Defeated Trump critic likens herself to Abraham Lincoln

After being voted out of Congress by 37 percentage points in Wyoming’s Republican primary, US Representative Liz Cheney reacted to the lopsided defeat by comparing herself to the most revered president in American history, Abraham Lincoln, and hinted that she’ll try to follow his path to the White House.

“The great and original champion of our party, Abraham Lincoln, was defeated in elections for the Senate and the House before he won the most important election of all,” Cheney told supporters in Jackson, Wyoming, after losing Tuesday’s contest. “Lincoln ultimately prevailed, he saved our union, and he defined our obligation as Americans for all of history.”

Cheney, who voted to impeach Donald Trump in January 2021 and accused him of inciting the US Capitol riot, garnered only 28.9% of the Republican ballots cast on Wednesday. Her Trump-endorsed opponent, Harriet Hageman, a lawyer who has never held political office, took 66.3%.

Nevertheless, Cheney may seek a major promotion. She said in an NBC News interview on Wednesday that she’s thinking about running for president in 2024. She has promised to do “whatever it takes to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office.”

Cheney noted that, in his legendary Gettysburg Address, Lincoln vowed that “government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from this Earth.” Apparently shrugging off how the people voted on Tuesday, she said, “As we meet here tonight, that remains our greatest and most important task.”

Conservatives ridiculed Cheney for invoking the name of Lincoln, who has consistently ranked as the most popular US president in polling by C-SPAN and others. “A clear message is being sent about what the Republican Party needs to be,” said US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia). “It’s not anything like Liz Cheney, who is nothing like Abraham Lincoln.”

Only two of the 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump have a chance of being re-elected. Cheney is one of four incumbents who lost their primary races, and four others chose to retire rather than seek re-election.