At one point Dick Cheney practically defined conservatism at a level so extreme that he advocated for a second round of tax cuts in 2003 and was so pro-Big Oil that he helped plan this country’s first war of aggression. And yet, this year, he is voting for Vice President Harris as attested to by the brave and equally conservative Liz Cheney.
Things change.
To be sure, the populist and protectionist Donald Trump isn’t conservative in any traditional definition of the word. Just because one defines oneself as being on the far right doesn’t equate to actually being conservative. Spending soared during the Trump administration.
George Will – who defines traditional principled conservatism, is no longer a member of the Republican party. No, Dick Cheney is no liberal, nor any more likable. Apparently, he’s just had enough.
Liz Cheney: "Dick Cheney will be voting for Kamala Harris"#CountryOverParty pic.twitter.com/pYkeSEB9HB
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) September 6, 2024
Country over party? Talk about traditional conservatism. Ronald Reagan Democrats can relate and long for those days.
Dick Cheney surely still has trouble believing that these days he’s voting for liberal Kamala Harris. We still have trouble believing he will.
But perhaps we shouldn’t. It isn’t crazy to believe that even as Liz Cheney followed Dad’s lead into business-first conservatism, so too might Dick be inspired and compelled by his daughter’s example in putting American democracy over a threat to democracy’s very foundation.
Liz gave up her hopes for reelection by putting country over party, believing that Donald Trump represented a true threat to democracy. This country became the richest, most powerful empire the world has ever known, not by lurching to the right but battling through the compromises that inherently result from the power of the vote.
Without a doubt, the Cheney’s surely want an American empire as strong as ever. But straying from the Constitution and the democratic values established within can only create an unstable, weaker empire, one as dangerous to business as it is to the world.
One can leave room for the belief that the Cheneys are patriots. They probably are. But even if one wants to argue that point, big business can only thrive in a stable environment of the type threatened by populist movements. Businesses become big by accurately predicting future trends, something hard enough in the best of times. Throw in instability and global businesses get worried.
There is also a positive feedback loop. This country’s economy lays on the back of the 30-year mortgage, the bet that in 30 years the country will look more or less the same as it does now. Fearful banks might believe that it’s not worth making that bet anymore. Interest rates rise, things stagnate, it cascades.
It shouldn’t shock anyone that the pro-business Cheneys worry about democracy’s health if faced with another Trump term. The Cheneys might well share the trepidation of the big banks, worried that the stock market may be rocked by sudden and intense trade wars. But trade wars are just the beginning. Stable allies may inch toward a more adversarial approach. The delicate balance in dealing with China might be upended. War could result.
It is almost impossible to know and that’s the point.
The Cheneys sure know that traditional conservative steps that alter American policy are fundamentally pro-business. Sure, Trump wants to cut taxes and slash regulations, just like any other self-respecting Republican. Other matters go well beyond that. Even making federal employees more political represents a threat to stability. They make the government work.
The reasons may make sense. Still, wipe your brow. Dick Cheney is voting for Kamala Harris.
Things change and the big businesses know it.
I’d LOVE to see Dick Cheney do a sit down interview with a reputable journalist and give his opinion of Trump………he certainly wouldn’t kiss Trump’s lard ass like the rest. Cheney has always been blunt in his answers and opinions, plus, he’s not trying to impress anyone.
He knows all about the F bomb and ain’t afraid to use it…..the interview would be quite enlightening. 🙂
Cheney, in his own words per NBC News:
“In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” Dick Cheney said in a statement. “He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He can never be trusted with power again.”
“As citizens, we each have a duty to put country above partisanship to defend our Constitution. That is why I will be casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris,” he added.
Think about it – how many times in our lives have any of us actually AGREED with Dick Cheney?
🤩👍
Besides his comments today…..I got nothin’.
I am not surprised by either Liz or Dick Cheney announcing for Harris. I recall my impression of them forever changed on Jan. 6, 2022. An anniversary ceremony honoring law enforcement who protected the Capitol was held on the House floor. THE ONLY 2 ELECTED REPUBLICANS WHO SHOWED UP were Liz and Dick Cheney!! Country over party means something and they know it!! 🇺🇸🇺🇸✊✊👏👏
For what it’s worth, Trump isn’t the only “conservative” President who saw an increase in spending. Under Reagan, the defense budget blew up so much (largely considered the REAL reason for the Soviet Union’s collapse; the Soviet leadership just couldn’t afford to keep up with what Reagan was doing) and he couldn’t manage to cut enough spending elsewhere to offset the defense buildup. So, even as Reagan and his GOP cronies (remember, the Senate was in GOP hands for most of Reagan’s administration) kept calling for a “balanced budget amendment” to be passed, and immediately at that, Reagan NEVER ONCE presented a budget that was remotely close to being balanced.
Bush 41 didn’t really go to the same extremes as Reagan in terms of government deficit spending but he didn’t really help matters. When Clinton left office in January 2001, the US actually had a budget surplus (remember Clinton was a Democrat) and what was Bush 43’s first course of action? Give the surplus back to the people via a tax “rebate” and then came 9/11 and the Clinton surplus got blown out of the water and the government went right back into the red with MASSIVE government spending that led to deficits that simply couldn’t be cut (even if the GOP had managed to cut ALL funding to the social programs they wanted to terminate completely, it still wouldn’t have helped–you can’t spend a trillion dollars in defense spending and expect the elimination of a hundred billion dollars’ worth of programs to really do all that much). And, of course, the near-collapse of the housing market towards the end of Bush 43’s term and the devastation that rendered on the rest of the economy just led to further problems. It took Obama (another Democrat) a full four years to bring the economy back to something that resembled the “better days.”
Then we got Trump and his GOP cronies passed the tax cuts (permanent for the billionaire class and the corporations, but set to expire in 2025 for the peons–I mean, the rest of the people*) and, once again, while “conservatives” were railing about the outrageous government spending and how it needed to be brought to heel, they kept passing bills that just kept increasing the spending for the things they liked and cutting (the very little they could manage) for the things they didn’t, leading to a net of “more, and larger, deficits.” Then came COVID and the cratering of the economy (not just in the US, but worldwide) and Trump and his GOP cronies across the country simply refused to take the pandemic seriously (with some GOP governors and state legislatures passing bills that prohibited businesses from closing at all or requiring customers to wear masks or, later, providing proof of vaccination to enter the stores; some of those GOPers did finally begin taking things seriously–no small part due to the businesses showing signs of withholding campaign contributions to these politicians’ reelection bids) and then the 2020 election season came along. And Biden was elected. Yes, the Biden Administration began some massive spending but, primarily for things that really needed it and the “conservatives” came back out whining about all that “red ink” and how people were “mortgaging their children’s future” (really ironic as so many of those “children” were being shot up in schools which didn’t really bother these “conservatives” nearly as much) and getting pretty defensive whenever someone would have the audacity of reminding those folks how they’d voted against that spending but were all too eager to take credit when their communities benefited from that spending (not to mention how defensive they got when they were reminded how they didn’t have the problem with spending when “their guy” was spending like a drunken sailor on shore leave after 2 years stuck at sea; oh, they couldn’t run away from those journalists fast enough–you’d think they were trying out for the US Olympic track team).
*On a tangent, but I wonder if Trump plans, if he gets elected again, to push through a new round of tax cuts so the general public doesn’t get slammed with the expected increase to their tax burden in his first year? Probably not, because he’ll be busy doing other things, like interfering with the judicial system to keep his ass out of prison.
Reagan also knew that his spending sent deficits soaring and he backed out of his original massive tax cuts in 1981, raising taxes in 1983 to better match and somewhat offsset the spending.
Stepping back a bit, the spending that ended the Cold War, and it did – you’re right, was likely worth the investment in the long run. Think about the economic growth of Eastern Europe since.
One thing Dick Cheney is not, is stupid. Same with his daughter. So who did they vote for in ’16 and ’20? trump’s ignorance is not some new thing we’ve discovered nor is his lack of business acumen. His cowardice (although I’m sure Dick is well-versed in that sort of cowardice) was also well-known. Last I’d heard, Liz at least did support cadet bone spurs in the last two elections-she definitely did in ’16. There has never been so foolish a person, so ignorant, so unsuited for the office of the presidency than trump. Ever. And yet they both supported him at least one and probably twice.
It’s great that they’re publicly disavowing him this election but they knew two elections ago this guy was an idiot and they had four years of proof positive one election ago. I’d be a little more impressed with them had they voiced some objections four, maybe eight, years ago. In 2016 stating loudly and publicly how big a fool trump is might have spared this country from four years of the worst possible person to occupy the oval office. Dick Cheney still had some pull back when it was still the republican party (in 2016). Now, in 2024, his support will have a minuscule effect at best. I doubt he’ll influence many voters in WY in fact.