Elise Stefanik is having a moment. If she were a song on the Billboard chart, she’d have a bullet next to her name to show the speed of her trajectory.
In recent weeks, the New York congresswoman has claimed credit for the demise of two major university presidents (those at Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania), after she led the bullying about campus antisemitism during a congressional hearing.
“Two down,” she gloated on X, formerly Twitter, after Harvard’s Claudine Gay stepped down.
Last weekend, Stefanik had a star turn on NBC’s Meet the Press, in which she provided one of those quotes that goes ‘round the world for its sheer outrageousness. She echoed Donald Trump’s sympathetic characterization of those who are being prosecuted for storming the US Capitol, in some cases assaulting police officers.
“I have concerns about the treatment of the January 6 hostages,” she told Kristen Welker.
And when asked whether she’d like to be Donald Trump’s running mate – and potentially the next vice-president of the United States – Stefanik didn’t exactly turn away in disgust.
“I’ve said for a year now I’d be honored to serve in the next Trump administration,” was her less-than-coy response.
The conservative Washington Examiner found all of this a winning formula.
“Elise Stefanik is running for VP and she’s winning,” read its recent headline. The writer enthused: “She was poised, confident and well-prepared. Most importantly, she didn’t give an inch when defending Trump on any issue.”
And that quality is what really wins points with the former president, as with every mob boss: vociferous, unquestioning loyalty. Being willing to do what’s necessary.
Compare Stefanik’s situation to that of former Republican congresswoman: Liz Cheney of Wyoming – not long ago a leading figure in the House of Representatives. In fact, she was the chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, succeeded by none other than Stefanik.
Defeated in her 2022 primary by a Trump-endorsed candidate, Cheney has left politics for now, though she hasn’t ruled out a third-party bid for president this year.
For the past few years, Cheney has made it her business to try to hold Trump accountable. As the vice-chair of the House January 6 committee, she told the hard truths about how he tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election and encouraged the Capitol insurrection. In doing so, she alienated most of her party – and earned the eternal hatred of its de facto leader.
Whatever one may think of her staunchly conservative positions on important issues, including abortion rights (she celebrated the US supreme court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade), it’s hard not to respect Cheney when it comes to Trump. She’s been brave, dignified and relentless in standing up for American democracy and for the foundational idea of governmental checks and balances.
Most recently, Cheney has been clear in public statements that she thinks the former president – whom she says she voted for twice – should be barred from the ballot in November.
“There’s no question in my mind that his action clearly constituted an offense that is within the language of the 14th amendment,” she said at a recent event at Dartmouth College.
No surprise that Cheney’s words and actions have earned Trump’s ire, and brought out the nastiness that’s never far from the surface.
“I mean, Liz Cheney’s a sick person,” Trump has said, calling her and former Illinois congressman Adam Kinzinger “far worse than any Democrat that ever lived”. A Trump spokesman told the New York Times she is “a loser”, interested only in promoting her book, which he said “should be repurposed as toilet paper”.
Yes, it sure is a classy gang that Stefanik hopes to help lead. Is she up to the task?
It looks that way.
“Can anyone name a more noxious politician?” asked Columbia University journalism professor Bill Grueskin, after Stefanik’s all-caps “two down” tweet about the college presidents.
There are a couple of contenders for the title, but she may have it nailed.
That Stefanik is a rising star – and Liz Cheney a pariah – says it all about Republican politics today.
Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture
