Liz Cheney couldn’t have been more right about two things. Firstly, the election of “idiots” is destabilizing the country, and secondly, this isn’t a partisan phenomenon. There was a substantial disconnect between the audience at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan and Ms. Cheney when she enunciated the staggering costs of idiocy. She wasn’t going for a cheap line or laugh. She was delivering a dead-on sober assessment around an obvious fact when the system is blinking red.
This is the result of decades of relentless successful demonization of “Democrats and women”. Starting with Rush Limbaugh, Fox and others. MAGAS truly believe that their fellow American citizens across the political aisle, are worse than Putin, Hitler, and Stalin to the extent that they are willing to throw out democracy, ethics, and decency to defeat the evil DEMS. Trump just used what was already planted and gave it a name and platform to rally behind. Liz Cheney hates Trump, but can she see what the GOP has really become? Once Trump is gone, can the GOP ever return to being a political party capable of working towards compromise with respect towards others? Doubtful I’m afraid.
Howard, excellent post, and i believe it even pre-dates the evil-mouthed Rush Limbaugh-- though he was obviously a gigantic figure for the evil cause.
However, I think many seeds of divisive hatred were sown by GOP strategists *Karl Rove* and *Lee Atwater.*
These guys were the first to really master the "psy-ops" campaign techniques and foul attack-ads for TV to subvert the sanity and solidarity of the American people. Jmo....
Rush had two "leaders" that he learned his trade from: Pat Buchanan and Newt Gingrich. Together, these three recognized that if they used the very words used by Hitler, Putin, and Stalin they could turn a lot of Americans into believing that America was domed unless it turned to fascist leaders; thus Trump, thus MAGA was born.
We musn’t be afraid. Ms Cheney wasn’t/isn’t afraid. Either the MAGA party needs to relinquish it’s sword, (or preferably fall on it), or, we, the American people, who want our country to thrive into the future, as a democracy and figure out a way to take it from the idiots and subculture that is oozing out of the crevices. We can do this. We’ve done pretty good for 250 years, but we have to do better going forward. We are seeing the cracks in our systems that need fixing. (SCOTUS, for sure is in there).
While I agree Liz Cheney should be respected for the stand she has taken against Trump and his MAGA sycophants, up until Jan 6, her policies, political positions and voting history, led us straight to the Jan 6 insurrection. She voted for Trump in 2016, which perhaps she could be forgiven for by allowing her to claim she didn’t know he was a fascist and that was how he would lead-however given his business history of pushing racist rental policies, skirting the law, bankruptcies, shady business deals with Russia and China and refusing to pay his bills, that’s a seriously long stretch-she STILL voted for him in 2020. And she STILL voted for more than 90% of the laws and policies he pushed while president. She’s no hero. Yes, she did one right thing. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while. And that’s as much credit as I’m willing to give her.
Your adamantly unforgiving stance reflects a chronic partisan lock of which you despair. My perspective as a lifelong Democrat is that, of all the players in DC, she is the most adult. I repeat, adult. Were it not for her ability to recognize the errors of her commitments and modify her stances, the critical Jan 6 committee might have slid into just another sell-out sewer of maga sham. She recognized her miscalculations, knew well the cost to her political career, and led potentially one of the most important battles against the fascist advancement. There is more room here for respect than for past recrimination. In the old days, warriors on one side would recognize the extraordinary actions of a single enemy and pound their shields in respect. I would not vote for her, but I pound my shield in respect.
I have utmost respect for Liz Cheney. She sacrificed her career by the diligent work she did by chairing the Jan 6 committee and bringing it to the public. From what we are hearing in the latest news it appears that her work also goaded the DOJ into taking action. Without the above this entire disgrace might have never been exposed to the point where actual litigation is taking place. As for her past as a Republican sometimes it does take earth shattering events to change one’s course. It is courage to do what she did putting constitution before party in full view of the entire nation. While I as an Independent voter did not vote for dt, these events have caused me to join the Democrat party.
Hi Gerald Thank you for your reply and food for thought. Yes, she is strong, yes she drew a red line and I respect that and yes her strength pushed Jan 6 to be the success that it was
Unforgiving. Guess I am. So much harm has been done and I am not at a forgiving point. Maybe at some point I will get there.
Yes. I don't agree with Cheney's politics but I certainly agree with her stance on the current GOP. She joined the Jan 6th committee and without her it would not have run the way it did. She was the force behind it and I respect her for that and for standing up to the party now. She lost her job because she chose to tell the truth and investigate the crime.
Upholding the constitution is the job. It’s in the oath. It’s not patriotism, it’s basic. The “ceiling” is a metaphor and indicates the opportunity to do more.
In this climate upholding the Constitution is patriotism in my view. Trump's party staged a coup that came pretty close to working. None of the big players have been indicted and a large part of the Republican are still pushing the lie that Trump won. The basics have been thrown out the window.
I was only seeking to clarify for the woman who had a question.
The basics have only been thrown out the window by the extreme maga crowd. If you don’t think so, have a look at the current and developing indictments of DJT. I don’t know how this will all play out however if we vote for Democratic politicians, we will force the Republican Party to offer candidates that offer solutions in staid of pain.
I didn’t mean U turn in the sense of veering into the Democrats camp. I meant it that she turned around and went the other way. Instead of keeping her mouth shut like the rest of the Republicans she decided they must not get away with it. It was her party they usurped. It was respect for law and order that her former party said they stood for. It was a protection of democracy.
Fair point, but the GOP wasn't usurped. It was revealed. Start in 1968 with Nixon's Southern Strategy and go until you get to today's SCOTUS decision about affirmative action. This is who they've always been.
No, they weren't. But we both know that. And I didn't go back far enough. I should have started with the McCarthy House Un-American Activities hearings.
I'm not entirely sure where you're coming from but please try to hear and understand this from someone with my perspective. I am a lifelong Democrat. There is absolutely nothing in the MAGA party that wasn't there at least as long as I've been alive, almost 70 years. There are literally no societal advancements that have come about through GOP leadership or cooperation. Far from it. They've stood in the way of racial justice and equality, gay/lesbian equality, women's equality (all are against the ERA) and women's bodily autonomy, voting rights, just to name a few. During the ACA passage (grandma killers, they said) they railed at "government intrusion" in healthcare (which it isn't, and never was). Now, with breathtaking hypocrisy, they can't stay out of a woman's menstrual cycle, OBGYN visits, or birthing rooms. The GOP has delivered on one thing, and one thing only, over the coarse of my life: tax cuts for the extremely wealthy. Everything else they said were just lies to cover up that single driving force. They never believed in their bumper stickers and slogans. As Stewart Stevens, a lifelong Republican said, it was all a lie.
While all of this, and I only made a very short list, may be news to some Republicans and Independents, it's not news to Democrats. So it is very hard for me to listen to Republicans now saying, "I'm shocked to find there is gambling in this establishment." Liz Cheney is not doing anything that ALL Democrats weren't already doing for years, if not decades. And the magnetic pull towards her that I see here, just looks and sounds like the same old desire to go back to the good ol' days when this was all kept below the surface: active, and percolating like mad, but hidden. That's where I'm coming from.
I agree with Liz Cheney on just about nothing in terms of policy, but I have the utmost respect for her integrity. She knew full well that when she took a stand against The Donald and his cult, it would spell the end of her political career (at least for the foreseeable future), and yet she did it anyway because it was the right thing to do. Ditto Adam Kinzinger.
Ronald Reagan was more in line with the cult members. Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt were great presidents. Reagan's affable play acting was not even in the same ballpark as Lincoln and Roosevelt. Reagan espoused the trickle-down bs theory of economics.
I’m glad you spoke up about Reagan. He planted the seeds and started this. Lifting up his presidency is just a myth. He was our first performative president. He was an actor that hung out with rich people that wanted their taxes cut, and they decided to fund him and get him into the White House. He was playing a role, “the American hero”. There’s a great documentary on him that exposes everything.
I might add, these idiots being elected suffer from incurable idiocy. That leaves it to the rest of us (the sane ones) to come out in droves to defeat them. Politics today is most certainly not a spectator sport! Kudos to Lynn Cheney!
10 years ago if anyone had said that the Republican Party was destined to be controlled by a collection of narcissists and opportunists we would say "That's crazy: the party that produced Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan would NEVER stoop to those depths of depravity. It would have been those communist/socialist Demon-crats that would those terrible things". Well, we are now staring it in the face; a national political party has stared into the abyss and gleefully jumped in head first. The Speaker-in-Name-Only Kevin McCarthy can't seem to go a single day without humiliating himself but unlike John Boehner and Paul Ryan, McCarthy is so desperate to be Speaker of the House that he will willingly subject himself to humilation. On the Senate side, we have the Republican "leadership" either in the bag for Trump already or so desperate to avoid the wrath of the MAGA-nuts that they will go along with whatever Trump incoherently rants about. God help us, we still have 15 months until the election. As Bette Davis said long ago: "Fasten Your Seatbelt It's Going To Be Bumpy Night".
Since September 11, 2001, along with many others, I saw the writing on the wall. I heard Republicans loud and clear. Their vengeance matters more than justice, their principles and, yes, even their sworn duty and oath of office.
We felt the gathering of disrespect for the Oval office from within the Oval office, the Halls of Congress and media. We endured a constant drumbeat for vengeance. We understood what would come next as we watched the dehumanization and defamation of entire cultures "who didnt pray like us" by racists and bigots - for profit.
We watched Republicans en masse gaslighting our family's in real-time with their lies, depravity and deceit.
My hope for change is the target of the Republican party's "communist/socialist demon-crats" dog whistle. A whistle Republicans have been blowing since the Joe McCarthy hearings.
His kind never go away they move into the shadows. They hide underground to regroup and assess where they went wrong and plot how to be successful the next time. And, there will always be a next time.
The Republican metastasis will be our demise because we fail to understand there is always someone more heinous with a plan waiting on deck.
The quest for power always requires non-white, non-confirning, non-religious, non-male, non-English speaking human beings be demonized by politicians, predators, con-men and grifters.
Humanity is evolving and the current crop of the Republican cult choose to abdicate decorum, precedent and our future. Why?
My witty, hyper-intelligent mother was radicalized by Bush the Lesser. She is now a faithful Fox-watcher, and is chock-full of the most outrageous conspiracy bullshit. It has become hard to have conversations with her because it is just under the surface and she knows it’s all bullshit ... but it’s all she has.
Most of the maga morons never voted before voting for trump. I know them. I worked with them for decades. They want everything the gov't will give them from faking to get food stamps to social security, but they think even a stop sign is an affront to their freedom. They're mostly stupid and easily manipulated, although they think they're free thinkers. They think no one can tell them what to do, although they are putty in the hands of advertisers who easily push their buttons. They think they are individuals while consuming everything they are fooled to consume. Want to fit in? Get a Harley, shave your head, gets lots of tattoos, wear goofy boots, buy a bigger truck, treat women like chattel, and when the country asks you to vote, give it the finger because no one tells them what to do.
Then trump showed up and conned them like children. Burn it all down. We don't need a gov't. We don't need rules. Violence, bravado and threats are the only rules. Ignorance is strength. We revel in our dumbfuckness. It is who we are and we will take that to the polls because we are sheep led there by our gang leader who promises to hang the pansies by their pathetic ties as we get good and drunk and pee on them. We love crudeness, the more vile, the better. We want to disgust them. We strive for it. It is how we measure ourselves. Did you intimidate someone today with your steroid driven insecurity? Cool!
That's the scum that infests the 75 million who voted for trump. The scum the Boeberts and Greens and Jordans play to. The ones wrapped around trump's girlish finger. Pathetic, insecure, thumb suckers with the biggest truck on the block and an abused pitbull on a chain. Pure idiots pumped up now that their Mickey Mouse club of morons feels like they're in charge. Burn it down! Defecate on their desks! Defile everything! Scream holy terror in their echo chamber of hate. The sorriest lot among us.
That's who trump hauled to the polls for the first time in their disgusting little lives.
Liz Cheney is a national hero. I don't like her voting record but she was one of only two republicans who stood up as Steve said against Trump and MAGA. Some in the Republican Party are indeed idiots. The rest know exactly what they are doing. For them, it is me first, party second and the country last. This is what we have come to. I don't see any way out for the republicans, they are in the vortex on the way down the drain. I don't believe they will survive as a party or maybe at some point when they have lost enough elections there will be some split, and we will for a time have three parties. Maybe. Consider Joe Biden. He was pretty much retired but knew he had to do something. So, he took it on. For what? His country. Not himself or his party, but for his country and the constitution. He may be a little old now but maybe we should think, not old, a patriot with years of wisdom. Just one last thing. Don't think we can ever teach the MAGA adherents, they are lost souls. Sad.
Kudos to Ms. Cheney for her patriotic courage. Just remember it took an insurrection and threats to her life for her to speak against a party she has yet to disown.
She pointed out it is voters who elected these idiots but fails to mention it is Congress who fails to remove their trash.
Why would Liz abandon her party when she and a couple of others are the only ones left in it? The other party is MAGA and it should be on the ballot as MAGA. Liz is one of my heroes. She and Zelenskyy and Biden and some of the people who write on Substack, and many I’m not even aware of yet are heroes. We have a country to save and people are stepping up.
What Liz Cheney did is such a low bar. We have had politicians, all on the Democratic side, who were, and are, light-years ahead of where she is today.
Liz stood up to the entire GOP bunch of rotten cowards and knocked it out of the ball park with the J-6 committee. This is admirable in my book during these insane times.
fyi: Steve is a registered Democrat. His newsletters are 'Warnings' -not a platform to give accolades to Democrats, although he sometimes does that. He is fighting MAGA to save our Democracy. He featured Liz Cheney today because of what she said about IDIOTS being elected into public office. This is so true and what the rest of the GOP will not do! Now, in 2023! Steve get's into what she said about Idiots being elected as a newsletter topic.
Lisa, good evening. You probably noticed that ohthehughmanity is hard to impress when it comes to Liz Cheney. He’s not conceding an inch, we’ll barely.
Susan, you have a way with words:) It's not really about Liz. Lisa and I have called a truce and I'm going to try to explain myself better tomorrow if she'll listen. It's a bit late for me now.
Hi Lisa, let me try to unravel some of this. And I hope that the calm voice that I'm doing it with will come through. It might help if I first say what my issue isn't. My issue is not Liz Cheney. At all. I respect her for the one good thing, in my eyes, that she did. But she quietly tolerated, and there for enabled, a lot of criminality and immorality before she finally did her one good thing. So I won't be at the parade that many here seem to want to give her. While I disagree with the praise she's receiving, it's not her fault, or her doing. She's not forcing anyone to say nice things about her. And that brings me to the thing that I am, and I'll put it mildly, not a fan of:
There is a pattern in the media, and in commentary, to praise conservatives for the smallest things and completely ignore the ongoing, and consistent, good that Democrats do. It even happens on my favorite cable channel, MSNBC. The Liz Cheney stories are a good example of this. From the beginning, Democrats warned of the threat that Trump posed. With his egregious immorality on full display from day one, Republicans quietly, or loudly, enabled him. They cheered him on and voted for him twice. While Democrats tried to hold him accountable, Republicans did nothing. The one thing they could have done, vote for his removal, they failed to do, twice (I know, Cheney was in the House, not Senate).
During all of this time, from 2015 and on, Democrats held the line against this monster as Cheney and others did nothing. Then came 1/6, and she'd had enough. For me that is too little, and too late. Look at all the damage that was done before she found her backbone. But again, my issue isn't with her.
My issue is that in the full context of all of this, Democrats who were doing the right thing from the start get little, or no, credit for it. And Liz Cheney gets a great article written about her for saying, incorrectly, that "we're" electing idiots. And suddenly it's a "both sides" problem. But, "we're" not electing idiots, Republicans are. "We're" not dividing the country, Republicans are dividing it. "We" didn't steal top secret documents, Trump did. They do this all the time. And Steve fell into that trap with this article.
There is a great imbalance with the infrequent, if ever, good that Republicans do and the praise that they receive for it. There is also a great imbalance for for the ongoing good that Democrats do and the praise that they DON'T receive for it. Take for example an old tenet: "Evil triumphs when good men do nothing." That is wrong at its core because men who do nothing are not good. They may or may not be evil, but they're not good. Liz Cheney is being cast here (not her doing) as a good woman. Well, for five years she did nothing, and then she did one good thing. Actually she didn't do "nothing." She enabled Trump and voted for him twice. I don't see her as good in this scenario. But again, my problem is not with her. It's with the way she is covered, and Democrats aren't, but should be.
If the point of an article like this is to highlight "good," she'd be on the list, but at the bottom. So why highlight the bottom of the list? My heroes are Adam Schiff, Hakeem Jeffries, Sylvia Garcia, Jerry Nadler, Val Demings, Zoe Lofgren, Jason Crow, David Cicilline, Eric Swallwell, Joaquin Castro, Ted Lieu, Stacey Plaskett, Joe Neguse, Madelein Dean, Diana Degette, Jamie Raskin, and Nancy Pelosi. More should be written about their unwavering courage and fight for justice. I would like us to stop indirectly validating them, with the story of one lone Republican who did one good thing.
I hope this clears this up. And thank you for listening.
I'm going to say this in my calmest voice: I Agree!! You are correct. Thank you for taking the time to write a well-considered response today. It was obvious to almost everyone in 2015, including Liz Cheney, that DJT was an unscrupulous liar and cheater with about the lowest human integrity possible. The GOP knowingly enabled a criminal to become a demagogue and to create what may be irreparable damage to the U.S.A. "They" are voting in idiots, not 'We'. Cheney, in the end, just did the job she took an oath to do. In contrast to the rest of the cowardly GOP who failed to honor their oaths, she wrongly appears to be a hero. I agree that the media is a huge part of this problem and also that the Democrats rarely are given credit where credit is due. Thanks.
“I say this to my Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible. There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.” ~ Liz Cheney, Vice Chair of House January 6 Committee, June 9, 2022
I will not ever forget when “Hero” Liz stood up in front of cameras and denounced Democrats for wanting to murder babies at nine months of gestation. That was beyond the pale for me. Yes, and zero excuses for voting for “him” again in 2020, ZERO!!!!!
Liz has been communicating her position against trump and MAGA. Her delivery is very somber and monotone.
I think the message has to be communicated in a much more animated and decisive way.
More like - What the hell is them matter with you idiots!?!?!? You're kissing the ass of a narcissistic asshole who doesn't give 2 shits about you or anyone else in the world. All he wants is to be fawned after and made to feel special so that he can take your money and use it to pay for his attorneys trying to keep his fat ass out of prison for all of the crimes that he has committed his entire life. Fat Man is a pathetic pile of crap playing President on TV and laughing at everyone who falls for his strong man dictator bull shit. Wake up and do what Chris Christie is doing - punch him in the face and see how long this asshole will stay in the playground of politics.
Let’s never forget that this is the price we are paying for intentionally dumbing down public education in America. Another legacy that gathered steam during the Reagan revolution. We have become a nation of idiots because the wealthy and most powerful want a nation of wage slaves and not independent thinkers.
Dana, a comment written by you just disappeared while I was reading it. It was a good one and I share your thoughts about vetting dem candidates to make sure they are not pretending to be what they are not. That would be very like Maga to try that.
There is one major culprit in this dysfunction that is not mentioned: Fox News. Murdoch and his ideology created the toxic stew on the air nightly and embraced the MAGA lies, fascist propaganda, and anti-government sentiments. Nightly they mock the President of the United States and undermine respect for Democracy. Until the Fox cancer is removed we will see the useful idiots elected and continued sedition. This is an enormous problem given our freedom of the press. But the press should not be free to spread factual lies and fascist propaganda. It's enough to make Jefferson weep.
When I consider Liz C I see the medieval concept of the honorable adversary. I do not support her political stance but recognize her honor, integrity, commitment to the Constitution and rule of law. She takes her oath to support and defend the Constitution with the utmost seriousness. For that alone I would fight beside her. We can argue tax policy later. Much more important fight now to preserve and protect our democracy
By the way I do not agree we are electing idiots. If they were all idiots, lacking brains and will, it would be easier. They’re much worse. More like Prof Quirrel in Harry Potter, they’re controlled by others who use them as mouthpieces I believe the Russians use the term useful idiots, who can be controlled to spout propaganda
We must provide for all SWIFT justice for America served . We must punish all those who are traitors against the USA. We all must see them going to jail . We must create more airwaves for all the good the Dems/Biden are doing. Spend the money and advertise like medias touch like ads . Nationally and prime time . Radio too. More progressive radio .
And vote . Vet and vote . We particularly have to watch out for fake democrats! Lying cheats will say they are Dems ( cz they were bought by NRA, Russia or pharmaceutical companies ( to name a few) ) I.e. Sinema and Manchin. DINOS.
Our population is so ripe for autocracy cz ppl are weary, disgusted and idiots. Over 40 million ppl don’t even vote. They must not think it important . Couldn’t be more important than now.
Don’t forget that horrible former Democratic state Senator in North Carolina that U-turned on her election promise to safeguard abortion access. Someone either got to her, or she was a fraud from the start. Sinema is a great example because she promised something new & modern and then showed her true colors pretty quickly. Manchin has always been closer to a Centrist Republican who votes Dem because he has more power in Democratic caucus.
What we are witnessing in Russia is exactly where MAGA is taking us today.
EXACT Trajectory and EXACT Results.
America is known for leading the globe in an expedient pace in just about everything (unlike Russia). America will land in a government structure of Kleptocracy and Plutocracy as is Russia today, IF Republican voters succumb to the fascist sirens in the 2024 elections. That’s the trajectory.
Liz Cheney stating that we are electing “idiots” is not too different than Hillary’s comments about “deplorables”. Idiots are electing deplorables...or the other way around: both ‘versions’ work. We ARE a country of idiots for the most part. Education is so low on the list of priorities in our country, - it’s ridiculous. China’s version of Tik Tok has their youngsters solving math problems, - and the version of Tik Tok that they export to us is made up of mesmerizing idiotic ‘entertainment’ that does NOTHING to strengthen our kids’ ‘brain-power’. Down the drain we go!
This is the result of decades of relentless successful demonization of “Democrats and women”. Starting with Rush Limbaugh, Fox and others. MAGAS truly believe that their fellow American citizens across the political aisle, are worse than Putin, Hitler, and Stalin to the extent that they are willing to throw out democracy, ethics, and decency to defeat the evil DEMS. Trump just used what was already planted and gave it a name and platform to rally behind. Liz Cheney hates Trump, but can she see what the GOP has really become? Once Trump is gone, can the GOP ever return to being a political party capable of working towards compromise with respect towards others? Doubtful I’m afraid.
1000% Correct, doubtful indeed. Sure hope we're wrong, doubtful.
Howard, excellent post, and i believe it even pre-dates the evil-mouthed Rush Limbaugh-- though he was obviously a gigantic figure for the evil cause.
However, I think many seeds of divisive hatred were sown by GOP strategists *Karl Rove* and *Lee Atwater.*
These guys were the first to really master the "psy-ops" campaign techniques and foul attack-ads for TV to subvert the sanity and solidarity of the American people. Jmo....
Rush had two "leaders" that he learned his trade from: Pat Buchanan and Newt Gingrich. Together, these three recognized that if they used the very words used by Hitler, Putin, and Stalin they could turn a lot of Americans into believing that America was domed unless it turned to fascist leaders; thus Trump, thus MAGA was born.
True.
We musn’t be afraid. Ms Cheney wasn’t/isn’t afraid. Either the MAGA party needs to relinquish it’s sword, (or preferably fall on it), or, we, the American people, who want our country to thrive into the future, as a democracy and figure out a way to take it from the idiots and subculture that is oozing out of the crevices. We can do this. We’ve done pretty good for 250 years, but we have to do better going forward. We are seeing the cracks in our systems that need fixing. (SCOTUS, for sure is in there).
Bravo Howard!
✅✅✅kudos Howard Wooden
You nailed this response Ty
Marsha
While I agree Liz Cheney should be respected for the stand she has taken against Trump and his MAGA sycophants, up until Jan 6, her policies, political positions and voting history, led us straight to the Jan 6 insurrection. She voted for Trump in 2016, which perhaps she could be forgiven for by allowing her to claim she didn’t know he was a fascist and that was how he would lead-however given his business history of pushing racist rental policies, skirting the law, bankruptcies, shady business deals with Russia and China and refusing to pay his bills, that’s a seriously long stretch-she STILL voted for him in 2020. And she STILL voted for more than 90% of the laws and policies he pushed while president. She’s no hero. Yes, she did one right thing. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while. And that’s as much credit as I’m willing to give her.
I agree with this. Good for her for Jan 6 work, but much like Pence, there is a history of voting, standing by and enabling the monster.
Your adamantly unforgiving stance reflects a chronic partisan lock of which you despair. My perspective as a lifelong Democrat is that, of all the players in DC, she is the most adult. I repeat, adult. Were it not for her ability to recognize the errors of her commitments and modify her stances, the critical Jan 6 committee might have slid into just another sell-out sewer of maga sham. She recognized her miscalculations, knew well the cost to her political career, and led potentially one of the most important battles against the fascist advancement. There is more room here for respect than for past recrimination. In the old days, warriors on one side would recognize the extraordinary actions of a single enemy and pound their shields in respect. I would not vote for her, but I pound my shield in respect.
I have utmost respect for Liz Cheney. She sacrificed her career by the diligent work she did by chairing the Jan 6 committee and bringing it to the public. From what we are hearing in the latest news it appears that her work also goaded the DOJ into taking action. Without the above this entire disgrace might have never been exposed to the point where actual litigation is taking place. As for her past as a Republican sometimes it does take earth shattering events to change one’s course. It is courage to do what she did putting constitution before party in full view of the entire nation. While I as an Independent voter did not vote for dt, these events have caused me to join the Democrat party.
Welcome 🫶🏼
Hi Gerald Thank you for your reply and food for thought. Yes, she is strong, yes she drew a red line and I respect that and yes her strength pushed Jan 6 to be the success that it was
Unforgiving. Guess I am. So much harm has been done and I am not at a forgiving point. Maybe at some point I will get there.
Well said Gerald and I 100% agree.
I don't.
Yes. I don't agree with Cheney's politics but I certainly agree with her stance on the current GOP. She joined the Jan 6th committee and without her it would not have run the way it did. She was the force behind it and I respect her for that and for standing up to the party now. She lost her job because she chose to tell the truth and investigate the crime.
I came here to say this, but you said it better.
Putting the country and the constitution before your party is the right thing to do, but it's the floor, not the ceiling.
Exactly.
Yep!
I’ll take it. Why isn’t it the ceiling?
Upholding the constitution is the job. It’s in the oath. It’s not patriotism, it’s basic. The “ceiling” is a metaphor and indicates the opportunity to do more.
In this climate upholding the Constitution is patriotism in my view. Trump's party staged a coup that came pretty close to working. None of the big players have been indicted and a large part of the Republican are still pushing the lie that Trump won. The basics have been thrown out the window.
I was only seeking to clarify for the woman who had a question.
The basics have only been thrown out the window by the extreme maga crowd. If you don’t think so, have a look at the current and developing indictments of DJT. I don’t know how this will all play out however if we vote for Democratic politicians, we will force the Republican Party to offer candidates that offer solutions in staid of pain.
Well put.
She made a U turn. That’s something.
At her core, she supports the Constitution and rule of law. I’m about 180 from her policies but respect her integrity
I wonder if she cares enough about the Constitution to vote for Joseph Biden.
I trust her.
Liz Scheffler BRAVA
One thing Cheney has at least stood up Spoke Truth
And I respect that! Marsha
She made a slight left turn.
I didn’t mean U turn in the sense of veering into the Democrats camp. I meant it that she turned around and went the other way. Instead of keeping her mouth shut like the rest of the Republicans she decided they must not get away with it. It was her party they usurped. It was respect for law and order that her former party said they stood for. It was a protection of democracy.
Fair point, but the GOP wasn't usurped. It was revealed. Start in 1968 with Nixon's Southern Strategy and go until you get to today's SCOTUS decision about affirmative action. This is who they've always been.
Ok. I buy that. But we’re they always in such disarray?
No, they weren't. But we both know that. And I didn't go back far enough. I should have started with the McCarthy House Un-American Activities hearings.
I'm not entirely sure where you're coming from but please try to hear and understand this from someone with my perspective. I am a lifelong Democrat. There is absolutely nothing in the MAGA party that wasn't there at least as long as I've been alive, almost 70 years. There are literally no societal advancements that have come about through GOP leadership or cooperation. Far from it. They've stood in the way of racial justice and equality, gay/lesbian equality, women's equality (all are against the ERA) and women's bodily autonomy, voting rights, just to name a few. During the ACA passage (grandma killers, they said) they railed at "government intrusion" in healthcare (which it isn't, and never was). Now, with breathtaking hypocrisy, they can't stay out of a woman's menstrual cycle, OBGYN visits, or birthing rooms. The GOP has delivered on one thing, and one thing only, over the coarse of my life: tax cuts for the extremely wealthy. Everything else they said were just lies to cover up that single driving force. They never believed in their bumper stickers and slogans. As Stewart Stevens, a lifelong Republican said, it was all a lie.
While all of this, and I only made a very short list, may be news to some Republicans and Independents, it's not news to Democrats. So it is very hard for me to listen to Republicans now saying, "I'm shocked to find there is gambling in this establishment." Liz Cheney is not doing anything that ALL Democrats weren't already doing for years, if not decades. And the magnetic pull towards her that I see here, just looks and sounds like the same old desire to go back to the good ol' days when this was all kept below the surface: active, and percolating like mad, but hidden. That's where I'm coming from.
Yes, it's something. But barely the basics.
I agree with Liz Cheney on just about nothing in terms of policy, but I have the utmost respect for her integrity. She knew full well that when she took a stand against The Donald and his cult, it would spell the end of her political career (at least for the foreseeable future), and yet she did it anyway because it was the right thing to do. Ditto Adam Kinzinger.
And because someone had to do it.
The Republican Party is against drag queens and Trump with his hair and makeup is the biggest drag queen of of them all.
He’s a drag allright!…
Ronald Reagan was more in line with the cult members. Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt were great presidents. Reagan's affable play acting was not even in the same ballpark as Lincoln and Roosevelt. Reagan espoused the trickle-down bs theory of economics.
I’m glad you spoke up about Reagan. He planted the seeds and started this. Lifting up his presidency is just a myth. He was our first performative president. He was an actor that hung out with rich people that wanted their taxes cut, and they decided to fund him and get him into the White House. He was playing a role, “the American hero”. There’s a great documentary on him that exposes everything.
What documentary?
“The Reagans” released in 2020. Its on Amazon prime.
Thank you!
Reagan was like cocaine for the masses, made them feel better for a while, but the after effects are depleting.
I might add, these idiots being elected suffer from incurable idiocy. That leaves it to the rest of us (the sane ones) to come out in droves to defeat them. Politics today is most certainly not a spectator sport! Kudos to Lynn Cheney!
10 years ago if anyone had said that the Republican Party was destined to be controlled by a collection of narcissists and opportunists we would say "That's crazy: the party that produced Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan would NEVER stoop to those depths of depravity. It would have been those communist/socialist Demon-crats that would those terrible things". Well, we are now staring it in the face; a national political party has stared into the abyss and gleefully jumped in head first. The Speaker-in-Name-Only Kevin McCarthy can't seem to go a single day without humiliating himself but unlike John Boehner and Paul Ryan, McCarthy is so desperate to be Speaker of the House that he will willingly subject himself to humilation. On the Senate side, we have the Republican "leadership" either in the bag for Trump already or so desperate to avoid the wrath of the MAGA-nuts that they will go along with whatever Trump incoherently rants about. God help us, we still have 15 months until the election. As Bette Davis said long ago: "Fasten Your Seatbelt It's Going To Be Bumpy Night".
Since September 11, 2001, along with many others, I saw the writing on the wall. I heard Republicans loud and clear. Their vengeance matters more than justice, their principles and, yes, even their sworn duty and oath of office.
We felt the gathering of disrespect for the Oval office from within the Oval office, the Halls of Congress and media. We endured a constant drumbeat for vengeance. We understood what would come next as we watched the dehumanization and defamation of entire cultures "who didnt pray like us" by racists and bigots - for profit.
We watched Republicans en masse gaslighting our family's in real-time with their lies, depravity and deceit.
My hope for change is the target of the Republican party's "communist/socialist demon-crats" dog whistle. A whistle Republicans have been blowing since the Joe McCarthy hearings.
His kind never go away they move into the shadows. They hide underground to regroup and assess where they went wrong and plot how to be successful the next time. And, there will always be a next time.
The Republican metastasis will be our demise because we fail to understand there is always someone more heinous with a plan waiting on deck.
The quest for power always requires non-white, non-confirning, non-religious, non-male, non-English speaking human beings be demonized by politicians, predators, con-men and grifters.
Humanity is evolving and the current crop of the Republican cult choose to abdicate decorum, precedent and our future. Why?
My witty, hyper-intelligent mother was radicalized by Bush the Lesser. She is now a faithful Fox-watcher, and is chock-full of the most outrageous conspiracy bullshit. It has become hard to have conversations with her because it is just under the surface and she knows it’s all bullshit ... but it’s all she has.
"...it’s all she has." (Those words do explain so much about many MAGA followers.)
I rarely read this far down into a comment thread. I'm so glad I did. Bravo!
Because humanity is evolving and they can’t keep up?
Most of the maga morons never voted before voting for trump. I know them. I worked with them for decades. They want everything the gov't will give them from faking to get food stamps to social security, but they think even a stop sign is an affront to their freedom. They're mostly stupid and easily manipulated, although they think they're free thinkers. They think no one can tell them what to do, although they are putty in the hands of advertisers who easily push their buttons. They think they are individuals while consuming everything they are fooled to consume. Want to fit in? Get a Harley, shave your head, gets lots of tattoos, wear goofy boots, buy a bigger truck, treat women like chattel, and when the country asks you to vote, give it the finger because no one tells them what to do.
Then trump showed up and conned them like children. Burn it all down. We don't need a gov't. We don't need rules. Violence, bravado and threats are the only rules. Ignorance is strength. We revel in our dumbfuckness. It is who we are and we will take that to the polls because we are sheep led there by our gang leader who promises to hang the pansies by their pathetic ties as we get good and drunk and pee on them. We love crudeness, the more vile, the better. We want to disgust them. We strive for it. It is how we measure ourselves. Did you intimidate someone today with your steroid driven insecurity? Cool!
That's the scum that infests the 75 million who voted for trump. The scum the Boeberts and Greens and Jordans play to. The ones wrapped around trump's girlish finger. Pathetic, insecure, thumb suckers with the biggest truck on the block and an abused pitbull on a chain. Pure idiots pumped up now that their Mickey Mouse club of morons feels like they're in charge. Burn it down! Defecate on their desks! Defile everything! Scream holy terror in their echo chamber of hate. The sorriest lot among us.
That's who trump hauled to the polls for the first time in their disgusting little lives.
Well described.
Liz Cheney is a national hero. I don't like her voting record but she was one of only two republicans who stood up as Steve said against Trump and MAGA. Some in the Republican Party are indeed idiots. The rest know exactly what they are doing. For them, it is me first, party second and the country last. This is what we have come to. I don't see any way out for the republicans, they are in the vortex on the way down the drain. I don't believe they will survive as a party or maybe at some point when they have lost enough elections there will be some split, and we will for a time have three parties. Maybe. Consider Joe Biden. He was pretty much retired but knew he had to do something. So, he took it on. For what? His country. Not himself or his party, but for his country and the constitution. He may be a little old now but maybe we should think, not old, a patriot with years of wisdom. Just one last thing. Don't think we can ever teach the MAGA adherents, they are lost souls. Sad.
Kudos to Ms. Cheney for her patriotic courage. Just remember it took an insurrection and threats to her life for her to speak against a party she has yet to disown.
She pointed out it is voters who elected these idiots but fails to mention it is Congress who fails to remove their trash.
Why would Liz abandon her party when she and a couple of others are the only ones left in it? The other party is MAGA and it should be on the ballot as MAGA. Liz is one of my heroes. She and Zelenskyy and Biden and some of the people who write on Substack, and many I’m not even aware of yet are heroes. We have a country to save and people are stepping up.
America's politics has been relagated to debating "either/or" options for solutions.
Perhaps the time has come to consider "any/or/and/all" options as solutions. Repeating the same behaviors is no longer working.
What Liz Cheney did is such a low bar. We have had politicians, all on the Democratic side, who were, and are, light-years ahead of where she is today.
Liz stood up to the entire GOP bunch of rotten cowards and knocked it out of the ball park with the J-6 committee. This is admirable in my book during these insane times.
I'm just waiting for all the articles acknowledging ALL the Democrats for sounding the alarm about Trump, six years before she did. Then I'll listen.
fyi: Steve is a registered Democrat. His newsletters are 'Warnings' -not a platform to give accolades to Democrats, although he sometimes does that. He is fighting MAGA to save our Democracy. He featured Liz Cheney today because of what she said about IDIOTS being elected into public office. This is so true and what the rest of the GOP will not do! Now, in 2023! Steve get's into what she said about Idiots being elected as a newsletter topic.
Lisa, good evening. You probably noticed that ohthehughmanity is hard to impress when it comes to Liz Cheney. He’s not conceding an inch, we’ll barely.
Susan, you have a way with words:) It's not really about Liz. Lisa and I have called a truce and I'm going to try to explain myself better tomorrow if she'll listen. It's a bit late for me now.
Hi Lisa, let me try to unravel some of this. And I hope that the calm voice that I'm doing it with will come through. It might help if I first say what my issue isn't. My issue is not Liz Cheney. At all. I respect her for the one good thing, in my eyes, that she did. But she quietly tolerated, and there for enabled, a lot of criminality and immorality before she finally did her one good thing. So I won't be at the parade that many here seem to want to give her. While I disagree with the praise she's receiving, it's not her fault, or her doing. She's not forcing anyone to say nice things about her. And that brings me to the thing that I am, and I'll put it mildly, not a fan of:
There is a pattern in the media, and in commentary, to praise conservatives for the smallest things and completely ignore the ongoing, and consistent, good that Democrats do. It even happens on my favorite cable channel, MSNBC. The Liz Cheney stories are a good example of this. From the beginning, Democrats warned of the threat that Trump posed. With his egregious immorality on full display from day one, Republicans quietly, or loudly, enabled him. They cheered him on and voted for him twice. While Democrats tried to hold him accountable, Republicans did nothing. The one thing they could have done, vote for his removal, they failed to do, twice (I know, Cheney was in the House, not Senate).
During all of this time, from 2015 and on, Democrats held the line against this monster as Cheney and others did nothing. Then came 1/6, and she'd had enough. For me that is too little, and too late. Look at all the damage that was done before she found her backbone. But again, my issue isn't with her.
My issue is that in the full context of all of this, Democrats who were doing the right thing from the start get little, or no, credit for it. And Liz Cheney gets a great article written about her for saying, incorrectly, that "we're" electing idiots. And suddenly it's a "both sides" problem. But, "we're" not electing idiots, Republicans are. "We're" not dividing the country, Republicans are dividing it. "We" didn't steal top secret documents, Trump did. They do this all the time. And Steve fell into that trap with this article.
There is a great imbalance with the infrequent, if ever, good that Republicans do and the praise that they receive for it. There is also a great imbalance for for the ongoing good that Democrats do and the praise that they DON'T receive for it. Take for example an old tenet: "Evil triumphs when good men do nothing." That is wrong at its core because men who do nothing are not good. They may or may not be evil, but they're not good. Liz Cheney is being cast here (not her doing) as a good woman. Well, for five years she did nothing, and then she did one good thing. Actually she didn't do "nothing." She enabled Trump and voted for him twice. I don't see her as good in this scenario. But again, my problem is not with her. It's with the way she is covered, and Democrats aren't, but should be.
If the point of an article like this is to highlight "good," she'd be on the list, but at the bottom. So why highlight the bottom of the list? My heroes are Adam Schiff, Hakeem Jeffries, Sylvia Garcia, Jerry Nadler, Val Demings, Zoe Lofgren, Jason Crow, David Cicilline, Eric Swallwell, Joaquin Castro, Ted Lieu, Stacey Plaskett, Joe Neguse, Madelein Dean, Diana Degette, Jamie Raskin, and Nancy Pelosi. More should be written about their unwavering courage and fight for justice. I would like us to stop indirectly validating them, with the story of one lone Republican who did one good thing.
I hope this clears this up. And thank you for listening.
I'm going to say this in my calmest voice: I Agree!! You are correct. Thank you for taking the time to write a well-considered response today. It was obvious to almost everyone in 2015, including Liz Cheney, that DJT was an unscrupulous liar and cheater with about the lowest human integrity possible. The GOP knowingly enabled a criminal to become a demagogue and to create what may be irreparable damage to the U.S.A. "They" are voting in idiots, not 'We'. Cheney, in the end, just did the job she took an oath to do. In contrast to the rest of the cowardly GOP who failed to honor their oaths, she wrongly appears to be a hero. I agree that the media is a huge part of this problem and also that the Democrats rarely are given credit where credit is due. Thanks.
We are talking about post-J-6 insurrection and the big lie.....not 6 years ago.
“I say this to my Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible. There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.” ~ Liz Cheney, Vice Chair of House January 6 Committee, June 9, 2022
I will not ever forget when “Hero” Liz stood up in front of cameras and denounced Democrats for wanting to murder babies at nine months of gestation. That was beyond the pale for me. Yes, and zero excuses for voting for “him” again in 2020, ZERO!!!!!
Liz has been communicating her position against trump and MAGA. Her delivery is very somber and monotone.
I think the message has to be communicated in a much more animated and decisive way.
More like - What the hell is them matter with you idiots!?!?!? You're kissing the ass of a narcissistic asshole who doesn't give 2 shits about you or anyone else in the world. All he wants is to be fawned after and made to feel special so that he can take your money and use it to pay for his attorneys trying to keep his fat ass out of prison for all of the crimes that he has committed his entire life. Fat Man is a pathetic pile of crap playing President on TV and laughing at everyone who falls for his strong man dictator bull shit. Wake up and do what Chris Christie is doing - punch him in the face and see how long this asshole will stay in the playground of politics.
Let’s never forget that this is the price we are paying for intentionally dumbing down public education in America. Another legacy that gathered steam during the Reagan revolution. We have become a nation of idiots because the wealthy and most powerful want a nation of wage slaves and not independent thinkers.
Dana, a comment written by you just disappeared while I was reading it. It was a good one and I share your thoughts about vetting dem candidates to make sure they are not pretending to be what they are not. That would be very like Maga to try that.
Martin, That’s just who she is. We have you for the animated and decisive way. :)
There is one major culprit in this dysfunction that is not mentioned: Fox News. Murdoch and his ideology created the toxic stew on the air nightly and embraced the MAGA lies, fascist propaganda, and anti-government sentiments. Nightly they mock the President of the United States and undermine respect for Democracy. Until the Fox cancer is removed we will see the useful idiots elected and continued sedition. This is an enormous problem given our freedom of the press. But the press should not be free to spread factual lies and fascist propaganda. It's enough to make Jefferson weep.
When I consider Liz C I see the medieval concept of the honorable adversary. I do not support her political stance but recognize her honor, integrity, commitment to the Constitution and rule of law. She takes her oath to support and defend the Constitution with the utmost seriousness. For that alone I would fight beside her. We can argue tax policy later. Much more important fight now to preserve and protect our democracy
By the way I do not agree we are electing idiots. If they were all idiots, lacking brains and will, it would be easier. They’re much worse. More like Prof Quirrel in Harry Potter, they’re controlled by others who use them as mouthpieces I believe the Russians use the term useful idiots, who can be controlled to spout propaganda
The only way out of this twofold.
We must provide for all SWIFT justice for America served . We must punish all those who are traitors against the USA. We all must see them going to jail . We must create more airwaves for all the good the Dems/Biden are doing. Spend the money and advertise like medias touch like ads . Nationally and prime time . Radio too. More progressive radio .
And vote . Vet and vote . We particularly have to watch out for fake democrats! Lying cheats will say they are Dems ( cz they were bought by NRA, Russia or pharmaceutical companies ( to name a few) ) I.e. Sinema and Manchin. DINOS.
Our population is so ripe for autocracy cz ppl are weary, disgusted and idiots. Over 40 million ppl don’t even vote. They must not think it important . Couldn’t be more important than now.
Don’t forget that horrible former Democratic state Senator in North Carolina that U-turned on her election promise to safeguard abortion access. Someone either got to her, or she was a fraud from the start. Sinema is a great example because she promised something new & modern and then showed her true colors pretty quickly. Manchin has always been closer to a Centrist Republican who votes Dem because he has more power in Democratic caucus.
She made a right turn.
What we are witnessing in Russia is exactly where MAGA is taking us today.
EXACT Trajectory and EXACT Results.
America is known for leading the globe in an expedient pace in just about everything (unlike Russia). America will land in a government structure of Kleptocracy and Plutocracy as is Russia today, IF Republican voters succumb to the fascist sirens in the 2024 elections. That’s the trajectory.
Let those who have eyes see.
Somehow, we thought the America experiment was invulnerable. But history is replete with authoritarian movements that we are not exempt from.
Liz Cheney stating that we are electing “idiots” is not too different than Hillary’s comments about “deplorables”. Idiots are electing deplorables...or the other way around: both ‘versions’ work. We ARE a country of idiots for the most part. Education is so low on the list of priorities in our country, - it’s ridiculous. China’s version of Tik Tok has their youngsters solving math problems, - and the version of Tik Tok that they export to us is made up of mesmerizing idiotic ‘entertainment’ that does NOTHING to strengthen our kids’ ‘brain-power’. Down the drain we go!