The controversial ouster of Representative Liz Cheney from the House GOP leadership serves as a microcosm of the issues plaguing the Republican Party.
Cheney, the third-highest-ranked House Republican, was removed from her post for the “crime” of refusing to accept former President Donald Trump’s false claims about the legitimacy of the November 2020 election.
Despite Cheney’s repeated attempts to hold the Republican Party to conservative ideals, many in her party felt that her stance on the election was unacceptable and decided to push her out.
This decision is particularly telling about the state of the GOP because it shows that the party is willing to sacrifice its few remaining tenets of fiscal conservatism and limited government in order to appease those loyal to Trump.
Although many in the party still harbor some conservatism in their views on the economy, social issues, and other matters, the decision to oust Cheney is a demonstration that the Republican Party is more concerned with loyalty to the former President than anything else.
Not only is this damaging for the party’s own platform, but it is detrimental to the country as a whole. With no moderates in the House GOP leadership, the party has little incentive to work with Democrats and develop policies that will benefit the majority of Americans.
The ouster of Cheney also raises questions about why Trump and his loyalists felt that it was necessary to remove her in the first place. After all, Cheney was the only House GOP leader willing to stand up to the former President and call out his false claims about the election, something that should be celebrated in a democracy.
Unfortunately, the answer is quite simple. By removing Cheney, Trump and his loyalists cemented their grip on the Republican Party and ensured that it will remain in lockstep with the former President’s ideology.
The events of the past few months have exposed the destructive tendencies of the Republican Party, which can no longer be seen as an organization focused on conservative ideals. Rather, it is now a repository of blind loyalty to the former President and those in power, which only serves to damage the country at large.