Republicans 'respect the hell out of Liz Cheney': Mark Leibovich pillories GOP in new book

GOP Rep. Liz Cheney may be fighting for the seat in Congress long linked to her family in Wyoming, but she has the respect of many of of her Republican colleagues campaigning against her, according to journalist Mark Liebovich.

Liebovich, the author of the 2013 book This Town: Two Parties and a Funeral - Plus, Plenty of Valet Parking! - in America’s Gilded Capital in the Obama era has authored the forthcoming book Thank You for Your Servitude: Donald Trump's Washington and the Price of Submission, which is set to be released on Tuesday.

He was interviewed by Joe Pompeo of Vanity Fair.

Pompeo questions why Republicans even talked to him for his book.

"That’s a question I’ve been getting for literally 20 or 25 years," Lieberovich said. "Like, why do any of these people talk to you and still talk to you? And I don’t quite get it. I do think they probably wouldn’t talk to me today—I mean, a lot of these interviews have occurred over the last three or four years. But the fact of the matter is, all these people have made this deal with Trump and decided, We have to make this relationship work for our careers; for whatever reason it is, this is our deal and we have to live with ourselves."

"I think one of the reasons they are no longer all that eager to talk is because you sense a lot of real unhappiness," Lieberovich continued. "Like, Kevin McCarthy? He’s gotta be miserable right now. When you see Marco Rubio and Elise Stefanik on TV, like, these people who know better, there’s a lot of cognitive dissonance, because I think they all respect the hell out of Liz Cheney on some very basic level. So you know, if I could try to impose some really simplistic psychology on them, I think a lot of them at this point are having real dissonance. The whole idea of running past reporters on the Hill, pretending to be on the phone, I think it wears on you. They’ve all made the decision. I don’t know if they’re okay with the decision, but they’ve all made the decision that it’s worth it to them. They need the job, they need the parking space. If you’re Lindsey Graham, you can’t imagine life without the U.S. Senate."

Liebovich also offered his thoughts on the public hearings by the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.

"I’ve been pretty riveted," Lieberovich added. "I had pretty middling expectations, but the witnesses have been tremendous; I’ve loved the straightforwardness of the questioning, the lack of speechifying. Cassidy Hutchinson was tremendous. It’s been great to watch, and I think it’s gained some momentum.

"It’s an example—and there are a lot of examples now, actually—of people showing real courage, whether it’s in Ukraine or even, like, the conservatives in British parliament," he continued. "There’s actually timely examples of people standing up. I make a comparison in the excerpt between the Uvalde police and the Republicans in Congress. This sort of contrast between cowardice and character is in pretty sharp relief these days. I think one of the triumphs for the January 6 commission so far is that it’s been a great forum for that."

You can read the full interview here.