Bernie Sanders Defends Liz Cheney as Republicans Try to Oust Her, Calls GOP ‘Anti-Democratic Cult’

Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Liz Cheney may hold views that are typically at polar opposites of the political spectrum. But on Thursday the progressive lawmaker from Vermont jumped to the defense of the Wyoming conservative, as she’s expected to be ousted from her leadership position by House Republican leaders.

Cheney, a Republican, has become one of former President Donald Trump’s most prominent critics in the wake of his supporters’ violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6. The congresswoman has repeatedly asserted that Trump should no longer have a leadership role within the Republican Party, drawing the ire of the former president and his many supporters. Now, House GOP leaders look poised to remove her from her position as chair of the House Republican Conference.

“Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) will likely be voted off the House Republican Leadership. Her crime: acknowledging the reality that Trump lost the election,” Sanders, an independent who identifies as a democratic socialist, tweeted Thursday afternoon.

The Vermont senator then took aim at the GOP more broadly. “The Republican Party is no longer a ‘conservative’ party. It is an anti-democratic cult pushing the Big Lie and conspiracy theories,” he wrote. The “Big Lie” refers to Trump’s and his allies’ conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was fraudulent.

Following the January 6 riot at the Capitol, Cheney condemned Trump and announced that she would vote alongside Democrats to impeach the then president. “There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution,” Cheney said in a statement at the time, blaming Trump for inciting his supporters to commit violence in an effort to overturn the results of the presidential race.

In total, 10 Republican House members—including Cheney—voted to impeach Trump. When the former president’s Senate trial concluded in early February, seven GOP senators voted to convict Trump of inciting the violent insurrection. This marked the most bipartisan impeachment trial vote against a president in history, but it still failed to meet the high constitutional threshold for conviction: a two-thirds majority of the Senate.

Since then, Cheney has repeatedly criticized Trump and taken aim at GOP lawmakers who have continued to support the ex-president. Although she survived one House GOP attempt earlier this year to oust her from her leadership role, she is expected to face another challenge in the coming days. This time, she no longer has the support of House GOP leaders, as House Minority Whip Steve Scalise has backed her ouster, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has suggested he does as well.