Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) organized a Trump rally in Wyoming on Thursday in an attempt to undermine Rep. Liz Cheney’s (R-Wyoming) position as the conference chair, the number three Republican in the House.
“I have a competing vision for Republicanism,” Gaetz told reporters this week. “I believe that we ought to embrace the spirit and style of President Trump.”
Cheney was one of the ten House Republicans who voted in favor of former President Donald Trump’s impeachment. In her impassioned speech on the House Floor, Cheney said, “There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.”
The Republican party, and Republican voters, have been split on whether to line up behind the former president as the face of the Republican party.
Gaetz has been leading a push to remove Cheney as the GOP conference chair. The Wyoming Republican party even released a statement publicly disagreeing with Cheney.
“There has not been a time during our tenure when we have seen this type of an outcry from our fellow Republicans, with the anger and frustration being palpable in the comments we have received. Our telephone has not stopped ringing, our email is filling up, and our website has seen more traffic than at any previous time,” the statement said. “The consensus is clear that those who are reaching out to the Party vehemently disagree with Representative Cheney’s decision and actions.”
Furthering the GOP split, former Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead (R) wrote an op-ed in support of Cheney commending her “courage” to perform her constitutional duty “irrespective of the personal or political cost she might pay.”
Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyoming) has also voiced support for Cheney who calls her “an effective member of the state congressional delegation.”
