Is Cheney a renegade or vying for the presidency?

Quick, I have a question for you, especially if you are a Democrat or liberal:  Can you name of the chairman of the January 6 Insurrection Committee? No idea? Don’t fret; neither does 95% of the rest of the population.

Here’s another:  Can you name the VICE Chair of that same committee? Yup, of course, you know that one; it’s Wyoming Republican Representative, Liz Cheney.

Perhaps I should identify her with the name many Republicans call her these days: RINO or Republican in Name Only, specifically after being chosen to not only serve on this committee, but to also have accepted such an important position on it.

I met Rep. Cheney some years ago at a fundraising event for Congressman Tim Walberg. I sang the National Anthem. Ms. Cheney was guest speaker. She thrilled me by igniting her audience with conservative proclamations along with her support for President Trump and Walberg. I became an instant fan.

Then, suddenly and not long after, the legislator shocked Republicans by joining Democrats in voting to impeach Trump for purportedly withholding aid to Ukraine in exchange for dirt on his 2020 election rival, now President Joe Biden.

Republicans received a double-dose of pain when she again joined Democrats in voting to impeach Trump a second time for his role in the January 6th insurrection. And now, all these months later, here she is being paraded repeatedly and methodically into our living rooms as spokesperson for the well-rehearsed committee and my question is, why?

Oh, I of course understand the Democrats objective (and good fortune) of finding an enemy camp participant willing to not only join but accept a position of power in Democrats' latest objective of beating down and destroying Donald Trump along with any hope of him ever again running for office.

I expect the obvious truth is they will milk her like a cow until they’ve achieved their objective and then dump her like Kamala Harris dumped dresses. But, after seeing her happily taking the microphone in repeated opportunities to update America as to committee progress instead of the actual committee chairman, Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, her personal objective has become clear.

After being censured last year by the Republican Party and now with Trump throwing all his support behind one of her Wyoming primary opponents (Harriet Hageman), Cheney has no assured lock on reelection in deep, red-state Wyoming.

That being said, truth also is that her Trump bashing, coupled with what I perceive as her joy in eagerly jumping in bed with committee Democrats, has actually elevated her national profile. And to me, that means she’ll be running for president!

The daughter of former defense secretary and vice-president Dick Cheney, known to have a strict conservative footprint, will undoubtedly be seen as the main player – win or lose in Wyoming - who could electrify 2024 elections as the one candidate able to bring to the White House the main ingredient missing from Washington’s boiling political cauldron: bi-partisanship.

Adding to that important aspect is her doubling down on the public trashing she gave the LGBTQ movement years ago, and specifically, to sister, Mary Cheney, who is lesbian and married.

Nine years ago Rep. Cheney was blasted for opposing same-sex marriage in her successful attempt at unseating long-time staunch conservative opponent, Sen. John Enzi. Then, last year she told Lesley Stahl of CBS’s 60 Minutes, “I was wrong to oppose same-sex marriage,” further infuriating her conservative base.

Now in her fourth term as Wyoming’s lone representative, with this latest flip-flop of now endorsing LGBTQ, she has added yet another Democratic platform stone to her new foundation, one right behind abortion as a political hot potato.

I wonder if she will change parties since the Democrats obviously and suddenly love her so much or will she try to stay with Republicans in attempts to wrestle the party leadership away from Trump?  Then again, there’s that all-important “Independent” status that is probably at its highest capacity in decades due to the current crazy state of politics.

I expect Democrats will call her visionary while Republicans might use turncoat, apostate, renegade or, perhaps, a modern-day Benedict Arnold.

Call her what you wish, but from all indications, I’m betting she wants to go down in history as being called the first woman president of the United States.

But, what do I know.

Tom Treece is a Monroe native and musician. Contact him at rttreece@aol.com.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Tom Treece: Is Cheney a renegade or vying for the presidency?