On Monday, during a CNN "Inside Politics" panel, POLITICO's Rachel Bade analyzed how former President Donald Trump is pouring all of his effort into unseating Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), a key intraparty critic who voted to impeach him and is working with the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th riots.
A key takeaway, Bade said, is that after Trump's string of endorsement losses around the country, another loss in Wyoming would be catastrophic for his power within the party.
"Brian Kemp never once criticized Trump for saying the election was stolen," said CNN's Ryan Nobles. "In fact, he embraced his policies and said they have a different philosophy. In this race in Wyoming, which is a Republican state, you have Liz Cheney going all in on the idea that saying the election was stolen is a bad idea and a threat the our democracy, and a Trump-backed opponent who says the opposite," said Nobles. "I feel like it's a true referendum on that topic."
"In spite of the Cheney name there, which is powerful — you go to Wyoming and see a lot of buildings named after Dick Cheney and so and so park named after somebody in the Cheney family — despite that name, if he can't win here, then people are really going to be questioning his power even more," said Bade. "I mean, this is a time obviously he had losses in Georgia. He's had three governor's candidates that he's backed and put some money behind, and has seen losses. If he can't get out Cheney, which a lot of the Republicans right now have rejected because she continues to criticize the former president, that's going to be a big problem for him."
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"It kind of feels like he's regrouping in Wyoming to say this is the most important race, because perhaps that should be the place where he should be most successful," continued Bade. "And yet, if we come to August and Cheney is still standing, man, that's going to be such a huge hit."
Ironically, Cheney's Trump-endorsed challenger, Harriet Hageman, who has also been backed by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), is a former Cheney campaign staffer who worked to try to block Trump's presidential nomination at the RNC in 2016.
Watch below:
Rachel Bade on Trump's efforts to unseat Liz Cheneywww.youtube.com
