Historian: Ronald Reagan Would Disapprove of Cheney Treatment
8th May 2021
The treatment of Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., by her fellow House Republican leaders and colleagues “simply for having a contrary opinion” on former President Donald Trump is appalling, and late President Ronald Reagan would never have approved, presidential historian Craig Shirley wrote in a new opinion piece.
“Cheney’s only crime of course is her belief that the GOP needs to wash its hands of Donald Trump,” Shirley, a biographer for late President Ronald Reagan, wrote for Townhall. “Otherwise, she’s a tried and true conservative. And our movement is big enough to accommodate personal opinions.”
Shirley mistakes the times. When Reagan was President, there was a broad consensus across both parties as to what constituted the national interest and how far government power could legitimately go in pursuing partisan interest. There is now no such consensus and no acknowledgement by the Democrats regarding any limit under government power when they administer it. It is therefore incumbent upon all persons purporting to be Republican to support those who, whatever their personal characteristics may be perceived to be, have demonstrated in their actions that they support and promote the principles and policies that Republicans have historically espoused. Trump does that. One need not like him, or approve of his public performance, to see that he has tremendous support in the country and a firm commitment to peace in the world, economic sanity in the country, and individual liberty, not to mention his pursuit of smaller government and respect for Constitutional rights.
I deny that Cheney is a ‘tried and true conservative’. She’s better than Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, but so is Vladimir Putin. A brief glance at Cheney’s biography on Wikipedia reveals that she has spent most of her life in ‘government service’ (or with organizations whose dealings are primarily with government); she is a creature of the Deep State with little or no demonstrable connection to the people of the state she pretends to represent in Washington, or discernible acquaintance with either their concerns or their interests. She is a typical Child of the Crust who has never had a Real Job in her life. She has been less successful in dissembling her real status and opinions, and the Powers That Be need to take advantage of this opportunity to flush her out of the garbage chute of political life.
I expect Shirley will be making excuses for the likes of David French next.