The beauty of bipartisanship
Zander's Weekend Facts #139: Sunday, October 6, 2024
It was a scene that few thought would ever come into existence, but one that speaks volumes with one month to go until Election Day.
On Thursday, the Democratic nominee for president, Vice President Kamala Harris, held a rally that was significant for two reasons. One, Harris appeared with former Congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-WY). And two, the rally took place in Ripon, Wisconsin, most commonly known for serving as host of the meeting that birthed the Republican Party in 1854.
In the aftermath of the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Cheney became one of former President Donald Trump’s harshest Republican critics in Congress. In announcing that she would vote to impeach Trump for his actions inciting the insurrection, she wrote, “There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.” Cheney then became one of just two Republicans who accepted then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s invitation to serve on the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, serving as its vice-chair.
As a Republican, speaking out so defiantly on the leader of her party had consequences. Her fellow Republican members of the House of Representatives ousted her as House Republican Conference chair, the Wyoming Republican Party voted to remove her from the party in the aftermath of her impeachment vote, and her presence on the House January 6 Committee led the Republican National Committee to censure her and fellow Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger, the only other Republican to serve on the committee. Cheney ultimately lost the Republican primary for her seat in Wyoming in the 2022 election cycle.
In the time since Cheney left Congress, she continuously criticized Trump and her party, saying in March that “We now have one of our two major political parties that has abandoned the Constitution.” She has referred to the former president as a “liar”, a “con man”, and has said that “We can't survive a president who is willing to torch the Constitution.”
Cheney, once seen as the quintessential Republican, had acknowledged that her party had all but abandoned her. The question that remained, however, was would she take the ultimate leap… and vote for a Democrat for the first time in her life?
The country got our answer on September 6, when Cheney made the remark during an event at Duke University that she planned to vote for Kamala Harris.
“I think it is crucially important for people to recognize, not only is what I just said about the danger that Trump poses something that should prevent people from voting for him, but I don’t believe that we have the luxury of writing in candidates’ names, particularly in swing states.”
“And as a conservative, as someone who believes in and cares about the Constitution, I have thought deeply about this, and because of the danger that Donald Trump poses, not only am I not voting for Donald Trump, but I will be voting for Kamala Harris.”
Cheney was joined the next day by her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, in announcing his intention to vote for Harris in November. “As citizens, we each have a duty to put country above partisanship to defend our Constitution. That is why I will be casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.”
A Cheney endorsing a Democrat is, to some, earth-shattering. It was the Democratic Party that in the first decade of this century, rightfully so, led the charge in vilifying the then-vice president as the orchestrator of many of the Bush 43 administration’s policies that plunged America into unnecessary Middle Eastern wars and, eventually, an economic crisis. The Cheney’s have certainly not been magnanimous to the Democrats, either.
Yet, entirely under her own free will, Liz Cheney rallied with Kamala Harris, the Democrat’s chosen nominee in this year’s presidential election, urging voters to “stand in truth, to reject the depraved cruelty of Donald Trump,” and instead to “help us elect Kamala Harris for president.”
Just to be clear, Cheney’s endorsement of a Democrat is not the same as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard embracing Donald Trump. The Democrats did not “leave behind” RFK when they rejected his absurd conspiracy views on vaccines. And Gabbard’s sudden shift towards supporting Russia in its war with Ukraine (clips of which have been played on Russian state television), the Trump impeachments (surprise, she suddenly believes Trump can do no wrong), and comparing President Joe Biden to Adolf Hitler, shows that the only consistent belief she holds is finding the biggest grift.
Liz Cheney’s ultra-conservative views, which aligned her votes with Trump’s 93% of the time while in the House, have not budged. Cheney is still the same person who voted against the American Rescue Plan, the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act, and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. In 2021, her lifetime vote score according to the conservative Heritage Action group was 80%. In fact, the Heritage Action’s score for Cheney actually went up for each term she served in the House, from a 61% conservative rating to 96% during her final term in Congress. She somehow got even more conservative as Donald Trump and his ilk referred to her as a “RINO.”
Going solely based on policy, Cheney would clearly vote for Trump. Harris remarked as much when she spoke at the rally, saying that “we may not see eye to eye on every issue. And we are going to get back to a healthy two-party system, I am sure of that, where we will have vigorous debates.”
Cheney was once seen as a “rising star” and the future of the Republican Party. Yet, one disagreement with the party’s current star has made her an outcast. (And on that disagreement, the facts and evidence fully support Cheney.)
Yet, the deal-breaker of democracy has put Cheney in the Harris camp. And Cheney is certainly not the only one. Former Republican members of Congress including Kinzinger and Jeff Flake have endorsed Harris, alongside former Georgia Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan, over 100 Republican national security officials, and more than 230 Republicans who worked for President George W. Bush, Senator Mitt Romney, and the late Senator John McCain.
By campaigning with Cheney, Harris is clearly making a play at voters who can’t stomach her opponent, yet have major policy disagreements with the vice president. With Americans saying in vast majorities that they appreciate bipartisanship, voting for the ticket promoting that exact ideal is the chance to actually walk the walk, not just talk the talk. And in an election that could very well be decided in the margins, it could ultimately be Liz Cheney who put Kamala Harris across the finish line and in the White House.
For more information on this week’s top story, here’s an article from The New York Times - A Steely Liz Cheney, at Harris’s Side, Calls It ‘Our Duty’ to Reject Trump
What Zander’s been reading
As it turns out, the machines might not be taking all of our jobs. It’s now been a few years since McDonald’s and other fast food chains introduced touchscreen kiosks for customers to place their orders, and the results may seem surprising.
Check out this week’s featured article in CNN - McDonald’s touchscreen kiosks were feared as job killers. Instead, something surprising happened
Rapid-fire Facts
Here’s a recap of the top news headlines from the past week:
Election Interference Case: A court filing by special counsel Jack Smith on Wednesday introduced new evidence in the federal government’s election interference case against former President Donald Trump. Prosecutors allege that Trump and his allies “lied to the public, state election officials, and his own vice president in an effort to cling to power after losing the election.” The filing also brought new information to the public, including a claim that Trump privately referred to claims of voter fraud that he publicly pushed as “crazy.”
Hurricanes: Recovery efforts continue to focus on western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee after Hurricane Helene. Many roads in the region have washed out, with parts of Interstates 26 and 40 expected to be closed for months. Across the country, over 225 people have died from Helene’s effects, the deadliest hurricane to hit the U.S. since Katrina in 2005. The U.S. is now bracing for another storm to strike, with Tropical Storm Milton forming in the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday. Milton is expected to strengthen into a hurricane, potentially a major hurricane, and make landfall on Florida’s west coast on Wednesday.
Jobs Report: The September U.S. jobs report blew past expectations, with the economy adding 254,000 jobs. The report, which was released on Friday, was only expected to add around 150,000 jobs. Last month’s numbers are an increase from August when the economy added 159,000 jobs, and the highest job increase in one month since March. The unemployment rate decreased for the second straight month, falling to 4.1%, while average hourly earnings rose 0.4% from August to September and 4.0% year-over-year.
Middle East: The conflict between Israel and Iran grew last week as Iran fired at least 180 ballistic missiles into Israel on Tuesday. The escalation by Iran came after Israeli attacks against Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group, in Lebanon that have killed many significant leaders of the group. Also on Tuesday, Israeli ground forces crossed into southern Lebanon, opening up a new offensive in addition to the conflict in Gaza with Hamas, another Iran-backed militant group. In recent days, Israel and Hezbollah have traded air strikes, with Israel cutting off a main highway linking Lebanon and Syria on Friday.
Dockworkers Strike: The union representing dockworkers at ports across the East and Gulf coasts reached a deal to end a strike last week. Thousands of workers belonging to the International Longshoremen's Association had begun striking on Tuesday after failing to reach a deal with the United States Maritime Alliance, ultimately shutting down 14 ports. The two sides came to a temporary agreement on Thursday which will suspend the strike until January 15. The temporary deal includes a 61.5% wage bump for the union members over the next six years.
Zander’s Facts Sporting Club
Here are the latest headlines from the sports world in the Sporting Club:
NFL Week 5: The season’s first game in London opens today’s NFL slate, with the Jets taking on the Vikings at 9:30 am ET. This afternoon, the 1:00 pm ET window is headlined by Ravens-Bengals, Browns-Commanders, and Bills-Texans. At 4:00 pm ET, the 49ers host the Cardinals, the Raiders face the Broncos, the Seahawks host the Giants, and the Packers take on the Rams. Sunday Night Football features the Cowboys in Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers at 8:20 pm ET. Week five concludes on Monday night with the undefeated Chiefs hosting the Saints. The week opened with a Thursday night thriller, as the Falcons beat the Buccaneers 36-30 in overtime.
College Football Week 6: Vanderbilt got the upset of the season, at least so far, on Saturday with their 40-35 win over #1 Alabama. One week after Alabama took down #5 Georgia, the Bulldogs had no trouble with Auburn, winning 31-13. Elsewhere in college football, #25 Texas A&M took care of #9 Missouri 41-10, #7 Penn State shrugged off UCLA 27-11, and SMU won their first-ever ACC road game against #23 Louisville 34-27. Plus, Washington knocked off #10 Michigan at home 27-17, #12 Ole Miss beat up South Carolina 27-3, and Arkansas pulled off an upset of #4 Tennessee 19-14.
MLB Postseason: The Division Series of the MLB Postseason began on Saturday with four Game 1s. In the American League, the Cleveland Guardians shut out the Detroit Tigers 7-0 and the New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals 6-5 to take 1-0 series leads. In the National League, the New York Mets took down the Philadelphia Phillies 6-2, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres 7-5. The ALDS continues on Monday with all games airing on TBS, while the NLDS continues later today will all games airing on FS1 or Fox.
UEFA Champions League: The second matchday of the UEFA Champions League league phase took place last week, including a massive upset of the defending champions. Real Madrid fell on the road to Lille 1-0, while Aston Villa got a massive home 1-0 win against Bayern Munich. Other notable results included Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain, Bayer Leverkusen’s 1-0 win over AC Milan, and Juventus’ 3-2 road win over RB Leipzig. The Champions League returns with Matchday 3 of the league phase on October 22 and 23.
WNBA Playoffs: The WNBA Playoffs continue later today with two crucial Game 4s in the Semifinal round. At 3:00 pm ET on ABC, the Las Vegas Aces host the New York Liberty, with the Liberty leading the series 2-1. At 5:00 pm ET on ESPN, the Minnesota Lynx, who lead the series 2-1, take on the Connecticut Sun. Wins by the Libery or Lynx would advance those teams to the WNBA Finals, while wins by the Aces or Sun would send the series to a Game 5 on Tuesday. The WNBA Finals will begin on Thursday, with Game 1 tipping off at 8:00 pm ET on ESPN.
Wrapping up the Facts
That’s a wrap on this week’s edition of Zander’s Weekend Facts. The Facts in print return next Sunday, October 13, 2024.