasonable people can disagree about the 2020 election.

The claim that Cheney makes — and Gary makes — and the Left-wing media and the Never Trumpers have made, from the start — is that Trump’s claims about election irregularities are a “lie.”  I don’t think that it is a a lie.  Trump may be mistaken, or he may not.

I am troubled by Cheney’s comment that this so-called “lie” has led people to “justify violence” and “ignore the rulings of our courts.”  Perhaps a few people have argued that violence was justified, but I never have, and I don’t recall such a reaction among any substantial number of people.  I immediately condemned both the violence of the January 6 riot, and the hysterical overreaction of those calling it an “insurrection” and calling for another impeachment of President Trump.

The part about “the rulings of our courts” strikes me as quite careless.  This has been a Left-wing and NeverTrump narrative from very shortly after the election — that all of the court cases were decided against Trump’s allegations.  There are a bewildering number of such cases, and as far as I’ve seen, none of them reached an adjudication on the merits.  Some were dismissed on technical grounds such as standing or laches.  Some, as I recall, were dismissed as moot when the court didn’t act before the relevant deadline (such as certification of a state’s electoral votes).

Cheney’s argument gives a false impression that Trump’s allegations were carefully considered, evaluated on the merits, and rejected by the courts.  I don’t think that this is true.  We do have a structural problem relating to such challenges, as there appears to be insufficient time between Election Day and Inauguration Day to complete such adjudication.

It is Cheney’s final line that bothers me the most.  She said: “We are stronger, more dedicated, and more determined than those trying to destroy our Republic.”  I infer that she counts me among those who are supposedly trying to destroy our Republic.

This is why I find Cheney to be the real threat to our Republic.  When a genuine disagreement about a close election is dismissed as a “lie,” and everyone who disagrees with that conclusion is condemned as something like a traitor trying to “destroy our Republic,” I think that we have a big problem. 

Part of this problem is named Liz Cheney, in my view.

I think that this goes for all of those who agree with her.  This seems to include just about all of the Democrats, and a number of NeverTrump Republicans.  If you’re in this group, I hope that you will reconsider.  You don’t have to agree with Trump, or me, or Mollie, or anyone else.  You just have to agree that reasonable minds can differ on this issue.