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Former Republican Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney has said that conservatives may have to start a new party after the GOP has grown “corrupted” by former President Donald Trump.
Cheney, who has said that she and her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, will vote for Vice President and Democrat Kamala Harris in November, spoke to Peter Baker of The New York Times at the 2024 Cap Times Idea Fest on Saturday.
During the event, hosted by The Capital Times in Madison, Wisconsin, Cheney revealed that she thinks the Republican Party may have outlived its usefulness after devoting its existence to Trump.
“It’s hard for me to see how the Republican Party survives because it’s been so corrupted,” she told Baker on stage.
Cheney said that the US needs two “strong” parties, adding that the Republican Party may no longer be a welcome home for traditional conservatives.
Baker asked if the party might be able to “purge itself of Trump.”
“We need our political system to reflect the goodness of the American people,” Cheney argued. “Whether it’s organizing a new party ... it’s hard for me to see how the Republican Party, given what it has done, can make the argument convincingly or credibly, that people ought to to be voting for Republican candidates until it recognizes what it’s done.”
She added: “I think making sure that on an individual basis, we’re casting votes for serious, responsible people, that we’re encouraging people to get involved and run.”
“There is certainly going to be a big shift I think in how our politics work. I don’t know exactly what that will look like,” Cheney admitted.
“I don’t think it will just simply be, ‘Well, the Republican Party is gonna put up a new slate of candidates and off to the races,’” she said. “I think far too much has happened. It’s too damaging.”
Baker asked if a new party would be required, such as the Republicans came after the Whigs in the 1850s.
“It may well be because again, so much of the Republican Party today has allowed itself to become a tool for this really unstable man,” Cheney said.
Her comments come after more than 100 former Republican administration officials endorsed Harris in a letter stating that Trump is “unfit to serve again as President, or indeed in any office of public trust.”
The letter was obtained by The New York Times. Former defense secretaries Chuck Hagel and William Cohen, former CIA directors Michael Hayden and William Webster, and former Trump administration officials Miles Taylor and Olivia Troye all signed it. Troye also spoke at the Democratic National Convention in support of Harris.
“As President, he promoted daily chaos in government, praised our enemies and undermined our allies, politicized the military and disparaged our veterans, prioritized his personal interest above American interests, and betrayed our values, democracy, and this country’s founding documents,” the letter states.
The signatories of the letter note that they may very well disagree with Harris on a litany of issues but they say that Trump is simply not worthy of the highest office in the land.
