Trump slams Cheney as ‘spiteful and sanctimonious’ as he gloats over her primary defeat

Former president lays in to his GOP nemesis minutes after race is called

Donald Trump lost no time in going after Liz Cheney on Tuesday after news networks made the official call that she would lose her 2022 primary and by extension her seat in Congress.

Mr Trump fired off a statement on his Truth Social platform, quipping that he believed that Ms Cheney would be “happier” in the “depths of political oblivion”.

“Congratulations to Harriet Hageman on her great and very decisive WIN in Wyoming. This is a wonderful result for America, and a complete rebuke of the Unselect Committee of political Hacks and Thugs. Liz Cheney should be ashamed of herself, the way she acted, and her spiteful, sanctimonious words and actions towards others. Now she can finally disappear into the depths of political oblivion where, I am sure, she will be much happier than she is right now. Thank you WYOMING!” he wrote.

He is largely right to take credit for her defeat, given that her unpopularity in the state can mainly be attributed to her work on the January 6 committee. Ms Cheney has gone further than almost any other Republican in rebuking former President Donald Trump for his lies about the 2020 election that spurred the Jan 6 attack.

Other GOPers who spurned Mr Trump, though not all, have gone on to lose their own primaries around the country. Ms Cheney was on track to lose hers by as much as 30 percentage points roughly 90 minutes after polls closed.

The Wyoming congresswoman vowed in a fiery concession speech that was clearly laying the groundwork for future political work that she could have won reelection easily, as she did in 2020, had she bought into the baseless and increasingly desperate conspiracies that Donald Trump and his team floated about the 2020 election. Instead, she headed into Tuesday expecting defeat, as did much of the DC political class.

“Two years ago. I won this primary with 73% of the vote. I could easily have done the same again. The path was clear. But it would've required that I go along with President Trump's lie about the 2020 election. It would have required that I go along with his ongoing effort to unravel our democratic system and attack the foundations of our republic,” she said.

Mr Trump was far from the only Republican to gloat about her defeat on Tuesday. His spokesman, Taylor Budowich, cut to the chase with a video of Mr Trump dancing comically at several campaign rallies, while Elise Stefanik (who personally ousted Ms Cheney to lead the House GOP conference) issued a statement before the race was even called blasting her as “Nancy Pelosi’s puppet”.