May 26, 2022 |
The hottest primary race this political season in Wyoming—incumbent Liz Cheney versus Harriett Hageman for U.S. House—even drew an endorsement from a former president Donald Trump, in an appearance on KTWO radio Wednesday, said he endorsed Hageman at the suggestion of one of Wyoming’s two senators.
Trump admitted he did not know the attorney from Fort Laramie when he gave her his stamp of approval, and he did not say which senator offered an endorsement.
Photo from donaldjtrump.com.
Trump’s endorsement of Hageman came in early September last year. In a written statement at the time, the former president wrote that Hageman “has the support and respect of a truly great U.S. Senator, Wyoming’s Cynthia Lummis.” Cheney, who voted to impeach Trump, responded to the endorsement on Twitter, stating, “Here’s a sound bite for you: Bring it.”
Cheney’s unrelenting criticism of Trump and her vote to impeach him has cost her support among conservatives at home and in Washington. The backlash started with party regulars in Carbon and Park Counties voting to censure her. The state G.O.P. followed suit and voted to no longer recognize the northern Virginia transplant to Jackson Hole as a Republican.
The damage continued at the national level. Cheney lost the confidence of House Republicans and was voted out of her #3 leadership position last year. In February of this year, the Republican National Committee voted to censure Cheney for her role on the Democrat-controlled committee conducting what appears to be a partisan investigation into the events at the Capitol building on January 6, 2021.
In yesterday’s radio interview, Trump was not especially vicious in his comments about Cheney. He admitted that they have fundamental disagreements, especially about open-ended military involvements around the world, but indicated that he was surprised at her vote to impeach.
Trump added that Republicans in the House can’t stand Cheney. He may offer more colorful comments when he appears in Casper Saturday night at a “Save America” rally He offered a hint of what to expect when talking about what has happened to the U.S.A. since Joe Biden took office – from the fall of Afghanistan and the widening war between Russia and Ukraine to double digit inflation the crackdown on domestic energy production.
Trump, who had a history of surrounding himself in the White House with people who actively plotted against him and his agenda, responded to Hageman’s apparent change of mind about him. In the 2016 presidential primary in Wyoming, Hageman supported Ted Cruz—as did the Cheney Family, who showed up en masse at the convention in Sheridan. Hageman called Trump “racist and xenophobic,” labeling him the “weakest candidate.” Those words have come back to haunt Hageman in this go-round. Trump took a conciliatory and pragmatic view of the flip-flop.
Trump said Hageman offers the best chance to unseat Cheney in the U.S. House primary, and that they will meet in Casper on Saturday. Trump called into K2 Radio’s “Wake Up Wyoming with Glenn Woods.”
The rally in Casper at the Ford Wyoming Center begins at 4 p.m. Trump is scheduled to take the stage at 10 p.m. Up to 20,000 people are expected to attend.
