Alaskans Welcome Liz Cheney
“Don’t go numb. There are real lessons in looking at authoritarian regimes internationally. You have to fight back.”Former Congresswoman Liz Cheney was welcomed by a room full of applause at the Atwood Concert Hall Thursday evening. UAA’s College of Arts and Sciences invited the former Wyoming Representative to Anchorage as part of their community lecture series to be interviewed by Elizabeth Arnold, former NPR Political Correspondent and current associate professor at UAA’s Journalism and Public Communications Department.
Liz Cheney has been a polarizing figure on the political stage since 2021, in casting 1 of 10 Republican votes in favor of impeaching Trump, and in serving as Vice Chair for the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol. Continuing the legacy of her father and former Vice President Dick Cheney, Liz Cheney was a defining Bush-era conservative, ranging from her role at the State Department and later serving the House Armed Services Committee in Congress. The former congresswoman has been vocal in condemning Trump’s incitement of violence and refusal to admit defeat after the 2020 election, resulting in the loss of her Congressional seat and the rebuke of her colleagues. “They weren’t tough decisions because it was clear what my responsibility was,” she said. When asked where the traditional, freedom-fighting Republicans like her father are, she expressed the current GOP no longer reflected the values the party once did, revealing that “voters feel betrayed. Their very noble patriotism was turned into a weapon.” “It’s hard to see where the Republican party is headed,” she continued, “Republicans have stopped defending the constitution.” Among Liz Cheney’s recent endeavors since leaving Congress is the formation of her political action committee, Our Great Task, funding candidates who are dedicated to defending the rule of law. “There are serious politicians still running and Democrats have good candidates right now... It comes down to independent voters–some took a risk on Trump and regretted their votes. Those voters need to be engaged... We need to be able to talk to folks. We must remind ourselves that the majority want serious, competent leaders.” While serving on the January 6th Select Committee and receiving daily pressure from her peers, she was witness to the lies and theatrics in the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, questioning of election results and the GOP’s “infinite capacity to rationalize one more thing to appease Trump.” In decrying the complacency of her GOP colleagues, the former congresswoman took a moment to celebrate Lisa Murkowski’s courage after a viral moment where the Senator admitted a fear of retaliation from the Trump administration. After Trump’s first 100 days back as President, Cheney brought to attention Trump’s assault on the rule of law with his decision to ignore Supreme Court orders to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the U.S. Abrego Garcia is an immigrant who was wrongly deported to El Salvador and is being held at COCET, a maximum-security prison. “He said he could return him and wouldn’t. As Americans with freedom of speech, we don’t have the option to ignore the courts.” Liz Cheney empowered an Anchorage audience to continue to speak out against the administration’s growing threat to democracy. “Don’t go numb. There are real lessons in looking at authoritarian regimes internationally. You have to fight back against it all–not choose here and there... I’m determined we won’t be the last generation of Americans to be free.” Cheers and momentum were felt by all who left the Atwood Concert Hall that evening. |