Dick Cheney’s real reasons for supporting Harris over Trump

FFormer Vice President and influential Republican Dick Cheney announced his support for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris in a statement. Cheney spoke out against the Republican candidate, former President Donald Trump, saying he could “never be trusted with power again.”

“In our country’s 248-year history, there has never been a person who posed a greater threat to our Republic than Donald Trump,” Cheney, 83, said in the statement released on Sept. 6. “He attempted to steal the last election with lies and violence to cling to power after voters rejected him,” he continued, referring to the events of Jan. 6, 2021.

Cheney, who served as vice president under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2009, went on to say that it is the “duty” of American citizens to put the nation before partisan politics.

The statement came Friday, hours after one of Cheney’s daughters, former Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, said on a panel at the Texas Tribune’s annual festival that her father would vote for Harris.

“When you think about the situation we are in and how serious that situation is, my father believes – and he has said this publicly – that there has never been a person in our country who poses as great a threat to our democracy as Donald Trump,” she said at the panel moderated by journalist Mark Leibovich.

With Cheney’s support, the most prominent Republican politician has announced his choice for Harris over Republican candidate Trump, putting a spotlight on other former establishment Republicans who have not yet endorsed Trump in the presidential race – many of whom have been critical of Trump in the past. These include his own former Vice President Mike Pence, former President George W. Bush and former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

The Harris campaign responded in a statement on Friday, supporting the endorsement.

“The Vice President is proud to support Vice President Cheney and has deep respect for his courage to put country above party,” campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon said, according to Washington post.

Trump responded to Cheney’s statement with a post shared on his own social media platform, Truth Social, calling the former vice president an “irrelevant RINO” — the acronym stands for “Republican in Name Only” and is a term used by some to describe Republicans who are considered disloyal to the party.

“He is the king of endless, senseless wars, wasting lives and trillions of dollars, just like Comrade Kamala Harris. I am the President of Peace, and only I will prevent World War III!” Trump wrote.

Earlier this week, Liz Cheney publicly endorsed Harris, announcing her support for the Democratic candidate. “As a conservative and someone who believes in and cares deeply about the Constitution, I’ve thought about this for a long time. And because of the danger that Donald Trump poses, not only will I not vote for Donald Trump, I’ll vote for Kamala Harris,” she said on September 4 at an event hosted by the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University in North Carolina.

The former congresswoman from Wyoming was ostracized by Trump-backed Republicans after she was one of ten Republicans in the House to vote for Trump’s impeachment, accusing him of inciting the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.