Washington Post reporter David Montgomery spent 10 days traveling 2,100 miles and interviewing more than 60 people for a story published Thursday titled, "What Wyoming Really Thinks of Liz Cheney."
"Nearly everywhere I went, rage against Cheney erupted as regularly as a Yellowstone geyser," Montgomery reports, noting that 70 percent of Wyoming voters backed former president Donald Trump in 2020, making it the nation's "Trumpiest state."
"Support for (Cheney) was harder to find, though equally passionate," he writes. "But whatever side they are on, Wyoming voters draw their heat for this race from the same source: their knowledge that this is no ordinary political grudge match, but rather a test of the party's future."
Cheney, of course, has become the face of the Republican anti-Trump movement since she voted to impeach the former president for inciting the Capitol insurrection, which led to her ejection from House GOP leadership. Trump has declared war on Cheney and endorsed Harriet Hagemen, one of a handful of candidates challenging the incumbent in the GOP primary.
One retired elementary school teacher in Cheyenne told Montgomery that she admires Cheney for standing up to Trump, but added, "I don't know anyone else in Wyoming who supports her except me."
Among those bashing Cheney were Bob Ferguson and Paul Lanchbury, who play "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" in a "Wild Bunch Gunfight" show in downtown Cody.
"It's kind of like a line in the sand was drawn," said Ferguson, who voted for Cheney in 2020, when she captured nearly 69 percent of the vote. "She hasn't just turned on Donald Trump — she has turned on Donald Trump's supporters. … She has insulted constituents in a very conservative state, called us insurrectionists. Nothing could be further from the truth."
Lanchbury "practically spit" as he added, "She's a puppet. Hell, she wants to be president."
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