With Liz Cheney out of the race, has Trump changed the Republican party forever?
It’s the end of an era for Liz Cheney and now commentators are questioning whether Donald Trump has changed the Republican party forever.
A Republican purebred, Cheney lost her Wyoming seat to Trump-backed candidate Harriet Hageman.
Although shocking, the demise of the three-term congresswoman isn’t much of a surprise.
Wyoming is one of the most conservative states in the United States and the population’s political allegiance is deeply intertwined with the mission of Donald Trump.
When Cheney took to the stand and voted to impeach the former President, her constituents got angry.
When Cheney became one of just two Republicans to serve on the January 6 insurrection panel, her voters were up in arms.
They felt betrayed by the woman who was supposed to be representing her state in Washington.
But Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, couldn’t do it.
She could no longer follow the path Wyoming wanted her to take.
A new candidate emerged from the dust
Then along came Hageman, a candidate personally picked by Donald Trump himself with one aim – get rid of Cheney.
The strategy worked, Cheney will be removed from Congress come January.
But the bigger picture here reveals a much deeper story.
Experts say the result shows how far right the GOP has swung and that Trump’s connection with grassroots Republicans has never been stronger.
For 50 years, the Cheneys have had an enormous influence over Washington.
In many ways, this family represented what the Republican party was.
But now, a new wave is sweeping through, and who knows what will be left in its wake.
TICKER NEWS’ Holly Stearnes spoke with Bruce Wolpe from the U.S. Studies Centre and Ebony Bennett from the Australia Institute.
