Former US Vice President Dick Cheney said | Photo Credit: Reuters
Former US Vice President Dick Cheney, a lifelong Republican, will vote Kamala Harris for PresidentHe announced this on Friday.
Liz Cheney, who herself endorsed Ms Harris on Wednesday, first announced her father’s support when asked by Mark Lebovich. Atlantic During the magazine interview, Mr. Lebovich said, “Wow,” and the audience applauded.
Like his daughter, Dick Cheney has also been a vocal critic of former President Donald Trump, particularly during Liz Cheney’s ill-fated tenure. Re-election campaign in 2022,
Dick Cheney reaffirmed his endorsement on Friday by issuing a statement that read more as an opposition to Mr. Trump than an outright endorsement of Harris.
“He can never be entrusted with power again,” the statement said. “As citizens, we all have a duty to put country above party lines to protect our Constitution. That is why I will be casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.”
Trump said, irrelevant
Mr Trump responded on his Truthout social platform by calling the former vice president “an irrelevant RINO with his daughter.” The acronym stands for “Republican in Name Only.”
Asked for comment, Mr Trump’s spokesman, Steven Cheung, said: “Who is Liz Cheney?”
The campaign confirmed that Mr. Cheung was being sarcastic, also pointing to a comment posted online by Liz Cheney four years ago in which she called Ms. Harris a “radical liberal.”
Ms. Harris’s campaign chairwoman, Jen O’Malley Dillon, issued a statement saying: “The vice president is proud to have Vice President Cheney’s support, and he deeply respects her courage in putting country above party.”
Cheney v. Trump
Dick Cheney, 83, has made few public appearances in the past year or more. He has struggled with heart disease since he was 40 and received a heart transplant in 2012.
Dick Cheney’s statement on Friday was similar to a 2022 campaign ad for Liz Cheney, when she seeks a fourth term as Wyoming’s only congresswoman. In it, he called Mr. Trump a “coward” for trying to steal the last election by using lies and violence to keep himself in power after voters rejected him.
The ad didn’t do his daughter much good, as the state, once dear to the Cheney family, is now firmly in Trump’s camp. By more than a 2-to-1 margin, Liz Cheney lost the Republican primary to Trump-backed lawyer Harriet Hageman.
Dick Cheney has been a friend of the Democrats over the years, but he has never endorsed anyone for president.
Both Cheneys supported Mr Trump in 2016, but their support declined when Liz Cheney criticised Mr Trump’s foreign policy decisions and Mr Trump criticised the “endless wars” launched in Afghanistan and Iraq while Dick Cheney was vice president.
If any of the Cheneys endorsed Mr Trump in 2020, they were silent about it. Meanwhile, her home state of Wyoming went to Trump by the biggest margin that year.
By 2021, Liz Cheney’s vote to impeach Mr Trump and her investigation into the 2021 US Capitol riot made her irreplaceable to Mr Trump — and soon to most of the GOP as well.
There were some exceptions. One of them was Cheney’s colleague, Illinois Representative Adam Kinzinger, a Republican Trump critic who endorsed Mr. Biden earlier this year and spoke in support of Ms. Harris at the Democratic National Convention in August.
Several other top Republicans have come out in support of Ms Harris, while some, including Senator Mitt Romney and former Vice President Mike Pence, have said they will not vote for Mr Trump.
Of these, only Mr. Romney is still in office and is not seeking re-election.
Published – September 07, 2024 03:12 PM IST