Liz Cheney issues dire warning about ‘fundamentally cruel’ Trump, agrees he’s a ‘fascist’
Former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney on Sunday issued a series of dire warnings about a potential future Trump administration, telling NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that people ought to “carefully” consider what another Trump presidency would look like.
“Donald Trump believes he will be immune for anything he does once he’s in office,” Cheney, a fierce Trump critic, told moderator Kristen Welker.
The former congresswoman, who has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris and has campaigned with her, declined to disagree with remarks from retired Gen. Mark Milley, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Trump and President Joe Biden, calling Trump “a fascist to the core” in a forthcoming book by Bob Woodward.
“I have tremendous respect for for General Milley, and I see no reason to disagree with that assessment,” Cheney said.
NBC News has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.
Cheney said Trump’s actions on Jan. 6, 2021, when his supporters rioted at the U.S. Capitol for hours while the then-president watched without condemning them, were “fundamentally cruel,” drawing a comparison to Trump’s repeated false statements that the federal government under Biden is preventing aid from going to hurricane stricken areas.
“Think about the fact our fellow citizens are in dire straits, they’re in dire needs, people’s lives are at risk, and he’s lying to them for his own political gain about where they can get relief,” Cheney said. “That kind of cruelty makes somebody unfit.”
The former congresswoman also warned that another Trump administration would bring an “erratic and a chaotic” foreign policy agenda because she said “Donald Trump is embracing tyrants. Donald Trump loves tyrants. He idolizes them.”
“JD Vance and Donald Trump both support a very isolationist foreign policy and an erratic and a chaotic foreign policy,” Cheney added, referring to the former president’s running mate. Cheney cited an internationalist foreign policy, including strong support for Ukraine in its defensive war against Russia, as an area where she agrees with Harris.
Cheney was also asked to address her previous comments blasting Harris and Biden. In 2020, she told Fox News that Harris was a “radical liberal” and that “her policies are simply, completely inconsistent with what most Americans believe in and stand for.”
On Sunday, the former congresswoman said that her comments “reflect absolutely that we had a policy disagreement on a series of issues,” but added, “that’s why it’s so important for people to focus on the fact that I am supporting her now, and that there’s such a broad coalition that’s coming together to support her.”
“It’s based in part on who she is, on the fact that she will lead with a sincere heart, on the fact that she is somebody who’s dedicated her life to public service, and looking at what Donald Trump poses the kind of of chaotic, absolute depravity that he would bring if he were ever to be elected again,” Cheney added.
