Cheney Describes Trump’s Hold on Republicans as “Very Dangerous”

In an interview with Wyoming representative Liz Cheney on the Today Show, Cheney said that the hold former president Donald Trump has on the Republican party is "very dangerous."

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The interview followed a voice vote by the Republican conference to remove Cheney from her position as conference chair for the party for, in the words of minority leader Kevin McCarthy, not carrying out the message of the party.

Cheney said Trump must not become president again because of the harm he has done and would do to democracy.

"Above everything is our adherence to the constitution, and anyone who has provoked an attack on the capital of the United States, no president obviously ever did that before, he did, and he did it in an effort to steal an election, and he continues to try to convince people the election was stolen," Cheney said. "So he must not again be anywhere near the Oval Office."

In response to criticism that Cheney is distracting from the Republican message and efforts to take back the House, she said it is important to focus what is being spread by Republican officials who are espousing the lies pushed by Trump.

"What's happening is that you've got leaders in our party who are letting the former president drag all of us backwards and making all of them complicate in the lie," Cheney said. "I think it's very important for us going forward to reject that. Both because it is not a foundation, you cannot rebuild our party on a foundation of lies, and also because it is a continuing threat."

Cheney said the focus on supporting Trump by Republicans does not make political sense given what happened since Trump came into office.

"If you look at Ronald Regan, he won 49 states in his reelection, that's the kind of coalition we need to be building," Cheney said. "The former president, while he was in office, lost the House, the Senate and the White House. So if you're looking at this from a political perspective, it makes no sense."