Nov 29, 2023
Liz Cheney SPILLS About Republicans And 'Orange Jesus' In New Memoir
Former Rep. Liz Cheney gives damning details about the Republican party in her memoir Oath and Honor.
- 14 minutes
There's an extraordinary scene
on January 6th that she recounts,
where Republican members are sort
of being asked to sign these sheets
for electoral vote objections.
And she writes about Congressman
Mark Green of Tennessee
[00:00:18]
as he moved down the line,
signing his name to the pieces of paper.
Green said sheepishly,
to no one in particular,
the things we do for the orange Jesus.
- He called him the orange Jesus.
- Yes.
Not exactly a compliment.
[00:00:36]
CNN has obtained some tidbits
from former Representative Liz Cheney,
a Republican congresswoman
from Wyoming who did not get reelected.
She has an upcoming memoir
titled Oath and Honor,
which is set to be released next week.
[00:00:51]
Now, she spills the beans about what went
down after the events on January 6th.
- Let's take a look.
- This is two days after the election.
Cheney writes that McCarthy told her
that he had just spoken to Trump and that
[00:01:10]
McCarthy says, quote, he knows it's over.
He just needs to go through
all the stages of grief.
Cheney then writes that it's it's
her wry sense of humor
that the stages of grief also apparently
included tweeting in all cap letters.
[00:01:28]
But there's also another sort
of stunning anecdote about Kevin McCarthy.
We all remember the photograph when,
just three weeks after January 6th.
There it is.
Kevin McCarthy goes
running down to Mar a Lago.
[00:01:44]
- He's afraid he can't raise money anymore.
- Just and just to.
I'm sorry to interrupt,
but this is a this is a lifeline.
Everyone thought that the Republican Party
was going to rid itself of Donald Trump.
Everybody had spoken negatively about him.
But then McCarthy does this,
and it basically, you know,
[00:02:00]
he's like Phenix from the ashes.
- Donald Trump is renewed.
- Correct.
And and nobody knows
this trip is happening.
And Cheney writes, actually, when she saw
that photo, she thought it was a fake.
Why? Why would she think that?
[00:02:15]
That that photo is a fake?
- It seems so.
- Natural.
- They look so comfortable.
- Two buddies hanging out.
In each other's presence.
Arms are tough. What do you do with them?
- No. You know what, I don't know.
- I actually agree.
I have a difficult time knowing
what to do with my arms during photos, so.
[00:02:33]
But they look so uncomfortable,
like it's so clear to me.
I mean, I know McCarthy's not a fan
of Trump and feels he's a necessary evil
for his own political aspirations.
But aside from that, aside from that
incredibly embarrassing photo, which, you
[00:02:49]
know, McCarthy ran to Donald Trump after
condemning him on January 6th, right?
He took the floor and gave a short speech
condemning Trump for his role
in inciting January 6th.
And then he realized it wasn't politically
advantageous to do that, and then ran home
[00:03:08]
to daddy to beg for his forgiveness.
It's so embarrassing.
But what are your thoughts
about the latest revelations here, John?
Yeah, that that, by the way, has always
stood out to me as one of the worst parts
of all of that, like having a politician
who refuses to admit that they've lost.
[00:03:23]
That's going to happen.
It happens all over the place having like,
you know, a cabal of weirdos around them,
their inner circle, who are willing to do
whatever that will happen,
even having some elected officials who are
willing to try to, like, throw things into
chaos, or having like a mob who can break,
like all of that is one thing,
[00:03:39]
but then having some Republicans be like,
at long last, we've crossed the line
that should have never been crossed.
And then they look out there to the
country and they're like, oh, no, nobody
has a problem with this is actually okay.
That is the worst part of it,
because that's a massive group of people
[00:03:55]
that is enough people
that they think their careers now need
to be in line with the coup.
Yeah.
So that's the part that's always bothered
me the most, him being willing to like
give the speech condemning him
and then go and kiss the ring or whatever.
- It's so.
- Embarrassing.
- So, so terrible.
- Just completely unmanned.
[00:04:13]
Yeah.
Donald Trump. Yeah.
- And then and his supporters.
- Yeah, sure.
And look, all of this is based on us
believing Cheney, which I guess for
this stuff I'm willing to she has nothing
political left to lose, I suppose
at this point, although she does want
to sell the books, but also Kevin McCarthy
apparently knowing as of two days after
the election that it was done, and he had
[00:04:31]
that information that whole time,
and he just sat on it and and people
like him not doing anything is one of the
things that helped us get to January 6th
and help the violence actually happen.
When Kevin McCarthy
first got elected into Congress, he, along
[00:04:48]
with a few other freshman Republicans,
I think Eric Cantor was one of them.
I don't remember the third.
They referred to themselves
as the young Guns.
Was it Paul Ryan?
It was Paul Ryan, yes. Like, yeah.
You know, like tough guys.
We're the young guns.
[00:05:03]
We're gonna we're gonna switch things up.
It's like you ended up
just being a little bitch.
That's like, that's it.
I mean, look, I know that's not the best
commentary, not the expert commentary
you would expect, but come on.
I mean,
how else can you describe this now?
[00:05:18]
McCarthy defended that Mar a Lago meeting
by saying that he was on a quest
to build unity in the party.
Right? The party was just in shambles.
There was all this division.
He wanted to build party unity
ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.
- Horrible explanation.
- Horrible.
[00:05:34]
Why are you building unity with the side
that tried to overthrow the government
that you said was responsible for it?
He was trying to build unity
at the ballot box behind him.
That's what he was building unity for.
Okay.
Now, according to Cheney,
which, look, I actually think considering
[00:05:50]
how much Cheney hates Donald Trump and
Donald Trump supporters within Congress,
I think it's fine if people are skeptical
about her claims, I really do.
She's a Cheney. Yeah.
And and she's a Cheney.
I mean, I trust her
as far as I can throw her.
And so it is what it is.
But I'll share what she claims.
[00:06:07]
Now, she claims that McCarthy's excuse
for visiting Trump at Mar a Lago
following January 6th is not true.
That's not the case.
When Cheney confronted McCarthy about his
pow wow, she exposed just how much of
[00:06:23]
a sucker McCarthy seems to be for Trump.
Although I don't even know
if that's the right framing.
I just think that Republican lawmakers
see Trump as a necessary evil
for their political survival.
That is my take on it.
But let's take a look
at this next video for more details.
[00:06:39]
Cheney. Mar a Lago.
What the hell? Kevin.
Kevin McCarthy. They're really worried.
Trump's not eating,
so they asked me to come see him.
Cheney. What?
You went to Mar a Lago
because Trump's not eating.
[00:06:55]
McCarthy. Yeah, he's really depressed.
She also reveals that, look,
she was not the only one.
She talks about other Republicans were,
quote, angry and disgusted that McCarthy
had gone running back to Trump.
[00:07:12]
And there's a text that's going around and
she writes that her Republican colleagues,
quote, some mocked him circulating that
Trump McCarthy photo along with get ready.
The clip from the movie Jerry Maguire,
where Tom cruise tells Renee Zellweger,
[00:07:32]
you complete me.
Come on, come on, I don't. Come on.
Do you believe that.
That some random
politicians are doing that?
Sure. It's stupid.
So. Yeah. What?
What is the Jerry Maguire thing
have to do with it?
[00:07:48]
Like, what?
A weird, disconnected reference.
Yeah. They're close.
I guess they're trying
to make it a romantic thing.
They are very homophobic.
Yeah, I buy it, I buy it.
They probably did that.
- Yeah, you do that.
- Some rando Republicans were like, ha ha.
[00:08:04]
Yeah, I buy that.
All of them in turn,
have to at least publicly pretend that
they love Orange Jesus, according to them.
But they all hate it.
They all have like simmering
self hatred for it.
So all of them will love an outlet
to be like the other people
[00:08:20]
are more differential than me.
I don't bow down like them.
And then as soon as Trump looks at them,
they bow down.
I buy it.
It's the part of the story that I care
by far the least about, but I buy it.
Okay, I, I guess I'm skeptical.
Something about it
just doesn't sit right with me.
[00:08:35]
Like, sit well with me. But if it is true.
I just how are we supposed
to expect people who don't have
any self-respect to respect us?
Okay.
Like, you don't even have some dignity.
[00:08:52]
If it is, in fact, true. Have some.
Have some dignity.
Anyway, finally, according to CNN's
Jamie Gangel, the hypocrisy of
the Republican Party is pretty prominent.
It's a big theme in this book, especially
from the die hard Republicans who at one
[00:09:10]
point were, in fact, against Trump.
So one final video for you.
Let's take a look.
Of all the stories in there,
what's the most surprising to you?
I think actually it's
the number of stories like that.
It is the hypocrisy. It's the duplicity.
It's all of these things are being said
in private, and they're mocking Trump
[00:09:31]
and they're saying, well,
we just need to do this one last thing,
or he's not eating or we know he's lost.
- But what.
- I do for the.
Orange Jesus, what I do for the orange.
Jesus, I'm going to contest
the electoral vote because I got to,
[00:09:46]
but I don't believe it.
She has.
Throughout the book, she talks about Mitch
McConnell, how at first he told her that,
you know, he he was in favor of the
impeachment and she watches his evolution
and then pulling back.
[00:10:02]
So I think it's this notion
that they were all in the right place
for about 15 minutes, and then they
all went running back to Trump.
Yeah.
Do you believe the whole thing
about how Trump wasn't eating?
[00:10:19]
Do I believe that Kevin McCarthy
said it to Cheney?
- Or do I believe that that was the reason?
- What like just.
Imagine. Look, Trump's down there.
He's depressed. He's lost.
Please get me Kevin McCarthy.
It's the only thing that will help.
[00:10:35]
Why would that help?
No, I mean, look, he would love
to have someone suck up to him, right?
To kiss his ass. Yes.
Yeah. It's not like they're buddies.
Like they need to play a round of golf
or something, and I don't,
I don't I don't know that I believe it,
I think it was Kevin McCarthy again,
trying to do that double face thing
where he's doing what he has to to get
[00:10:53]
Trump and the Trump people to like him.
But he also doesn't want to admit
to other people, including some
that he might have worked with for years
and years in DC, including Liz Cheney.
That, oh, yeah, you know, I'm just an
empty suit, and I just do whatever
the Trump people say that I have to do.
So he's going to come up with something.
No, I was just, you know,
I was trying to help out.
[00:11:10]
No. Totally.
No, no, no, I'm starting to believe that
more and more because McCarthy.
Basically.
Because if you're the kind of person
who enters Congress
as a freshman congressman and you refer
to yourself as the young gun.
[00:11:26]
Yeah, you want to you want
to brand yourself in a certain way.
And the antithesis,
like, what is counterproductive to that?
Branding is being this,
like pathetic, sniveling fool for Trump,
when in reality you don't like him, in
reality you don't agree with him and you
[00:11:44]
are furious with what he did on January
6th and in the lead up to January 6th.
Yeah.
God.
It's just look, I, I want to believe that
it's not rare for people to be like me.
Meaning, I'm going to tell you
what you don't want to hear
[00:12:01]
and you're going to like it.
- Okay?
- No evidence of that.
No evidence at all. Like I can't do it.
I can't look you in the eye
or look into that camera and say, garbage.
I don't believe I can't do it,
I can't do it.
And look, I've said things in the past
that I've changed my mind on,
[00:12:16]
and I've corrected or at least updated my
takes when I feel like it's necessary.
So change of mind is okay.
I think that everyone goes through that.
But like literally knowing
that you are saying something
or you're supporting someone
or something that you don't believe in,
[00:12:33]
don't support is just so weird to me.
There are a lot of people with like,
I don't know, I'm not a psychologist
or whatever, but low grade sociopathy,
like, not just in politics,
but we've seen it in media.
We've seen people who are just they are
so desperate and hungry
to be famous or influential or powerful or
rich or whatever, that they're just like,
[00:12:52]
just tell me what I need to say.
Like I'm just going to say a bunch
of things and whichever one you clap for,
then that's my personality now.
And I'm just going to say it more.
And they self-radicalize
in pursuit of something.
We've seen that.
I just I think it's really
important in life to find your crew,
[00:13:09]
if you know what I mean.
And what I mean by that is.
The young guns. Your young.
- Guns.
- No, it's you're going to attract.
Certain people
based on the way you behave and act.
Right.
And so if so, Kevin McCarthy
and the other Republicans, if all of this
[00:13:28]
is true and look, there are other cases
that I think corroborate this culture that
you're seeing among Republican lawmakers
who have provided cover for Trump,
even though they disagree with him
and in some cases, despise him.
Again, I can't emphasize enough
the the amazing conversations I had
[00:13:45]
when I debated Ben Shapiro
at the Pennsylvania Chamber of Commerce.
The conversations I had behind the scenes
were far more interesting
than what you guys saw on camera,
because it's mostly Republicans there.
They hate Trump. Okay, like despise him.
[00:14:02]
Couldn't wait to like, you know, get
a moment with me so they can tell me how
much they hate him because they know that,
you know, they have a sympathetic person
who's been critical of Trump,
but publicly, like, the cowardice really
bothers me, especially when it has to do
with elected officials, public servants.
[00:14:20]
Look, these are Republican lawmakers.
I disagree with them on policy.
And so it's not really going to affect me.
They're not my representatives.
However, I think it's unfair
to their constituents
because they're lying to them.
They're misrepresenting who they are,
and they're misrepresenting
[00:14:37]
what their actual genuine feelings are
in regard to Donald Trump.
And they're doing it for, you know,
it's politically expedient in their minds.
They think that this is helping,
but they're really selling out
their own constituents and lying to them.
They're being dishonest.
And I think it's unfair to them.
[00:14:53]
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