Joe Biden says Republicans are in ‘mini revolution’ amid effort to oust anti-Donald Trump leader
President Joe Biden said the Republican Party is in a ‘mini revolution’ after an effort within the GOP to oust their No. 3 leader Liz Cheney, who has kept criticizing former President Donald Trump.
The Democratic president commented on the matter on Wednesday afternoon, hours after the No. 2 Republican, Representative Steve Scalise, publicly endorsed Representative Elise Stefanik to replace Cheney. Cheney, who serves as the House Republican Conference chair, has angered her colleagues by calling out Trump’s presidential election fraud lies.
Cheney, one of the few Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, survived a push by the ex-president’s allies to oust her in February, on a 145-61 vote. But she her continued statements on Trump have led some conservatives to change their minds and her fate again remains in balance.
‘It seems as though the Republican Party is trying to identify with a stance and they’re in the midst of a significant mini revolution going on in the Republican Party,’ Biden said in the State Dining Room of the White House.
‘I’ve been a Democrat for a long time. We’ve gone through episodes, we’ve had internal fights and disagreements. I don’t remember any like this.’
Biden continued that ‘we badly need a Republican Party’ to maintain a two-party system that keeps the US democracy healthy.
‘I think Republicans are further away from trying to figure out who they are and what they stand for than I thought they would be at this point,’ Biden concluded.
The GOP grew more scattered after Trump lost the election and encouraged his supporters to ‘fight like hell’, prompting them to storm the US Capitol on January 6.
Cheney has doubled down on her criticism of Trump and urging that the party move away from him. Speaking at a private meeting with Republicans in Georgia on Monday, Cheney said: ‘We can’t whitewash what happened on January 6 or perpetuate Trump’s big lie. It is a threat to democracy. What he did on January 6 is a line that cannot be crossed.’
In a statement on Wednesday, Trump also endorsed Stefanik.
‘We want leaders who believe in the Make America Great Again movement, and prioritize the values of America First,’ Trump stated. ‘Elise Stefanik is a far superior choice, and she has my COMPLETE and TOTAL Endorsement for GOP Conference Chair. Elise is a tough and smart communicator!”
The House of Representatives is in recess and any vote to remove Cheney from the leadership or elect Stefanik would occur at the soonest next week.
Speaking briefly to reporters earlier on Wednesday about Cheney’s situation, Biden said: ‘I don’t understand the Republicans.’
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