Just days after Donald Trump suggested she face a “firing squad,” Liz Cheney has opened up about her first-ever time voting for a Democratic presidential candidate.
The high-profile Republican, who is the daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney and served as chair of the House Republican Conference, shared her pre-election thoughts on a recent episode of The View. While Cheney’s decision to vote for Kamala Harris might seem like a no-brainer (you know, since he threatened her with violence), she said casting her vote for the Democrats went deeper than any personal grievance.
“There is only one serious, responsible adult in this race,” Cheney said of Harris. She went on to gush about her experience voting for the Harris/Walz ticket, recalling how “proud I was to fill in that circle” next to the Democratic party. When asked whether a Republican voting for Harris meant abandoning their party, Cheney stressed that “the most conservative principle… is being faithful to the constitution,” an ideal which she isn’t realized by Trump.
Cheney criticized Trump’s plans for the economy (she isn’t the only one), saying his tariff proposals will raise taxes, inflation and debt, before declaring that this election is less about party loyalty and more about “realizing we have to make sure we defeat him.” She also revealed that her decision to vote for the Democratic nominee was informed by her personal experiences with Harris, which made her understand the vice president’s “sincerity about being a president for all of us.”
Cheney — who officially endorsed Harris in September and has appeared at campaign events with her since — described Harris as a “faithful public servant” who is “going to operate in good faith.” She concluded her message by reiterating Harris’ ability to “inspire millions of Americans and especially our little girls.” Cheney’s comments come just days after Trump said at a Town Hall event in Glendale that she is “very dumb.”
The former president went on to say that Cheney would not be such a “ radical war hawk” if she had “guns trained on her face,” in the latest display of concerning pre-election rhetoric. “Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK?” Trump said. Clapping back on social media, Cheney said Trump’s comments are an example of how “dictators destroy free nations,” reminding voters that “we cannot entrust our country and our freedom to a petty, vindictive, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant.”
Cheney joins a long list of high-profile Republicans who have crossed party lines in opposition to Trump, with former vice president Mike Pence, mayor John Giles, Mitt Romney, and Susan Collins among those to have thrown their support behind Trump’s opponent. No matter how steadfast she has been in her support of Harris, Cheney still has anxiety around what will happen in the event that Trump loses.
Also while appearing on The View, Cheney predicted that the current Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, will not “do the right thing” when it comes to certifying the election results. “No, he won’t,” she said when asked whether the Republican will uphold the expectations of his office if Trump loses. “That’s why it’s so important that the Republicans not be in the majority come January 2025.”
We won’t know for sure whether Cheney will be eating crow until the election results come in, but we do know that Trump will be eating McDonald’s, regardless of the outcome.