Former Republican Representative and outspoken critic of Donald Trump, Liz Cheney, referred to the former president as a “vindictive, cruel” dictator on Friday after he suggested she would be less of a “war hawk” if guns were pointed at her.
“This is how dictators destroy free nations. They threaten those who speak against them with death,” the former congresswoman and daughter of ex-vice president Dick Cheney stated in a post on social media platform X. She emphasised,
“We cannot entrust our country and our freedom to a petty, vindictive, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant.”
Trump, who is campaigning for reelection, made his remarks while criticising Cheney’s father for endorsing Democratic candidate Kamala Harris during a fireside chat with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in Arizona. He said,
“And I don’t blame him for sticking with his daughter, but his daughter is a very dumb individual, very dumb.” Trump continued, “She’s a radical war hawk. Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, okay? Let’s see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face.”
The backlash was immediate, with Harris campaign advisor Ian Sams pointing out the stark contrast between Trump “talking about sending a prominent Republican to the firing squad” and Harris “talking about sending one to her cabinet.”
Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former top aide in Trump’s White House, deemed his comments “unconscionable,” saying,
“I don’t know how Republican leaders — many of whom served with Liz Cheney and at one point considered her a colleague and friend — cannot denounce this. It’s dangerous. It’s escalatory,” she told reporters.
In response, a Trump campaign spokeswoman labeled Cheney a “warmonger,” claiming she is “very quick to start wars and send other Americans to fight them, rather than go into combat themselves.”
Cheney was once regarded as a rising star within the Republican Party in the House of Representatives but was removed from a leadership role and subsequently lost her Wyoming seat due to her strong criticism of Trump’s refusal to accept the 2020 election results. Trump endorsed her opponent in the 2022 House primary, Harriet Hageman.
Cheney, who spearheaded the successful effort to impeach Trump for a second time, announced last month her intention to vote for Harris and has made multiple appearances with the vice president to appeal to moderate conservatives. Trump has a long history of attacking Cheney, having recently referred to her as a “Muslim-hating warmonger… who wants to invade practically every Muslim country on the planet.”
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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