Kevin McCarthy Has Had It With Liz Cheney. Officially.

Politics
Kevin McCarthy Has Had It With Liz Cheney. Officially.
Image:Samuel Corum (Getty Images)

Last week, Republican men were wringing their hands over the fact that their “girlfriend” Liz Cheney wasn’t cheering their decision to back Donald Trump and his enthusiasm for insurrection. This week, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is telling his buddies that a breakup is imminent.

According to Axios, which reports having access to a recording of McCarthy’s hot mic before a Fox and Friends interview caught McCarthy telling Steve Doocy, “I think [Cheney’s] got real problems, I’ve had it with … I’ve had it with her. You know, I’ve lost confidence. … Well, someone just has to bring a motion, but I assume that will probably take place.”

This recording lines up with what McCarthy said in the actual interview: “I have heard from members, concerned about her ability to carry out the job as conference chair, to carry out the message,” CNN reports. “We all need to be working as one, if we’re able to win the majority. Remember, majorities are not given, they are earned, and that’s about the message about going forward.”

Cheney, of course, was one of just 10 Republicans who said the deadly Capitol insurrection was bad not just with her mouth, but with her impeachment vote based on the charge that Trump was responsible for inciting the January 6 riots. Of course, as Republicans need those insurrectionists’ and their supporters’ votes if they have any hope in upcoming elections, they need the message to be more along the lines of “Insurrection is theoretically bad, but Donald Trump is good, and so are you!” Liz Cheney, by continuing to say that insurrection is categorically illegal and outgoing presidents should not encourage it, of course, puts her position as number three in the House Republican chain of command in Jeopardy.

According to a spokesperson for Cheney, even if it means that the colleagues who seem to think she’s their girlfriend break up with her, she’s not going to start cheerleading team Violently Overthrow the Capitol any time soon:

“This is about whether the Republican Party is going to perpetuate lies about the 2020 election and attempt to whitewash what happened on Jan. 6. Liz will not do that. That is the issue.”

Hmmm well, when the nominations for Homecoming Court start rolling in we’ll just see about the status of this breakup, I guess.

 
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