Former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney implored new school graduates to not compromise relating to the reality, excoriating her House Republican colleagues for not doing sufficient to fight former President Donald Trump’s lies that the 2020 election was stolen.
In a graduation speech at Colorado College, the Wyoming Republican repeated her fierce criticisms of Trump however steered away from speaking about his 2024 reelection marketing campaign or her personal political future.
Cheney, who graduated from Colorado College in 1988, recalled being a political science pupil strolling right into a campus constructing the place a Bible verse was inscribed above the doorway that learn, “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”
“After the 2020 election and the attack of January 6th, my fellow Republicans wanted me to lie. They wanted me to say the 2020 election was stolen, the attack of January 6th wasn’t a big deal, and Donald Trump wasn’t dangerous,” Cheney mentioned Sunday in Colorado Springs, connecting her experiences as a pupil to her work within the U.S. House of Representatives. “I had to choose between lying and losing my position in House leadership.”
In three phrases in workplace, Cheney rose to the No. 3 GOP management place within the House, a job she misplaced after voting to question Trump for the Jan. 6, 2021, rebel on the Capitol after which not relenting in her criticism of the previous president.
Cheney’s speech touched on themes much like these she has promoted since leaving workplace in January: addressing her work on the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol and standing as much as the risk she believes Trump poses to democracy. She additionally inspired extra girls to run for workplace and blasted one of many election-denying attorneys who labored for Trump after the 2020 election for latest remarks about school college students voting.
“Cleta Mitchell, an election denier and adviser to former President Trump, told a gathering of Republicans recently that it is crucially important to make sure that college students don’t vote,” Cheney mentioned. “Those who are trying to unravel the foundations of our republic, who are threatening the rule of law and the sanctity of our elections, know they can’t succeed if you vote.”
In an audio recording of Mitchell’s presentation from a latest Republican National Committee retreat, she warns of polling locations on school campuses and the convenience of voting as potential issues, the Washington Post reported.
Most college students and oldsters within the viewers applauded all through Cheney’s remarks, but some booed. Some college students opposing the selection of Cheney as speaker turned their chairs away from the stage as she spoke.
Cheney’s busy talking schedule and material have fueled hypothesis about whether or not she could enter the 2024 GOP presidential major since she left workplace. Candidates starting from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley have calibrated their remarks about Trump, aiming to counter his assaults with out alienating the supporters that received him the White House seven years in the past.
Though some have provided measured criticisms, no declared or potential challenger has embraced anti-Trump messaging to the identical extent as Cheney. She didn’t reference her plans on Sunday however has beforehand mentioned she stays undecided about whether or not she desires to run for president.
Though she would face an uphill battle, Cheney’s fierce anti-Trump stance and her position as vice chairwoman of the House committee elevated her platform excessive sufficient to name on a nationwide community of donors and Trump critics to assist a White House run.
A brilliant PAC organized to assist of her candidacy has remained energetic, together with buying assault adverts on New Hampshire airwaves in opposition to Trump this month.
After leaving workplace and being changed by a Trump-backed Republican who defeated her in final yr’s major, Cheney was appointed to a professorship on the University of Virginia and wrote “Oath and Honor,” a memoir scheduled to hit cabinets in November.
Two of Cheney’s 5 youngsters in addition to her mom are additionally graduates of the liberal arts school.
Cheney’s talking tour seems to be choosing up. She is scheduled to look Thursday on the Mackinac Policy Conference in Michigan.
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Metz reported from Salt Lake City.
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