Former President Donald Trump criticized the media for suggesting that Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) had a “bright” political future, after her defeat in the Wyoming GOP primary on Aug. 16.
“The Fake News Media continues to push Crazy Liz Cheney and the fact that, despite losing her Wyoming Congressional race to a far superior candidate by an unprecedented 40 points, she has a ‘bright’ political future,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Aug. 17.
“Really? I don’t think so, but perhaps that’s why we call it the FAKE NEWS!” Trump added.
In a separate Truth Social post, Trump added, “She’s too angry and sick to succeed in the future, but who knows!”
Wyoming Republican congressional candidate Harriet Hageman waves as she takes a picture with children during a primary election night party in Cheyenne, Wyoming, on Aug. 16, 2022. (Michael Smith/Getty Images)
Harriet Hageman, a natural resources attorney endorsed by Trump, defeated Cheney by more than 37 points, taking 66.3 percent of the vote, according to the Wyoming Secretary of State’s Office. Hageman picked up 113,025 votes to Cheney’s 49,316.
The margin of victory was greater than the estimate of a poll conducted before the primary. The University of Wyoming’s Wyoming Survey and Analysis Center found that Hageman was ahead by nearly 30 points, based on a survey conducted from July 25 to Aug. 6.
Cheney, one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, serves as the co-chair of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol breach. In June, Rep. Tom Rice (R-S.C.), who also voted to impeach the former president, also lost by a huge margin of 26.5 points in South Carolina’s 7th Congressional District primary.
It was a crushing defeat for Cheney, considering that she garnered 73.5 percent of the vote in the state’s 2020 GOP primary.
During her concession speech on Tuesday, Cheney claimed that she “could have easily” repeated her 2020 success if she had chosen to side with Trump.
“The path was clear, but it would have required that I go along with President Trump’s lie about the 2020 election,” Cheney said, referring to Trump declaring the election rigged. “It would have required that I enable his ongoing efforts to unravel our democratic system and attack the foundations of our republic.”
Cheney vowed to “do whatever it takes to ensure that Donald Trump is never anywhere near the Oval Office.”
Following her defeat, Cheney hinted at making a run for president in 2024.
“It is something that I’m thinking about,” Cheney said on NBC’s “Today” show. “That’s a decision that I’m going to make in the coming months.”
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) speaks to supporters at a primary night event in Jackson, Wyoming, on Aug. 16, 2022. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Despite Cheney’s ambition to be the next U.S. president, recent polls suggested that she would have a hard time winning the GOP nomination.
A Suffolk University/USA Today survey (pdf), conducted for four days ending on July 25, asked 414 respondents who they would support as the GOP candidate for the 2024 presidential election. Cheney came in at a distant fourth with 3.14 percent, trailing Trump (42.75 percent), Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (34.06 percent), and former Vice President Mike Pence (7 percent).
Cheney’s possible presidential bid has since been brushed off by Donald Trump Jr. and Republican strategist Andrew Surabian.
“Liz Cheney’s entire reelection campaign was a gigantic grift to raise money for a future vanity Presidential run, where she will be lucky to get as many votes as Bill Weld/Joe Walsh did in the 2020 GOP Primary, despite getting 1000x the media coverage,” Surabian wrote on Twitter.
According to the Federal Election Commission, Cheney raised more than $15 million in seeking her fourth term as Wyoming’s lone member of the House of Representatives.
The younger Trump wrote on Twitter, “There’s a bigger chance of finally finding those WMD’s in Iraq that Dick Cheney lied about, than there is of Liz Cheney being elected President in 2024!”
Frank Fang is a Taiwan-based journalist. He covers U.S., China, and Taiwan news. He holds a master's degree in materials science from Tsinghua University in Taiwan.
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