Matt Gaetz And Liz Cheney Trade Barbs In Battle For Future Of The Republican Party

liz cheney matt gaetz

Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Liz Cheney (R-WY) traded jabs with each other on Monday in what could be illustrative the battle for the heart and soul of the GOP and its opposing wings.

Cheney has been in the hot seat, most recently for her vote to impeach Donald Trump, who Democrats accuse of being responsible for the violent protests at the Capitol building on Jan. 6.

As a result, Trump supporting Rep. Matt Gaetz announced on Monday that he would be traveling to Wyoming to “inspire” Wyoming voters to remove Cheney from her seat in Congress.

Cheney’s office shot back saying, “Rep. Gaetz can leave his beauty bag at home. In Wyoming the men don’t wear make up.”

Gaetz has reportedly been looking to defeat Cheney ever since she backed a primary challenge against popular Republican and Gaetz ally Thomas Massie of Kentucky.

Back in July, Cheney’s PAC had donated money, the maximum amount to fellow Republican Thomas Massie’s primary opponent, Todd McMurtry.

“In an interview with Breitbart News on Monday, Gaetz described Cheney’s attacks on Massie and himself as representing “her vindictive style” of politics.

Gaetz says Cheney wants the Republican Party to share her “America Last” vision.

“In the wake of the Biden presidency, the Republican party establishment is trying to wrangle the conservative movement back under their control. They want the GOP to look and sound like Liz Cheney. 

“I have a competing vision for Republicanism and I intend to showcase it by going after the America Last politicians in both parties,” Gaetz said.

RELATED: Liz Cheney Squirms As She Twice Refuses To Say If Senate Should Hold Impeachment Trial For Trump

Besides the back and forth with Gaetz, Cheney has plenty of trouble on Capitol Hill.

More than half of the House Republican Conference has signed on to support a resolution calling for the removal of Cheney as the House GOP Chair in light of her “yes” vote on impeachment.  

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy also told Breitbart News that he “has concerns” about Cheney’s impeachment vote:

“Look, I support her, but I also have concerns. She took a position as a number three member in conference.

She never told me ahead of time. One thing about leadership: if we’re going to work together on that as a whole conference, we should understand. We know that this is going to become a difficulty.

She can have a difference of opinion, but the one thing if we’re going to lead within the conference, we should work together on that as a whole conference because we’re representative of that conference. So I support her, but I do think she has a lot of questions she has to answer to the conference.” 

RELATED: House Republicans Call For Cheney’s Removal From GOP Conference Chair After Impeachment Vote  

Cheney In Trouble At Home

In addition to her troubles in Washington, Liz Cheney is in some trouble at home. She has already garnered a primary opponent for 2022. Wyoming State Senator Anthony Bouchard plans to challenge Cheney for her Congressional seat. 

She has also been censured at home. On Jan 17, the Carbon County Wyoming Republican Central Committee announced it had voted to censure Cheney for her impeachment vote.

A Change.org petition has already collected almost 50,000 signatures calling for Cheney to be recalled. 

RELATED: If Republicans Put America First, They’ll Remove Liz Cheney, Not Donald Trump

Two Visions Of The Republican Party

Matt Gaetz and Liz Cheney represent two very different visions for the Republican Party going forward.

Matt Gaetz has long been a Trump supporter and on board with Trump’s America First agenda.

Liz Cheney is still a backer of the Bush era, especially on foreign policy. She is in agreement with her dad, former Vice President Dick Cheney who says, “I was right about Iraq.” 

While new faces like Gaetz and others staunchly oppose getting involved in needless conflicts, Cheney and the Democrats recently blocked Trump’s attempt to remove troops from Afghanistan where troops have been stagnating for twenty years.

The GOP will have to make a decision on which way to go.     

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