OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Republican Rep. Liz Cheney suffered a humiliating defeat on Tuesday night after spending the last few years smearing, attacking, and going after former President Donald Trump.
And it didn’t take long for Fox News host Greg Gutfeld to have some fun at Cheney’s expense.
During a segment on “The Five,” the table discussed Cheney’s loss to Trump-backed Harriet Hageman and her delusional concession speech, where she compared herself to Abraham Lincoln and teased a 2024 presidential run.
“She compared this to the Civil War. She is nuts, ok? She is overtaken with such obsession and such emotional bitterness that she has this kind of grandiose view of herself and it’s actually now getting embarrassing. It’s embarrassing for her. I wish she had a friend that could take her aside and say, ‘You’ve got to calm down.’ Don’t run for office, you’re not going to get a national office,” Gutfeld began.
“At best, you’re going to get Office Depot. Republicans hate you, the Democrats don’t want you, this all driven by some emotional brokenness that happened from Trump. She goes all the way back to the Civil War — of course, she didn’t mention the Iraq War or the Afghanistan War, because that cuts a little too close to home. Or to dad. And then she compares herself to Abe Lincoln. People say that Trump has an ego, but when he says stuff like that, it’s usually with a wink and then everybody’s laughing,” he added.
“There’s nothing in her eye but spite. It’s such a personal vendetta from day one. And I get it, Trump had no use for the Cheneys and the Cheneys had no use for Trump. I get it, but the party has moved on from this sort of thing. She hasn’t. We’ve heard about this. The struggles to the Civil War, we’ve been told it’s the end of democracy. Trump supporters are evil, Adam Kinzinger said that two days ago. Trump supporters are evil and she’s fighting evil. How is that — how is that not incitement? You can’t criticize the FBI, but you can smear millions of people because orange Hitler, right?” he jokingly asked.
“And I guess she does have something in common with Abe Lincoln, they both allowed theater to kill them and her theater was January 6th. And she — I don’t know what she’s going to do next, but I would consider taking a break, do not listen to Democrats, do not listen to the media because they’re just going to use you. I think she started her own PAC which is hilarious but normal people don’t get that emotional over this stuff. And I think that she needs – somebody should just pull her back and go, look, everybody’s moved on except for you. It’s time. Maybe that’s me, maybe she’s listening to me. Maybe I can be her friend,” he said.
WATCH:
Cheney’s also facing allegations she may have violated Federal Election Commission rules at her concession speech due to an “in-kind” donation she received from a former television executive.
Cheney’s losing speech was set against a backdrop and filmed by James Goldston, the former ABC News president who is also advising the January 6 Committee.
The First Amendment allows anyone to, generally speaking, film a candidate.
However, if the film crew is producing a video, especially for a candidate, that counts as a service provided to the campaign.
The FEC rules on in-kind contributions provide:
An in-kind contribution is a non-monetary contribution. Goods or services offered free or at less than the usual charge result in an in-kind contribution. Similarly, when a person or entity pays for services on the committee’s behalf, the payment is an in-kind contribution. An expenditure made by any person or entity in cooperation, consultation or concert with, or at the request or suggestion of, a candidate’s campaign is also considered an in-kind contribution to the candidate.
The value of an in-kind contribution—the usual and normal charge—counts against the contribution limit as a gift of money does. Additionally, like any other contribution, in-kind contributions count against the contributor’s limit for the next election, unless they are otherwise designated.
The current limit on contributions is $2,900 per cycle.
Goldston’s services, crew, and equipment are likely worth tens of thousands of dollars.
This would have to be reported to the FEC on Cheney’s campaign filings and may exceed the campaign finance limits, resulting in Cheney possibly facing an investigation and fines from the FEC if she is found to be in violation.
