Republicans are at war with themselves

If you are a reasonable Republican, you should know that your party is being stolen and turned into a home for the knaves. And it’s likely to get worse in the fall. Extremists are winning across the country.

Recently I wrote about political cannibalism in Texas, where Republicans on the far right were turning on more moderate, though still demonstrably conservative, party members and elected leaders. It was not a pretty scene, an uncivil war, but it gets worse as one moves from the Pedernales to the Potomac and the House of Representatives.

A congressional star even before the current hearings, Liz Cheney, is now maligned, shunned, and deposed for being anti-Trump. She was one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach him. Her vote took courage. I assume she knew there would be consequences. I doubt she anticipated how far they would go.

The Wyoming Republican Party the Cheneys inspired and led for decades turned on her. In a resolution passed with cheers, her party said it no longer considered her a Republican. Trump loyalists found an opponent for the August primary and Cheney is 30 percent behind. In desperation, she has asked Democrats to switch their registration to Republican for the primary, a desperate move that is unlikely to save her.

Cheney had risen quickly to a leadership role in the House, recognized by her Republican colleagues as special. She had been there for just a term when she became chair of the Republican Conference, described as “the primary body for communicating the party message to members.”

That made her the third-ranking Republican, behind only Kevin McCarthy the minority leader, and the whip, Steve Scalise. It was a position previously held by, among others, Mike Pence, Gerald Ford, and her father, Dick Cheney, all of whom were elected to the position after much longer service.

That Liz Cheney became its chair after her first term attested to her excellence, grasp pf the issues and respect she earned immediately. She was dumped when she followed her conscience and the facts and voted to impeach. That was enough to make her unacceptable. Nothing else mattered.

Many, apparently including McCarthy, see a tidal wave of conspiracy theorists and far, far right Republicans winning this fall. She is a burden McCarthy will not carry in currying their favor and votes for speaker if Republicans take control.

The treatment of Liz Cheney by the House leadership is distressing but made even worse when one considers that five members who sought preemptive pardons from the departing Trump remain, neither questioned nor shunned. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican who stands with Cheney asks, “Why would members of Congress feel the need to request a pardon if they had done nothing wrong?”

The Republican Party is struggling to define itself. Reasonable Republicans, starting here, must step up. Otherwise, the question is “who will we have for dessert?”

Norman Sherman of Coralville has worked extensively in politics, including as Vice President Hubert Humphrey’s press secretary, and authored a memoir “From Nowhere to Somewhere.”