Dick Cheney was, at one time, the most hated man in America. “Darth Cheney,” and “The Prince of Darkness,” were just two of the printable nicknames the left came up with for the former George Bush vice president.
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“Dick Cheney Should Be in Jail, Not Praised as a Hero by Democrats,” wrote Chip Gibbon in the radical left Jacobin.
“He is most remembered for his role in promoting the Iraq War, an illegal war of aggression predicated on lies, as well as pushing the nation to the “dark side” after 9/11, which included torture, detention without trial (including of US citizens), warrantless surveillance, and other egregious departures from liberal norms of democracy.” Gibbons writes.
Cheney will be remembered for a lot of things but “pushing the nation to the ‘dark side'” isn’t one of them. There was a guy sitting in the White House who, despite the left’s ludicrous belief that Cheney ran the country during George Bush’s presidency, had the final say on war and peace.
Most recently, Cheney endorsed a Democrat for president. His endorsement of Kamala Harris follows that of his daughter, former Congresswoman and 9/11 Committee member Lynn Cheney.
There it is — DICK CHENEY will be voting for Kamala Harris, as @Liz_Cheney said earlier today at #TribFest24 pic.twitter.com/Mg0EpGnBZP
— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) September 6, 2024
Naturally, this didn’t please Donald Trump.
“He’s the King of Endless, Nonsensical Wars, wasting Lives and Trillions of Dollars, just like Comrade Kamala Harris,” the former president wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social. “I am the Peace President, and only I will stop World War III!”
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“Dick Cheney is an irrelevant RINO, along with his daughter, who lost by the largest margin in the History of Congressional Races.”
According to the Washington Post, the former vice president is one of the most “significant defections to the Democrats.” That may be true. It’s very rare for a former high office holder to endorse the presidential candidate from the opposing party.
Cheney said he was voting for Harris to fulfill his civic duty to “put country above partisanship to defend our Constitution.” The remarks that seemed designed to persuade other conservatives — and, particularly, those who have held positions of influence — to similarly back a Democratic presidential candidate for the first time.
Cheney’s statement makes him the highest-profile Republican to actively support Harris, at a time when many in Trump’s party have expressed private and public reservations about him but have stopped short of using their positions to advocate for his opponent. It also puts the spotlight on other Republicans who have not already endorsed Trump or Harris, including former president George W. Bush, former vice president Mike Pence, former White House chief of staff John Kelly and Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, who was the GOP presidential candidate in 2012.
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As a rule, endorsements sway very few people. This is especially true for establishment Republicans like the Cheneys, the Bush’s, and Romney. Their day is long past. Their influence is next to nil.
It’s not that they don’t have anything important to say. It’s that the current iteration of the Republican Party isn’t listening.
Harris’s campaign has been wooing Republican voters in recent weeks, aiming to blunt attacks from Trump assailing her as aggressively liberal and a “communist.” While the strategy is not without risk — as some Democrats continue to maintain a disdain for Cheney dating back to his time as a pugilistic vice president and outspoken advocate for the Iraq War during Bush’s presidency — Harris’s allies sought to cast the former vice president’s endorsement as part of a broader trend of Republicans putting policy differences aside to unite behind defeating Trump.
As for Dick Cheney, one endorsement is not going to change many minds about him on the left.
Wow! Dick Cheney, who served as Vice President to George W. Bush, will be voting for Kamala Harris. Never been a fan of Dick Cheney, but this exposes how today’s Republican Party no longer believes in principles of conservatism. It’s just a cult of Trump.pic.twitter.com/2MkIhmAyxf
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) September 6, 2024
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On the one hand, Dick Cheney should be on trial at The Hague.
On the other hand, *even* Dick fricking Cheney recognizes that Trump is an existential threat to American democracy as we know it. This is not a left-right issue. https://t.co/AJBy1KkhpR
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) September 6, 2024
If there was ever a single person alive who is probably more likely to go to Hell than Donald Trump, it’s Dick Cheney.
— Mauty480 (@Mauty480) September 6, 2024
There is no room for apostasy in the new Republican Party. The same could be said for naysayers in the Democratic Party. It’s a different political age where there’s no tolerance for deviation from the party line in either party.
Is that the path to victory in November? We’ll find out.