‘Dangerous’ New House Speaker Is Trump Puppet Who Will ‘Undermine Our Republic,’ Blasts Liz Cheney

William FurneyNov 3, 2023

Minute Read

Former congresswoman and fierce Trump critic Liz Cheney has roasted the new House speaker as “dangerous,” suggesting he is under the control of Trump and is working to erode democracy in the United States.

Speaker Johnson an ‘Insurrectionist’

Cheney, speaking on the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics podcast Politics is Everything, suggested that Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, was an insurrectionist.

‘Aping Trump’s 2020 Efforts’

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Cheney, who is a professor at Virginia University, having left the House as a Republican representative of Wyoming in January, said on the podcast, referring to the contentious 2020 presidential vote:

“One of the reasons why somebody like Mike Johnson is dangerous is because when you have elected Republicans who know better, elected Republicans who know the truth but yet will go along with the efforts to undermine our republic, the efforts, frankly, that Donald Trump undertook to overturn the election.”

A New Speaker Elected

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Following weeks of chaos in Congress when speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted in an historic vote, and amid repeated failures by candidates, Johnson was elected the new speaker on October 25. Trump took partial credit for helping his fellow Republican get to the powerful position.

Trump Congratulations

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Trump said at the time: “I just want to congratulate Mike Johnson. He will be a great Speaker of the House, and we were very happy to have helped. I’ve known him for a long time. He’s a tremendous leader and a tremendous man.

Trump ‘Helping Hand’

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Trump continued, in his praise of the new House speaker: “At this time yesterday, nobody was thinking of Mike. And then we put out the word, and now he’s the Speaker of the House. So I want to just thank all of the supporters that I have, and I want to thank all the supporters that Mike has, and again, he’ll be a great Speaker. I think you’re going to be very proud.”

‘Not Committed to Constitution’

Cheney, who is the daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney, under president George W. Bush, suggested in her podcast that the new speaker was not a supporter of the US Constitution.

“Mike [Johnson] is somebody that I knew well. We were elected together. Our offices were next to each other, and Mike is somebody who says that he’s committed to defending the Constitution. But that’s not what he did when we were all tested in the aftermath of the 2020 election,” she said.

Speaker ‘Placating Trump’

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Cheney continued: “In my view, [Speaker Johnson] was willing to set aside what he knew to be the rulings of the courts, the requirements of the Constitution, in order to placate Donald Trump, in order to gain praise from Donald Trump, for political expedience. So it’s a concerning moment to have him be elected speaker of the House.”

A Presidential Election Debacle

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Trump was seeking a second term in office when he lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden. He refused to accept defeat, instead insisting the vote was “rigged” and that he was the real winner. After urging his supporters to mass at the US Capitol in protest at the election result, thousands gathered at the seat of American democracy on January 6, 2021, and rioting erupted that led to the deaths of five people. Police said around 1,000 people were arrested, and many have since been jailed.

Trump Indictments

Trump has been indicted for attempting to overturn the 2020 election results, harm democracy and block the transfer of presidential power, and is facing federal as well as state charges, in Georgia. He has pleaded not guilty and says the legal action is from Democrats who want to keep him away from the White House as he gears up for the 2024 presidential race.

Trump a ‘Danger’ Too

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Cheney, who has a book out in December, Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning, said on CNN in October that Trump was “the single most dangerous threat” to the US and should not be allowed to be president again.

“He cannot be the next president because if he is, all of the things that he attempted to do but was stopped from doing by responsible people … he will do,” she said.

Call To Work Together

Cheney suggested on CNN that both sides of the House should work together to try and thwart another Trump presidency.

“After January 6 … there can be no question that he will unravel the institutions of our democracy,” she predicted of Trump. “So we are facing a moment in American politics where we have to set aside partisanship, and we have to make sure that people who believe in the Constitution are willing to come together to prevent him from ever again setting foot anywhere near the Oval Office.”