Republican Liz Cheney calls Trump ‘depraved’ and mocks his ‘spray-tanning’ as she campaigns for Kamala Harris

Former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney called Donald Trump “depraved” and mocked his “spray tanning” when she first campaigned for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.

Cheney joined Harris on stage in Ripon, Wisconsin — considered the birthplace of the Republican Party — and asked her fellow Republicans to cross the aisle and vote for a Democrat, someone she previously called a “radical leftist.”

“I’m telling you, I’ve never voted for a Democrat, but this year I’m proud to cast my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris,” Cheney said, then repeated Harris-Walz’s campaign slogan: “we’re not going back . ‘

The ousted Wyoming lawmaker noted how as a 10-year-old she sealed envelopes for Republican President Gerald Ford’s re-election campaign, cast her first vote for Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1984, served in both Bush administrations and came in third place. powerful GOP member in the House.

“In other words, I was already a Republican before Donald Trump started spray tanning,” she said, laughing.

The rest of her speech was much more serious in tone.

She said the “most conservative of conservative values ​​is loyalty to the Constitution,” something Trump failed to demonstrate when he tried to overturn the election four years ago.

“In this election, patriotism over partisanship is not an ambition, it is our duty,” Cheney said.

Cheney, one of only two Republican members of the House Select Committee on Jan. 6, recalled how, when told on Jan. 6 that the angry mob outside the Capitol wanted to hang Vice President Mike Pence, Trump said, “And than?’

‘He said, “So what?” she repeated, shouting “nooooooos” from the crowd.

She said Trump’s closest associates also provided this information.

“They said that while the attack on our capital was happening, Donald Trump got a note informing him that a civilian had been shot at the door of the Chamber of the United States of Representatives,” Cheney recalled. “Donald Trump placed the note in front of him, continued to watch the attack on television, and still refused to tell the crowd to leave the Capitol.”

“That is depravity and we must never become numb to it,” she said.

She reminded the audience that 20 years ago, when she campaigned for her father’s re-election, he and President George W. Bush considered themselves “compassionate conservatives.”

“What January 6 shows us is that there is not an ounce, not an ounce of compassion in Donald Trump,” she said. “He’s petty, vindictive and cruel.”

“And Donald Trump is not fit to lead this good and great nation,” the former House member added.

Cheney’s comments Thursday were a departure from four years ago, when she called Harris a “radical leftist.”

When Harris was selected as President Joe Biden’s vice president, Cheney denounced the choice, saying the then-California senator had a “more liberal voting record than Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.”

Cheney warned in an August 2020 tweet that Harris’ liberal positions on abortion, immigration and health care would be “devastating for America.”

However, Cheney announced in September that she would vote for Harris after she was ousted by voters in Wyoming for becoming Congress’ most prominent anti-Trump Republican.

“And as a conservative and as someone who believes in and cares about the Constitution, I have thought deeply about this, and because of the danger that Donald Trump poses, not only am I not voting for Donald Trump, I am voting for Kamala Harris . she said during an appearance at Duke University in North Carolina, a crucial swing state.

Days later, she revealed that her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, would also vote for Harris.

“Dick Cheney will vote for Kamala Harris,” she said at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin.

That move prompted Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton — now a top critic of the ex-president — to reconsider his plan to write down Dick Cheney’s name — though he said on CNN Thursday that he wouldn’t go so far going to cast a ballot for Harris.

While Cheney’s fellow Republican member of the House Select Committee on Jan. 6, former Rep. Adam Kinzinger stood on stage at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August until she made no public appearance for the Harris campaign on Thursday.

She excused her absence from the convention because “I wanted to make the announcement in a way that was not related to the party politics of the moment.”

“I also happened to be in London at Taylor Swift’s concert,” Cheney admitted.

Swift also supported Harris in September.

Ripon is important because the one-room schoolhouse there, built in 1853, is a National Historic Landmark for its role as the site of meetings that helped form the Republican Party in 1854.

The Harris campaign is trying to wean Republican and independent voters away from Trump, playing its part on Jan. 6 and refusing to admit he lost the 2020 election — the same reasons Cheney, Kinzinger and other ex-Trump aides say they do not support the elections. it.

These attacks gained new fuel this week after Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, refused to answer a question posed by Harris’ vice president, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, during the vice presidential debate from Tuesday evening.

Walz asked Vance who won the 2020 election.

‘Tim, I’m focused on the future. Has Kamala Harris stopped Americans from expressing their opinions in the wake of the 2020 Covid situation?” Vance replied.

Walz scoffed at it, calling it a “damn non-answer.”

In addition, special counsel Jack Smith unveiled stunning new evidence on Wednesday in a new filing for Trump’s January 6 federal case.

The 165-page dossier portrays Trump’s attempt to claim victory regardless of the actual outcome as a private citizen’s plot to steal the election in an effort to circumvent the Supreme Court’s immunity decision.

Allies and aides are said to have wanted to “sow confusion” over the election results, with instructions to “bring them into revolt.”