Liz Cheney calls DeSantis a ‘dangerous’ 2024 candidate as GOP Senator avoids saying he’ll
GOP Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming said Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ similarity to Donald Trump would make him a ‘dangerous’ presidential candidate in 2024.
In an interview with the New York Times, the conservative Trump critic said she could support a Republican nominee – but not one that peddled the ex-president’s election fraud claims.
Nor could she back DeSantis, Cheney suggested, despite the GOP governor’s skyrocketing popularity over his opposition to the Biden administration on COVID-19 mandates and legislation that Democrats have described as anti-LGBTQ.
‘I think that Ron DeSantis has lined himself up almost entirely with Donald Trump, and I think that’s very dangerous,’ she said.
Cheney added that she ‘would find it very difficult’ to support DeSantis.
Both DeSantis and Trump – as well as Cheney herself – have suggested they are considering running for higher office in 2024.
But the former president has been the most forthright of the trio, hinting at nearly every public appearance that he’s given serious thought to a third campaign.
He’s even teased that he may announce a decision before November’s midterm elections – a move that appears to be making GOP lawmakers nervous.
And according to South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds, it would play right into Democrats’ hands just as voters head to the polls to decide which party will control Congress for the latter half of President Joe Biden’s term.
‘Democrats, right now, would love to see President Trump announce before 2022,’ Rounds said on ABC News’ This Week on Sunday.
Republican Rep. Liz Cheney said she would find it ‘difficult’ to support a potential presidential campaign by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis during an interview with the New York Times
‘I think the reason why is because they’d like to have that draw attention away from the 2022 election and the candidates that they’ve got.’
He contended that Biden’s low approval – which is just 37 percent, according to a new ABC/Ipsos poll – has the president’s party anxious to shift the narrative.
‘And the other thing here is, is that right now with President Biden as far underwater as what he is, their principles, their issues, the fact that inflation is at over 9 percent, GDP is down, I think this is a good time for them to try to be looking at other things to talk about,’ Rounds said.
Trump addressed the Conservative Political Action Conference in Texas on Saturday night, touting his claimed victories and telling the crowd: ‘We may have to do it again.’
Like in previous years, the ex-president also dominated a straw poll of attendees asked about their thoughts on 2024.
Without Trump in the mix, DeSantis took 65 percent of support – finishing dozens of points ahead of runner-up Senator Ted Cruz, who had 6 percent.
Meanwhile South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds, also a Republican, did not say Sunday whether he’d support Donald Trump in 2024
Rounds on Sunday would not commit to supporting Trump in 2024, but did not speak out against the ex-president either.
‘In this particular case, I’m going to focus on the 2022 election. We’ve got to win that back,’ the South Dakota Republican said.
He anticipated a ‘wide open field’ of candidates coming to the forefront.
‘I’ll keep my powder dry for the 2024 run. Let’s see who else is coming up,’ Rounds said.
Cheney herself has also signaled in rhetoric that she’s looking to appeal to a wider field of supporters.
She’s likely going to lose her seat as Wyoming’s lone legislator in the House of Representatives next week, but has not ruled out a bid for president in 2024.
The conservative lawmaker is up against a Trump-backed primary challenger after her vote to impeach the ex-president over the US Capitol attack drew his ire.
Both Trump and DeSantis came out on top of a straw poll conducted at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Texas on Saturday
Multiple polls suggest that Cheney’s opponent Harriet Hageman will sail to an easy victory. The Wyoming GOP is backing Hageman after expelling Cheney, as are House Republican leaders.
But her anti-Trump rhetoric and leadership as vice chair of the January 6 committee has already earned Cheney support across the aisle.
And she’s leaned into it in an attempt to relate to voters across the country, her New York Times interview suggests.
Cheney told the outlet that Wyoming moms are looking for ‘somebody who’s competent’ to lead.
She also more closely aligned herself with moderate Democrats with a history of service in US national security than fringe members of her own party.
‘I would much rather serve with Mikie Sherrill and Chrissy Houlahan and Elissa Slotkin than Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, even though on substance certainly I have big disagreements with the Democratic women I just mentioned,’ Cheney said.
‘But they love this country, they do their homework and they are people that are trying to do the right thing for the country.’