Editorial: A fraught topic at Reagan Library

The role of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum in national Republican politics is well established. It’s been the site of GOP presidential primary debates during the 2008, 2012 and 2016 election cycles. It’s hosted lectures by virtually every prominent Republican politician of the 21st century. It was there in Simi Valley that Rudy Giuliani announced he was dropping out of the presidential race in 2008, deciding to endorse John McCain. It was the place where Mitt Romney launched his momentum in 2012. And it was the place where front-running candidate Donald Trump in the fall of 2015 had his first feisty go-round with critics from within his party.

But with all that history, the Reagan Library has never seen anything quite like what happened there this week.

Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, invited there long ago to speak as part of the library’s “A Time for Choosing” lecture series on the future of the Republican Party, arrived at a historic moment. It was just two days after she had been the lead questioner in a stunning hearing of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, siege on the U.S. Capitol — a hearing at which a former White House aide testified that former President Trump hoped to join armed protesters in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

More: In speech at Reagan library, Cheney calls Trump 'dangerous and irrational man'

Cheney pulled no punches in asserting her belief that the future of the party must include a complete renunciation of the former president. “Republicans cannot be both loyal to Donald Trump and loyal to the Constitution,” she said, calling Trump “a domestic threat that we have never faced before.”

Cheney has demonstrated remarkable fortitude in her willingness to serve on the committee, in her unwavering commitment to get at the truth behind the assault on the Capitol, and now in her outspoken criticism of fellow Republicans who continue to defend and cater to the former president.

She asserted that criticism most forcefully at the committee’s first public hearing last month. “There will come a day,” she warned, “when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.”

Also showing courage was the leadership of the Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, which gave Cheney the stage and stood by its commitment to do so.

Cheney was not the first in this speaker series to assert that Republicans must affirm their allegiance to the Constitution — former Vice President Mike Pence made the same point when he spoke at the Reagan Library in June 2021. Pence had drawn the ire of Trump and his most fervent supporters when he refused to use his role as vice president to interfere with the counting of certified electoral votes for president.

“The truth is,” Pence said in his remarks, “there is almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president.”

For Cheney and for Pence there have been consequences for speaking their truths. Cheney has been censured by the Wyoming Republican Party, which no longer recognizes her as a party member, and faces a serious challenge in her primary election contest next month. For the time being, at least, Pence has not gained noticeable traction for a potential run for president in 2024 and last month was shouted out as a “traitor” by a heckler at a conservative political conference.

It is apparent that Reagan Foundation could not have chosen a more timely — and fraught — topic for its lecture series. It is clear that there remains some shaking out that must take place over the future of the Republican Party as it pertains to the party’s relationship with the former president.

For its courage in providing a sounding board for that discussion, it is unlikely the Reagan Library will suffer any negative consequences. Its role in national Republican politics seems destined to outlive this particular time for choosing.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Editorial: A fraught topic at Reagan Library