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DICK CHENEY MAKES IT ALL ABOUT TRUMP. There are less than two weeks to go before Wyoming's Republican primary, pitting incumbent Rep. Liz Cheney, of Jan. 6 Committee fame, against challenger Harriet Hageman. There's never much polling in House races, but there was one big one in Wyoming three weeks ago, and it was terrible for Cheney. The survey, by the Casper Star-Tribune, showed Hageman ahead by 22 points, 52% to 30%. Cheney has focused the big statements of her campaign — major ads, summation in debate, that sort of thing — on her Jan. 6 committee work. Specifically, Cheney portrays herself as standing up for the Constitution by making sure former President Donald Trump "can never be anywhere near the Oval Office ever again." Hageman, who has Trump's endorsement, has focused more on Wyoming. Her introductory ad discussed water rights, land rights, irrigation policies, forestry, wildlife, livestock, and more, all in the context of Hageman defending Wyoming rights against an intrusive federal bureaucracy. In a recent interview with Fox News's Maria Bartiromo, Hageman portrayed Cheney as a woman who has abandoned Wyoming. "Liz Cheney doesn't come to Wyoming and hasn't for quite some time," Hageman said. "She will pop in every once in a while, flying a private plane, and go to a private home and have a handful of people that she talks to and a few donors here in Wyoming." Subscribe today to the Washington Examiner magazine that will keep you up to date with what's going on in Washington. SUBSCRIBE NOW: Just $1.00 an issue! Hageman also noted that Cheney is openly appealing to Democrats to switch parties and vote for her in the Republican primary. And the vast majority of the more than $10 million Cheney has raised for her reelection comes from out of state. Wealthy Democrats around the country, including some top Hollywood entertainment executives, have been electrified by Cheney's high-profile attacks on Trump at the Jan. 6 committee's televised hearings. On Monday, Cheney tweeted a photo of actor Kevin Costner wearing a T-shirt that said, "I'm for Liz Cheney." Cheney added the comment, "Real men put country over party." The problem with the tweet was that Costner is not a Wyomingite. He lived in an oceanfront estate near Santa Barbara, California, before moving, in 2017, to a 160-acre ranch in Colorado. He shoots his hit series, Yellowstone, in Montana. "Boy will this backfire," said former George W. Bush White House spokesman Ari Fleischer. "Liz is already going to lose, but while many fans love Costner and enjoy Yellowstone, who in Wyoming thinks he's one of them?" All of that has combined to give voters the impression that for Cheney, the primary race is more about Trump than it is about Wyoming. Hageman can talk all she wants about water rights, but Cheney will focus on the real issue, which is the threat she believes the former president poses to American democracy. Now Cheney's father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, has entered the campaign. A new ad features the elder Cheney in front of a camera talking about one and only one thing: Trump. "In our nation's 246-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump," Dick Cheney says in the ad. "He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He is a coward. A real man wouldn't lie to his supporters. He lost his election, and he lost big. I know it. He knows it. And deep down, I think most Republicans know it." "Lynne and I are so proud of Liz for standing up for the truth, doing what's right, honoring her oath to the Constitution, when so many in our party are too scared to do so," Cheney continued. "Liz is fearless. She never backs down from a fight. There is nothing more important she will ever do than lead the effort to make sure Donald Trump is never again near the Oval Office. And she will succeed." Dick Cheney's ad focused on precisely the aspect of his daughter's work that is least popular with Wyoming Republicans. The Star-Tribune poll asked likely GOP primary voters three questions about Liz Cheney and the Jan. 6 committee. The answers were not good for Cheney. One question was: "Do you approve of Liz Cheney's decision to serve on the January 6 committee?" Sixty-three percent of voters likely to participate in the primary said no, versus just 29% who said yes. Another question was: "Has Liz Cheney's opposition to Trump affected her ability to deal with the important Wyoming issues?" Sixty-one percent said yes, while 34% said no. And finally: "Has Liz Cheney's performance on the January 6 committee made you more or less likely to vote for her?" Fifty-four percent said less likely, while 22% said more likely and 24% said it had no effect at all. Here is the bigger point. There was one word missing from Dick Cheney's ad, one word that was never spoken, not even once. That word was "Wyoming." Yes, for the Cheneys, the race is about keeping Liz Cheney in the House of Representatives, where she can continue the fight against Trump. But for Wyoming voters, the race is about Wyoming. Yes, many support Trump and don't like Cheney attacking him all the time. But they are also Wyomingites with concerns they want a representative to pursue in Washington, D.C. And remember, Wyoming, with a population of 579,495, has only one member of the House of Representatives. That person represents the whole state and all of its people and all of its issues. The Wyoming Republican primary is Aug. 16. There is a growing assumption that Cheney is going to lose. The one big poll of the race supports that, as does the wishful thinking of Trump supporters. But if in fact Cheney does lose, it could well be because, in significant part, one candidate chose to put Wyoming at the center of her campaign and one did not. For a deeper dive into many of the topics covered in the Daily Memo, please listen to my podcast, The Byron York Show — available on the Ricochet Audio Network and everywhere else podcasts can be found. You can use this link to subscribe.
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