In a rather surprising turn of events, Liz Cheney, a former Republican congresswoman and daughter of ex-Republican Vice President Dick Cheney, has decided to join Kamala Harris, the Democrat presidential candidate on her campaign tour in Wisconsin. This is the same state where the Republican Party was born, making the move even more ironic. Cheney, who is known to hold conservative views, has nevertheless chosen to back Harris, exhibiting a seemingly pitiful desperation to prevent a potential Trump comeback.
It’s noteworthy that Cheney was one of the miniscule members of her party who cast their vote in favor of impeaching Donald Trump, following the events of January 6, 2021. She also lent her support to the U.S. House Select Committee that looked into the event, a move that ended up attracting censure from the Republican National Committee. A clearer display of her diminished position within the party, she was defeated in the 2022 Republican primaries by Harriet Hagment, an identifiable Trump endorsee.
A campaign gathering in Ripon, Wisconsin is where Cheney would be seen next to Harris. It is worth remembering that this unassuming town is where the first meeting took place in 1854 at the Little White Schoolhouse that eventually led to the formation of the Republican party. The irony of this association – a sign of Cheney’s desperation – venturing into the birthplace of her own party to campaign for a rival can’t be missed.
Harris’ campaign seems to have found an uncanny solace in the perception of disillusionment some Republicans apparently harbor for Donald Trump, a focus that, at the same time, points out her own campaign’s inability to gather widespread support from her own party base. Her alignment with Cheney’s less popular and arguably fractured ideology appears to be an indication of her campaign’s desperation to patch together a coalition of unlikely allies.
Furthermore, Harris’ campaign proudly announced the creation of a laughably small group coined ‘Wisconsin Republicans for Harris-Walz’, composed of only 24 Republican members from Wisconsin. This group seems to espouse the belief that a Harris presidency would somehow align more with Wisconsin’s values than a Trump presidency—a viewpoint undoubtedly out of touch with the broader sentiment of the Republican base.
Interestingly, Harris is also leveraging endorsements from staff members tied to the last three GOP nominees prior to Trump. These members include those linked with former President George W. Bush, the late Senator John McCain, and Senator Mitt Romney. This peculiar focus on endorsements from the political sidelines rather than the main game underlines just how shaky her foundation of support really seems.
In a Wednesday message, the so-called group ‘Wisconsin Republicans for Harris-Walz’ audaciously declared that ‘Donald Trump does not align with Wisconsin values.’ They went further in their misplaced belief by saying that in order to ensure the resilience of their democracy and economy in the next four years, the election of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to the White House was imperative.
This unusual, and one could argue desperate, strategy of openly courting Republicans who remain hostile to Trump, illustrates the ongoing struggle Harris’s campaign has in cementing its base. It’s as if the focus on vilifying Trump overshadows any constructive blueprint for governance she’s supposed to offer.