What’s Next for the Most Committed Anti-Trump Republican?

Liz Cheney sees a winning strategy where none of her conference colleagues will go.

On Monday morning, a political action committee for Donald Trump—a film extra who served as president of the United States from 2017 to 2021—released a statement saying that “The Fraudulent Presidential Election of 2020 will be, from this day forth, known as THE BIG LIE!” The rebranding edict was directed to no one in particular. But among the prominent politicians who chose to respond to it was Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, the third-ranking member and chair of the House Republican conference, the most Trumpy bloc of elected officials in Washington.

To the naked eye, Cheney’s behavior since she cast her vote for Trump’s second impeachment in response to his supporters’ Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol would suggest that she’s eager to sacrifice her political career on the altar of principle. But since no politician thinks like that, what’s going on here?

Cheney’s Jan. 12 statement in support of impeaching the president was uncompromising. “The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed was his doing,” she said. “There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.” The overwhelming majority of her conference sided with Trump instead, but when they tried to strip Cheney of her leadership job in retribution, she saved her position by working the phones, lining up the votes, and earning the support of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy a few weeks later.

She wouldn’t apologize for her impeachment vote, and she still hasn’t. If anything, she’s been more vocal, since Trump’s departure, about the need for the party to distance itself from him.

It’s made for some awkward moments. At a House GOP press conference in February, a reporter asked McCarthy whether President Trump should speak at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. McCarthy said yes. Cheney had a different answer. “That’s up to CPAC,” she said. “I’ve been clear on my views about President Trump. I don’t believe that he should be playing a role in the future of the party or the country.” House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, standing next to her, shook his head, and McCarthy abruptly ended the press conference “on that high note.”