The Trump people are not cold, and the Republican Party's removal of Cheney's midterm election is a play?

The Surging News reporter Wang Xinran

On the morning of May 12, local time, in a closed-door meeting of House Republicans in Congress, Liz Cheney, the third person in the House of Republicans, stepped on the stage to deliver her final speech. On the same day, she was in the leadership of the party and received boos from her colleagues, and House Republicans voted by word of mouth to remove Cheney as chairman of the Republican Conference of the House of Representatives. Members of Congress who were present described the Washington Post as taking only 16 minutes to complete the voting process, and the call to remove Cheney at the scene was "deafening."

Cheney, 54, is the daughter of former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney. In the house of representatives in January to impeach former U.S. President Trump on the grounds of "sedition," Cheney was one of 10 Republicans who voted for impeachment. She has repeatedly publicly questioned Trump's claim that the 2020 presidential election was "stolen" as a lie and has called on Republicans to shed a "dangerous and anti-democratic cult of personality" toward Trump. Some of her actions have caused resentment within the party, saying that her words and deeds are harmful to party unity.

"I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure this former president never gets half a step closer to the Oval Office." Despite losing the House Republican leadership position, Cheney told reporters that the idea would not change, but Reuters reports pointed out that the recall was evident, and despite losing to incumbent President Biden in last year's election, Trump has consolidated his role as a house Republican.

Without Trump, the Republican Party "can hardly move forward"?

Since leaving office on January 20, Trump has left the White House for more than 100 days, but his influence within the Republican Party has not diminished but has increased, and many Republicans hope to use his influence to regain the majority of the House.

In last year's House elections, although the Democratic Party retained its majority, its advantage was relatively weak. Of the 435 seats in the House, two vacant seats are removed, with Democrats holding only 222 seats and Republicans holding 211 seats. Many US media looked down on the Democratic Party at that time, saying that the Republican Party may win back the House of Representatives in 2022.

"But turnout in the midterm elections is usually lower than in the general election, so a positive and vibrant electoral base is needed." As for the way Republicans can win back the House, Chen Renyi, director of domestic policy research at Stanford University, said in an interview with NPR that the current working theory of the Republican leadership in the House is that if it wants to regain control of the House of Representatives, it needs to make the Republican fundamentals "full of enthusiasm."

And where does this enthusiasm come from? Chen pointed out that the Republican leadership in the House believes that an important factor driving this foundation is whether Trump supports their efforts and is willing to take the necessary measures to motivate them.

In fact, many Republicans have tied their hopes of winning the midterm elections to Trump. House Republican Leader McCarthy has said he will seek to unite factions in the party in anticipation of next year's congressional midterm elections and regain Republican control of both houses of Congress, and Trump is the key to helping the party achieve this goal. Senator Graham of South Carolina has also pointed out that without Trump, the Republican Party will be "almost unable to move forward.".

Under the call of the party, Trump also responded. He vowed at an Event in April to help Republicans win seats in the 2022 Congressional elections, and Reuters quoted Trump as saying he sought to position himself as a leader who could prop up the Republican Party and wanted to talk about the "future of the Republican Party" and what needed to be done to win.

"But now there are some counter-examples [that Trump can help win elections]." Chen stressed that the Georgia Senate elections earlier this year are a clear example, when Trump actively participated in these elections, but the results were "not what the Republicans wanted."

After Cheney's removal, the Republican Party was mixed

"If telling the truth is unbearable, she (Cheney) also anticipates that she will no longer be able to maintain leadership." After Cheney was ousted, The New York Times interviewed a Republican who had discussed the matter with Cheney. The person said that Cheney's forceful and resolute refutation of Trump's remarks about the "theft" of the election was also a decision to put "his conscience on the right side."

Commenting on the matter after Cheney's ouster, House Majority Leader, House Speaker and Democrat Pelosi said Cheney was a leader with "remarkable courage, patriotism and integrity" and noted that her ouster was a "disturbing sign" for the Republican Party.

After Cheney was ousted, Republican lawmakers who walked out of the Capitol building had many voices, either celebrating, worrying, or having the same idea as Cheney, but they did not dare to speak out.

Many Republicans have described Cheney's ouster as a way to "unite the whole party" and, as McCarthy put it, to "move forward" and take back the House of Representatives. Rep. Virginia Fox, Republican of North Carolina, has said that Cheney is nothing more than a "self-proclaimed leader" with no followers. Rep. Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio, who has publicly defended Trump many times, also said that Cheney can compete with Trump, but Trump "will never lose."

But other lawmakers who have served in the party for a long time worry that the discord between Cheney and Trump will have long-term repercussions within the party and are worried about it. For example, Veteran Republican Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina once stressed to the New York Times that the removal of Cheney is not a "healthy moment" for the Republican Party, which has raised Cheney's status to some extent and further conveyed the message she wants to convey, which is not conducive to the development of a political party.

In addition to them, there are many more Republicans who seem to be in an "indescribable" situation, and there are also some oppositional voices, although it sounds weak and cautious.

"I don't want to talk about it at all." On his way to the closed-door meeting, Rep. Steve Shabbett of Ohio said there were some topics that were "too sensitive to discuss." Rep. Chuck Fleischman, Republican of Tennessee, also called the voting results hurtful, but he also said, "Sometimes it's time to be quiet and not to be rhetorical, I just think she (Cheney) is a little bit ... Chatter away. And Colorado Rep. Ken Barker, who had voted against the ouster, said that while he disagreed with Cheney, there should be a variety of different views within a party.

"Cheney understands that only a complete break with Trump can stop the Republican Party." Peter Weiner, a political commentator at The New York Times who served in the Reagan administration, wrote that the move, while brave, was too late. The removal of Cheney shows that the Republican Party has fallen into a "pathological and dangerous" situation, and in addition to the firm position of Trump's hardcore allies, many Republicans who believe that the presidential election results have not been stolen by Biden have also realized that attacking Trump may become the target of public criticism and will not speak out.

"She wanted to assemble an army that couldn't exist." Weiner said that at least for now, influential figures in the Republican Party believe that a break with Trump will affect the party's foundations and affect the outcome of the midterm elections.

Editor-in-Charge: Zhu Zhengyong

Proofreader: Liu Wei