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Rep. Jim Jordan Seeks to Oust Rep. Liz Cheney from Leadership
According to this Politico article, Republican Rep. Jim Jordan plans to move to oust Rep. Liz Cheney from her position as the House Republican Conference Chair. Cheney previously announced her support for the impeachment of President Trump. According to the same article, the top two Republicans in the House — Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Minority Whip Steve Scalise — oppose impeachment.
This strikes me as a proper response to Cheney’s action. As I have posted previously, I find the calls for Trump’s impeachment to be a deranged overreaction. It is very disappointing to see some erstwhile conservatives and Republicans supporting such an action.
Rep. Cheney is entitled to her opinion and may vote as she sees fit. I think that it is quite proper for her House colleagues to remove her from a leadership position, if they disagree strongly with her on such an important issue.
I do expect that any Republican Congressmen or Senators who support impeachment to face a serious primary challenge in their next election. Rightfully so, in my view.
Published in Politics
The notion of a Cheney vs. Jordan fight would be most clarifying.
The three primary supporters of the events last Wednesday were Alabama Representative Mo Brooks, and Arizona Representatives Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar.
Arizona has a robust constitutional provision for recall. In 2011, Russell Pearce, the President of the State Senate, was recalled over SB 1070. Pearce’s legislative district was in the same area as Representative Biggs congressional district. Brilliantly, the recall organizers had a conservative Republican run against Pearce, and the combined votes of disaffected Republicans and the smattering of Democrats resulted in Pearce’s defeat. Pearce’s attempted comeback the next election was unsuccessful.
[Edit. Jerry Giordano has pointed out that as federal office holders, members of congress are not subject to recall.]
I predict that both Biggs and Gosar will be facing recall elections. There is a Republican who could beat Biggs. Former Senator Jeff Flake represented Biggs’ congressional district for 12 years, before running for the Senate. Flake is a fiscal conservative, but like John McCain and Mitt Romney is hostile to Trump and Trumpism.
Paul Gosar used to be my Congressman. I have voted for him. I have walked a precinct for him. He now has been redistributed to an adjacent congressional district. I look forward to working against Gosar.
The recall elections against Biggs and Gosar will be as clarifying as the Cheney v. Jordan race.
Impeachment under these circumstances being a fairly subjective judgment call, I don’t think it makes sense to punish members in this way for coming down on either side of the issue.
I will never understand why loyalty to Trump seems to have been such a litmus test for so many.
I admire the members of ‘The Freedom Caucus’ and wonder why they don’t have more members (think it had to do more with the Tea Party purge/defeat) and if the GOP split is imminent, they could be cutting for a new tree/or starter yeast of a replacement or 3rd party.
The talk of Joe Manchin never having as much power as he does right now, that could go for The Freedom Caucus guys as well.
They’ve had to kiss Murkowski and Collins butts for years, let Cruz, Hawley and Rand Paul start their own voting block.
I am listening to Rep. Matt Rosendale right now on SiriusXM and he says it’s a done deal.
Big, big mistake. Probably end of GOP. Good riddance.
That’s a really good sign. Nothing against Ms. Cheney other than disagreement with her position, but the responsiveness shows an awareness of perceptions outside the Beltway.
Good post Jerry, Thanks. I am outraged by McConnell and Cheney. If they move forward and support Trump’s impeachment, they will destroy the Republican Party…which may be on its last breath anyway. These entrenched politicians never supported Trump’s policies. It’s why he got very few laws passed, even when the R’s had total control the first two years of his Presidency. They must be very afraid of Trump. He can’t just leave office. He must be destroyed. It kind of makes one wonder what these people have been doing behind Trump’s back these past few years to undermine him. There’s only one week left. This is complete vindictiveness and cowardice.
Rosendale explained that she shouldn’t be doing that in that position. There are just too many members with the opposite opinion. I don’t know anything about it.
Moderator Note:
Personal InsultsGary why are you not working toward defeating the (D) in 2022.
[Redacted]
Do you ever bother to self analyze your strategy to see what will win (R) seats or is all vindictive uselessness all the time.
Moderator Note:
Instant replay of insults are not necessarySince the election, I have only contributed to Republicans, starting the Loeffler and Purdue, and now Cheney and the Anti-Trump Republicans.
If you would stop for a second, you would see that I am advocating replacing Biggs and Gosar with Non-Trump Republicans, not Democrats. Their districts are R+15 and R+21.
Trump and Trumpism must be defeated. This is a battle for the soul of the Republican Party.
I can tell you something else you don’t understand. Just because you think you see a certain thing does not make it true.
And you are going to be articulate about the policies wanted by the electorate that motivated his election. I am really looking forward to this.
Please, people, let’s not suffer from GDS and put our energy toward the next thing, particularly to preserving the Bill of Rights.
Yes, you’re right about that, and it makes my morning commute quite an adventure. Afternoon, too.
Sixty plus million people voted for communism. You can pine away for the political status quo of forty years ago, but some people we have a Republic to save. Enjoy your show trial, until they come for you.
For once we agree. And you will be defeated.
I haven’t looked into Cheney’s politics in any detail but I think she may be grouped with those generally called Neo-conservatives at least insofar as they support continuous military interventions and conflict particularly in the Middle East. That focus is exactly what has held the attention of Republicans while other government officials have been profiting from dealing with the Chinese Communist and international Big Tech. A challenge like this should be clarifying indeed.
This is a new coalition. Want to break it up nice and quick? Then don’t differentiate yourself from McConnell, let Cheney represent your caucus as R-Insider. You can’t let this statement go without a response, unfortunately.
Loyalty to Trump is not the litmus test. Opposing the ludicrous actions of the radical Left is the litmus test.
Without Cheney in power, I fear our foreign wars will lack panache.
I suggest withholding judgment on Sen. McConnell, at present. I haven’t seen a report of any public statement from him. I have seen claims that he supported impeachment, based on anonymous sources. That’s pretty thin evidence, and even if he made some private statements, I think that we should wait until he announces something publicly.
There are reports (here, for example) that an unnamed “spokesman” for McConnell stated today (Wednesday) that McConnell will not agree to an emergency session of the Senate.
More on this from Rosendale of Montana here.
It is supposed to be for crimes in office, not personal dislike or daddy issues.
I disagree with both of you.
The best path forward is reconciliation within the GOP. I’d like to see both the pro-Trump and anti-Trump folks move forward together, without engaging in further conflict that will hurt the party, and likely result in Dem victories that will leave all of us unhappy.
Gary still thinks members of the House are subject to recall?
And that Cheney and Jordan are in some kind of competitive race, i.e. election?
Yes. Would that have been the thought before Cheney launched her rant. I agree that it would be noble for Jordan, et al, to now just turn the other cheek, but I think the comments I linked to at #23 show the thoughts of betrayal by some as to another who is not just a member of the House.
Will do based on your recommendation, Jerry, but I suggest this was a fishing expedition to gauge reaction, and it is telling that it led with “supports impeachment.”
Can you identify a coalition that can deliver more than 75 million votes? More than 80 million votes?? If you took all the people that have ever been on a Bulwark cruise and add in the all the followers of the Lincoln Project, you would still need 80 million votes to win an election. If you want to fight for principles and lose elections, join me at the Libertarian Party ;)
The actions of the radical left can certainly be ludicrous at times. But is impeachment ludicrous? Looking at the events since the certification of EC votes? Looking back and seeing the blatantly improper legal claims when it comes to EC vote counting, then the chaos, violence, and death of Jan. 6th- and impeachment is the thing that strikes you as ludicrous?
I think it is at least arguable that, if the legislative branch is to have the impeachment power, it makes sense to use that power when the executive attempts to bully them (and the VP) into violating their own laws in order to remain in power. I can see deciding not to impeach, since his time is so short, but it is not ludicrous.
And anyway, why is supporting Trump the measure of what it means to oppose the radical Left? Can someone not oppose both? ‘Cuz if not, I’m going to need to call an exorcist, or something.