OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
One of the most outspoken GOP critics of Donald Trump, former Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, is once more hinting at a potential 2024 presidential bid.
“I’m not going to do anything that helps Donald Trump. I’ll make a decision about sort of what I do and what comes next later on this year,” Cheney told NBC News anchor Lester Holt, adding that she has no intention of doing anything that could help Trump return to the White House.
“The way that I’m thinking about where we are and what has to be done is much less about, you know, what should I do in terms of am I going to be a candidate or not … and much more about stopping Donald Trump, whatever that takes,” she said.
Cheney declared that she would make a decision about her plans for 2024 “in the coming months” after she lost the primary in August.
When asked if she would think about running as an Independent for president if she knew it would hurt rather than help Trump, Cheney dodged the question.
“What we’ve done in our politics is create a situation where we’re electing idiots. And so I don’t look at it through the lens of like, you know, is this what I should do or what I shouldn’t do. I look at it through the lens of how do we elect serious people, and I think electing serious people can’t be partisan,” she said.
Cheney continued by saying that she was dedicated to assisting in the election of other “good” candidates down the ballot rather than any who are “aligned” with Trump.
“We really we need to make sure that everybody is active and engaged and involved, and I’m certainly going to be doing everything I can to support serious candidates,” Cheney said.
WATCH:
Last month, Cheney lashed out at the U.S. political system again, which was picked up and lauded by hosts at CNN.
Morning show Anchor Phil Mattingly, who was speaking with Margaret Hoover and John Avlon, introduced a clip of Cheney speaking Monday evening at an event at New York City’s Center for Culture and Arts.
“I want you to take a listen to something she said,” Mattingly noted, adding sarcastically that Cheney is “always so subtle.”
“What we’ve done in our politics is create a situation where we’re electing idiots,” Cheney said to loud laughter.
“And so I don’t look at it through the lens of like, you know, is this what I should do or what I shouldn’t do? I look at it through the lens of how do we elect serious people? And I think electing serious people can’t be partisan,” the former No. 3 House Republican — who was extremely partisan during her time in the chamber — added.
“Amen,” Avlon replied.
“Yeah, she’s right. And probably what she would have gotten to in the next breath is why are we electing idiots?” Hoover noted further, adding:
And part of the problem is we have this closed partisan primary process, particularly on the Republican side. It’s on the left too. And I know my husband gets so happy when I say that because he’s been saying it for 15 years. But if you look at the Republicans who survived in the last election, who voted to convict Donald Trump, who did not vote for Bret Kavanaugh, Lisa Murkowski, for example, or the two House Republicans who survived, they voted to convict or they voted to impeach.
All of them came from states that have passed some kind of voting reform, some kind of electoral reform that allows for the primary process to play to a broader group of Americans, not a closed ideological extreme base of a party.
Last month, Cheney drew the ire of conservatives when she claimed, again, that Donald Trump is not qualified to become president again.
Cheney took to Twitter to complain after the former president said during a town hall he was “inclined” to “pardon” many of the Americans convicted of various criminal activities during the January 6 Capitol riot in 2021.
