Despite her criticism of the Republican Party and former President Donald Trump, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) has not changed her party affiliation.
However, her decision to stick with her party apparently does have a limit.
Cheney was asked during The Texas Tribune festival on Saturday if she would remain a Republican “regardless of what happens in the next election.”
“I’m going to make sure Donald Trump, I’m going to do everything I can to make sure he is not the nominee,” the Congresswoman responded.
She added, “And if he is the nominee, I won’t be a Republican.”
Watch the video below:
.@RepLizCheney on the 2024 presidential election: "I'm going to make sure Donald Trump, I'm going to do everything I can to make sure he is not the nominee. And if he is the nominee, I won't be a Republican." https://t.co/LStbZSQYas pic.twitter.com/zuZVjTwQjM
— The Hill (@thehill) September 25, 2022
Cheney also said she would work to prevent Arizona Republican gubernatorial hopeful Kari Lake from winning in November.
She even said she might campaign for Democrats.
And while Cheney has a lot of concerns and frustrations with her party, she did not express a desire for Democrats to keep control of the House in the midterms.
Still, she added, “I think it’s really important though, as voters are going to vote, that they recognize and understand what the Republican Conference consists of in the House of Representatives today.”
Cheney lost her primary in August after spending more than a year opposing Trump and criticizing his allies in Congress.
And with the attention she has received for her role on the Jan. 6 committee, and as one of the few sitting members of Congress to speak out against the former president, there has been speculation she might run for president in 2024.
But if Trump decides to run again and wins the nomination, and Cheney makes good on her promise to leave the party, she will most likely fade into obscurity.
If she stays in the party, who knows, she might have some influence in a couple of years if Trump blows up. But leaving the party is an inherent admission of failure on her part.
And what can she do if she’s not a Republican? The chances of successfully running for president on some third-party ticket are incredibly low. And while the Democrats love her now — to a certain extent — there is no chance they would make her their leader in 2024.
So Cheney will probably show up on CNN or MSNBC and talk about Trump and Republicans while people sip wine at home and nod along hearing about how dumb and evil and scary their opponents are.
But unless she starts a super successful organization that somehow succeeds where every other Never Trump group has failed, liberals will start to realize she has no influence and only serves to scratch an itch.
And then she will join the list of former Republicans who get dragged out on TV every now and then to criticize Trump, eventually fading from the public eye.
