Liz Cheney: Top Republican warns of Donald Trump's "crusade"

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Liz Cheney (May 2019)

Photo: AARON P. BERNSTEIN / REUTERS

In the dispute over the direction of the Republicans, Liz Cheney urged ex-President Donald Trump to turn away.

In a guest post published on Wednesday (local time) for the Washington Post, she appealed to her party colleagues to stand up for real conservative values ​​and to turn away from the dangerous and anti-democratic Trump personality cult.

As Chair of the Republican Conference in the House of Representatives, Cheney is the third highest MP in her group.

Trump calls for her to be removed from this leadership position.

Cheney again criticized Trump's claim that he was fraudulent to deprive him of his election last November.

“His message: I'm still the rightful President, and President (Joe) Biden is illegitimate.

Trump is now repeating these words with full knowledge that it was precisely this type of language that provoked violence on January 6th. "

At that time, Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, where MPs and senators wanted to make Biden's victory official.

Cheney accused Trump of wanting to "undermine confidence in election results and the rule of law."

"No other American president has ever done this."

Cheney continued: "The Republican Party is at a turning point." The party faces a decision to join Trump's "crusade" against the legitimate election result or to vote for truth and constitutionality.

On Wednesday, Trump expressed his full support for the internal party competitor for Cheney's post, Elise Stefanik.

In a post on his blog he wrote: "Liz Cheney is a warmongering fool who has no place in the Republican party leadership."

Two camps are fighting over the future of the party

US media report that Cheney could be elected from the leadership position by her party colleagues in the coming week. The number two in the house, Steve Scalise, also spoke out in favor of Chaney's competitor. Minority leader Kevin McCarthy, so number one, has not yet spoken out in public. Most recently, however, the US media reported about his anger at Cheney.

Since the devastating defeat in the elections, there has been a bitter dispute over the direction of the Republicans.

The Trump loyalists want a continuation of his course and cheerfully use the electoral fraud fairy tales.

The other side, represented by Liz Cheney among others, wants to lead the party away from the extreme right.

She had recently criticized Trump repeatedly and was one of the few in the party to vote for impeachment proceedings against the ex-president.

jok / dpa