The key flaw in the Wyoming GOP's case against Liz Cheney

[babylonsister]

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/key-flaw-wyoming-gop-s-case-against-liz-cheney-n1284014

Maddowblog
The key flaw in the Wyoming GOP's case against Liz Cheney
Among the problems with the Wyoming GOP's rejection of Liz Cheney: She has a conservative voting record in a party that's indifferent toward voting records
Nov. 17, 2021, 9:21 AM EST
By Steve Benen

snip//

So why would the Wyoming Republican Party formally reject the congresswoman's affiliation with the party? Because in the contemporary GOP, how members of Congress vote on legislation and policy measures just isn't that important.

This came into sharp relief in the spring, when House Republicans weighed whether to replace Cheney as House GOP Conference chair with Rep. Elise Stefanik. It wasn't long before some noticed that the New York Republican had voted against the Trump White House's position on everything from taxes to health care to immigration, while Cheney had sided with the former Republican president on each of these issues.

As we discussed at the time, with records like these, one might've assumed that relentlessly partisan, far-right Republicans would've seen Cheney as an ally and Stefanik as an unreliable RINO in need of a primary rival.

But the opposite proved true — because relentlessly partisan, far-right Republicans don't much care about policy. (Insert obligatory reference to my book here.) Trump and his allies — including, evidently, leaders of the Wyoming Republican Party — care about loyalty to him personally and a willingness to commit to his twisted vision and conspiracy theories. Stefanik's voting record is more moderate, but she's also comfortable with the Big Lie and dodges questions about the legitimacy of Biden's victory.

It's why Stefanik is a member of her party's leadership team, and why Cheney is persona non grata with her own state party.

[msfiddlestix]

1. Incongruous and Counter Intuitive

Apart from the obvious incongruity regarding voting Cheney's record of not regarded as important, but rather it is the cult of personality and fealty to TFG that is the end all and be all. I'm trying to wrap mind around how the Cheney Legacy lost (apparently) so much influence in Wyoming's political machine.

For decades, as it appeared from my perch as a West Coast Liberal activist back in the day, Cheney's name held sway in that state as much as it did on the national front. For decades. And now it's come this? What the hell happened there?

I've only done a drive through the beautiful state of Wyoming some years ago. But I have made the acquaintance with people from Wyoming from time to time over my life, and I just didn't ever see folks as being that effed up on the level of My Pillow Guy, etc.

Conservative, absolutely. But that far wacko? No, I can't say I saw this coming vis a vis Wyoming Electorate.

I'm looking at this as a five alarm signal. No doubt it will get exponentially worse there if we as a country don't get a handle on it, and i'm not at all sure how that would/could be accomplished.

[Poiuyt]

2. The Republican Party is nothing but a big cult

No question about it.