Former President Trump blasted Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney (R) for “loving endless, nonsensical, bloody wars” at his rally in Casper, Wyo., on Saturday evening.
“The Cheneys are diehard globalists and warmongers who have been plunging us into new conflicts for decades, spilling American blood and spending American treasure all over the world,” Trump said.
“That’s why Liz Cheney voted no on bringing our troops back home from Syria, where they didn’t even want to have us,” he added, referencing Cheney’s break with Trump over his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria in 2019 ahead of a planned Turkish incursion, which she called “a catastrophic mistake” at the time.
“Cheney is at the front of the parade trying to get us to go into wars with Russia or anyone else that wants to bite,” Trump said.
Cheney has backed U.S. efforts to support Ukraine amid the Russian invasion, co-writing an op-ed for The Washington Post with Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) earlier this month in which the lawmakers urged the U.S. to continuee providing military aid to the country. In contrast, Trump criticized lawmakers in recent weeks for voting to provide $40 billion in military aid for Ukraine while “America’s parents are struggling to even feed their children” amid an ongoing national baby formula shortage.
Trump’s remarks at the rally followed a speech from Cheney’s primary challenger Harriet Hageman, whom Trump has endorsed and stumped for at the event.
Both Trump and Hageman called Cheney a “RINO,” which stands for “Republican In Name Only.”
Cheney has been a frequent critic of Trump. She pushed back on his baseless claims that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him, and following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol was one of 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach him. She now serves as one of two Republicans on the lower chamber’s select committee investigating the attack, which Trump also criticized her for during his rally on Saturday.
This comes after Cheney officially launched her bid for reelection on Thursday, saying that the race is “a fight we must win.”
“Some things have to matter,” she said in her announcement video. “American freedom, the rule of law, our founding principles, the foundations of our republic matter. What we do in this election in Wyoming matters.”
However, Trump insisted at the rally that “Liz Cheney is about ‘America last,’” bashing her over foreign policy, border security and election integrity.
“She’s the face of the Washington swamp and the same failed foreign policy of the Clintons, Bushes, the Obamas, the Bidens and the entire sick political establishment,” Trump said of Cheney.
The Republican primary in Wyoming will occur on August 16, 2022.