Cheney fight stokes cries of GOP double standard for women

Source: The Hill | May 6, 2021 | Mike Lillis and Scott Wong

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) remains safe as the minority leader. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) survived a recent censure vote at home. And few on Capitol Hill are going after the likes of Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), Fred Upton (R-Mich.), Anthony Gonzalez (R-Ohio) or John Katko (R-N.Y.).

Yet for Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.), the No. 3 House Republican, the cost of denouncing former President Trump appears almost certain to be her expulsion from leadership, perhaps as early as next week. And that’s sparking a backlash from some Republicans who see a vicious double standard in the GOP’s hard-charging effort to demote the most powerful woman in the party’s ranks.

“The women don’t get the same slack that the men get,” former Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.), a Cheney ally, said this week by phone. “And I think a lot of the men are attacking her because they resent that she’s got guts and they don’t.

“They’re on their knees for Trump and she’s standing up for herself,” Comstock added. “And that’s kind of an embarrassing thing if you’re the guy on your knees.”

The pushback arrives as House Republicans — pressured by Trump and dismayed by Cheney’s rebukes of him — are charging ahead with plans to oust her as the head of the party conference. Because Cheney is the only woman in the top tiers of leadership, the emerging consensus is to replace her with another woman: Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), a former moderate who veered hard right during Trump’s tenure to become on of his most vocal supporters.

The power shuffle has been endorsed by the top Republicans, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and Minority Whip Steve Scalise (La.), who say they simply can’t keep Cheney in place if she won’t join the rest of leadership in embracing Trump’s message — or at least remaining quiet about it. A party that’s fractured on Trump, they warn, will have longer odds of winning back the House in 2022, when Republicans see a good chance to flip the chamber.

“I have heard from members concerned about her ability to carry out the job as conference chair, to carry out the message,” McCarthy told Fox News on Tuesday.

Yet that argument is falling flat with a growing list of GOP women, former lawmakers, and even the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal, which warned this week that “purging” Cheney for calling out Trump’s lies about the election outcome “would diminish the party” and hurt its election prospects in 2022. 

Republicans had scored big wins with female and minority candidates in the 2020 cycle, and are hoping to build on that track record next year. But ousting Cheney, some party voices are warning, will sabotage that cause. 

“The message that’s being sent by the highest member of Republicans in Congress is that women like me and Liz Cheney who refuse to bend the knee to President Trump, but still remain loyal Republicans, we don’t have a place in this party…” Meghan McCain, vocal Trump critic and co-host of ABC’s “The View,” said on her program Wednesday.

McCain, the daughter of the late-Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), berated Trump as “Cheeto Jesus” and warned Republicans that ousting Cheney would “blood-let” from the GOP college-educated and suburban women voters who will be crucial to winning back power.

“It’s the most asinine politics I have seen in a really, really long time. … And if you do this … I promise you there will be consequences,” McCain continued in her more than two-minute rant. “So go ahead — go ahead in this sausage-fest of MAGA up on Capitol Hill. Pull her out and put another woman in who will do and say anything you want for President Trump: ‘The election wasn’t stolen; he’s Jesus; it’s only Trumpism going forward.’

“See where this lands us in midterms.”

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“It’s an existential crisis for the party to cynically throw out somebody for stating the truth. And then say, ‘OK, let’s go find a woman who makes Donald Trump happy.’ You know, really? That’s our standard now?” said Comstock. “Woe to the woman who’s going to be the handmaiden to what is basically a male assault on [Cheney], and has been from the start.”

“Any woman who would take that position under these circumstances, it’s not going to do well for them or for the party,” Comstock continued. “Because… your role is: smile and read the talking points. Then we like you. Then it’s OK to be a woman who smiles and reads the talking points. That’s not where you want to be. That’s not equal.”

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