In the coming weeks, George W. Bush and Donald Trump are once again set to collide over the future of the Republican Party, as they jockey over the 2022 race for Wyoming’s only House seat. In a statement-making move, Bush will reportedly appear as the “special guest” at a Dallas campaign event next month in support of anti-Trump Republican Rep. Liz Cheney—arguably Trump’s top target since she voted in favor of his second impeachment post-January 6. Cheney, the daughter of Bush’s former vice president, Dick Cheney, was stripped of her House leadership position in May over her criticism of Trump, and last month, Republicans in three Wyoming counties voted to stop recognizing her as a GOP member.
Cheney’s October 18 campaign event, which, according to the Wall Street Journal, will also be attended by former top Bush administration officials Karl Rove, Harriet Miers, and Karen Hughes, is set to take place just over a month after Bush seemingly likened the Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol to al-Qaida terrorists during his commemorative speech on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. “There is little cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home,” he said. “But in their disdain for pluralism, in their disregard for human life, in their determination to defile national symbols, they are children of the same foul spirit. And it is our continuing duty to confront them.” Trump did not take the hits lying down, quickly releasing a statement noting that “the World Trade Center came down during [Bush’s] watch. Bush led a failed and uninspiring presidency. He shouldn’t be lecturing anybody!”
Trump has already endorsed Cheney opponent Harriet Hageman, and pressure is mounting for other GOP candidates in the Wyoming race to drop out and circle the wagons around Hageman. However, Trump’s antipathy toward Cheney hasn’t necessarily worked out as he might have hoped. Since Trump ramped up his campaign against her, Cheney has boosted her fundraising efforts significantly; the congresswoman brought in nearly $3.5 million during the first two quarters of 2021. And Cheney’s condemnation of the Trump supporters who instigated the Capitol riot led to her appointment as the vice chair of the House select panel investigating January 6, a position that may give her a visible platform from which to make her case.
Bush’s support for Cheney in next year’s midterm race has apparently been months in the making. Freddy Ford, Bush’s spokesperson, signaled as much in January, telling Politico, “We aren’t thinking about the next election cycle yet, but I do know that President Bush is planning to call VP Cheney tomorrow for two reasons: to wish him a happy 80th birthday, and to thank him for his daughter’s service.”
If Trump succeeds in unseating Cheney, she’ll join the growing club of lawmakers who have left their seats after criticizing Trump. Most recently, Rep. Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio announced his retirement last week while lamenting the “toxic” political environment festering within his own party. “You can fight your butt off and win this thing, but are you really going to be happy? The answer is, probably not,” he told The New York Times. “This is the direction that we’re going to go in for the next two years and potentially four.… That’s not something I’m going to be part of.”
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