Cheney May Oppose Trump but is still Loyal to the Right

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/15/liz-cheney-ginni-thomas-january-6-investigation

Since opposing Trump, participating in the January 6 investigation, and be ousted from office, Liz Cheney is often presented as some kind of moderate. In reality she remains a Far Right member of the Republican Party and an advocate of the Neo-Conservative policies championed by her father. She rejects Trump and his movement but this does not make her a centrist. One might argue that right or wrong she retains some principles and convictions as opposed to the raw fascistic power-grab represented by Trumpism. It's a case of Bush-era Far Right politics vs. outright fascism.

But as The Guardian article aptly demonstrates, Cheney's disgust with Trump (or at least Trumpism) is also limited. She doesn't want him to be president but she will (it would seem) stand by some that fall within the orbit of his larger movement. She's not nearly as 'disloyal' as some would have it. In fact I think it's safe to say she would consider herself to be very loyal to the Right-wing of the GOP - extending this to some who are on the Trump Train, obviously wishing they would disembark.

And apparently her loyalty even allows her to look the other way when it comes to one of the most corrupt power couples within Washington and the larger GOP and Trumpite orbit - Clarence and Ginni Thomas.

One would think that by now anyone with a hint of conviction would be completely put off by Clarence Thomas and the way he (along with Alito) has corrupted and discredited the Supreme Court. He's a complete moral wretch and hypocrite, and this has been true since the Anita Hill chapter of his confirmation hearings back in 1991. He was unqualified for the job and selected merely because he was both Black and Right-wing. The pool of such judges was pretty shallow to say the least. Riding high on the wave of his supposed character, his myth-narrative was shattered and his subsequent history within the Court has been one of less than impressive jurisprudence and abominable corruption that should land him in a prison cell.

His wife has abandoned all ethics and expectations of a woman married to a Supreme Court Judge. She is politically active and connected - this being another aspect of his corruption as there are many cases that he (due to his marriage) is compromised and would require recusal. But Thomas consistently refuses as does his (also corrupt) colleague Samuel Alito.

Ginni Thomas was actively involved in the January 6th coup attempt and that's reason enough for Clarence to be removed from the bench and for her to be in jail on the basis of her own charges. Instead, she brazenly continues to be politically active in open defiance of any ethics, accountability, or shame.

Liz Cheney has shown that her 'Oath and Honor' ethics are also rather limited in obstructing attempts to pursue Ginni Thomas - a move that would certainly lead to Clarence and (potentially) result in the well-deserved downfall of both. There is the suggestion that this move might have been motivated by her own political ambitions - which I'm guessing by now she's realized are a hopeless dead end. Or, it was due to loyalty, but if that's the case, she's lost the debate as loyalty is the primary binding ethic of the Trump cult and his supreme demand - the ultimate expression of the obeisance demanded by Trump himself. Trumpism is not an ideology but a movement centered on authority - that of Trump himself.

As suggested, there is a degree of courage that is admirable in Liz Cheney and her opposition to Trump, but it has been blown out of proportion. She's not a nice person and not the person many make her out to be. In every way she is the daughter of Dick Cheney and that's no badge of honour. She paid a price for her opposition to the Trump Cult but she also has some ugly skeletons in her closet.