OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz had some choice words for GOP traitors, Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney and Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger and he hit them hard.
It started when CNN show “The Lead” with Jake Tapper tweeted a segment in which they asked the question, “Is there a lane for Liz Cheney in New Hampshire in 2024?”
And Cruz had an answer when he quote tweeted “the Lead”, saying “Yes. It’s called the Democratic primary.”
Yes. It’s called the Democratic primary. https://t.co/q31fFvQZOp
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) November 13, 2021
The Wyoming representative hit Cruz back if you could call it that, with a snarky response of her own.
“I know you’re posturing for the secessionist vote, Ted. But my party, the Republican party, saved the Union. You swore an oath to the Constitution. Act like it,” she said.
I know you’re posturing for the secessionist vote, Ted. But my party, the Republican party, saved the Union. You swore an oath to the Constitution. Act like it. https://t.co/YyQ1XHRhCY
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) November 13, 2021
The brought fellow traitor, playing the role of Cheney’s knight in white Styrofoam armor, Kinzinger to get in the fray.
“Damn son Liz brought the heat on you!” he said.
Damn son Liz brought the heat on you! https://t.co/J47FIER53K
— Adam Kinzinger (@AdamKinzinger) November 13, 2021
But Cruz, not to be deterred, hit back at the both of them with the line of the day.
“These two need to hurry up and get their bottom-rated @msnbc show,” he said.
These two need to hurry up and get their bottom-rated @msnbc show.@AdamKinzinger @RepLizCheney https://t.co/fTFnlgorf6
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) November 14, 2021
But to answer CNN’s question, Cheney’s chances appear to be slim as donors have been warned to stay away from her.
Consultants to GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, Wyoming’s only House member who has come to represent the anti-Trump faction of the Republican Party, are being told to drop her as a client or they themselves will be abandoned.
The New York Times reported last month that a major lobbyist in Washington, D.C., who is close to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., has warned GOP consultants that they will have to choose between him and Cheney, “an ultimatum that marks the full rupture between the two House Republicans.”
“Jeff Miller, the lobbyist and a confidant of Mr. McCarthy’s dating to their youthful days in California politics, has conveyed this us-or-her message to Republican strategists in recent weeks, prompting one fund-raising firm to disassociate itself from Ms. Cheney,” the Times added.
“In response, The Morning Group, a fund-raising firm she hired to help prepare for a primary next year against a challenger endorsed by former President Donald J. Trump, informed her last month they could no longer work on her campaign, according to Republicans familiar with the matter,” the paper said.
McCarthy and Cheney have been diverging for months, which began in earnest after she voted to impeach the then-lame duck Trump in January following the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol Building, which she has blamed him for inciting.
Afterward, McCarthy went along with calls for a large faction of the GOP to remove her from her post as House Republican Conference chair, the party’s No. 3 position in the chamber. Cheney was voted out in May and replaced by Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York.
The Times went on to suggest there is a strategic interest in pressuring Cheney’s consultants to drop her:
Mr. Miller’s warnings illustrate the disintegration of the relationship between the two lawmakers, who began this year serving together in the House Republican leadership. They also underline Mr. McCarthy’s willingness to wield his leadership position to undercut Ms. Cheney’s re-election and head off an impediment to his claiming the speakership, should Republicans win a House majority next year. Were Ms. Cheney to return to Congress, she would loom as a potential instigator of any effort to block Mr. McCarthy from leading their party in the House.
After initially defending Ms. Cheney to House Republicans angry at her for voting to impeach Mr. Trump earlier this year, Mr. McCarthy abandoned her after she continued to speak out against the former president.
