Francis Wilkinson: Can Liz Cheney break through to Republican voters?

Democracy’s prodigal daughters appeared together last Wednesday night on a stage in politically potent Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. In a charming old neighborhood theater in the small town of Glenside, former Representative Liz Cheney was joined by former Trump White House staffers Alyssa Farah Griffin, Cassidy Hutchinson and Sarah Matthews in what was billed as a “fireside chat” (sans fireplace).

The foursome appeared to be looking for converts to democracy’s cause, but the evening, sponsored by democracyFIRST, a pro-democracy group, seemed unripe for conversions. The crowd was mostly old, mostly White, mostly Democrats. The few people who I thought might be Republicans told me, no, not them. “These four women are phenomenal,” said Dave Goodridge, a 54-year-old White man who was one of my mistakes. “I love what they’re doing standing up for democracy.” Even the women I saw taking “Republicans For Harris-Walz” yard signs turned out to be Democrats.

I targeted an older White guy who looked promising, but he slipped into the crowd. The woman who accompanied him told me he was, in fact, a Republican. Bingo. “He’s very ashamed to be a Republican,” she said with a sly smile. “We live in the same house.”

Otis Redding’s version of “Try a Little Tenderness” played as I took my seat. It was an interesting prelude to the public testimony of four women lauded for grit and guts. A song that could make you weepy circa 1966 could bring you to tears for very different reasons circa 2024.

Cheney came on stage first, to a sustained, standing ovation. It was an emotional moment, a liberal outpouring of gratitude to one of the nation’s most steadfast conservative daughters. Cheney was the third-ranking Republican in the House when she traded every perk and power she had for the truth. Other conservatives have lost much; in the gangster precincts of MAGA, displays of integrity are treated as betrayal. But no one sacrificed more than Cheney. Had she been willing to embrace the full panoply of MAGA lies, Cheney might well be speaker of the House now. It’s hard to imagine how much she is reviled by the weak Republican colleagues she left behind, little men who appear even smaller in her shadow.

When Cheney was joined by the three younger women, each in turn discussed her breaking point. For Farah Griffin, it was Trump’s corrosive lies about his lost election. She left in December 2020. For Cheney and Matthews, it was Trump’s unprecedented assault on democracy on Jan. 6. Hutchinson recounted wrestling with her conscience for far longer, finally breaking the spell of corruption in 2022.

“It was women like Sarah and Alyssa and Liz, who had made the courageous decision, much sooner than I did, that helped me find my way back to the right side of history,” Hutchinson said.

Before breaking with the demagogue, each woman tolerated the intolerable: Trump’s servility to one of democracy’s enemies, Vladimir Putin; his transformation of the Oval Office into a casbah; the deaths caused by his treachery and lies during the pandemic. (At least he took faithful care of Putin.)

But the four women eventually came around. Given the violent threats that Trump inspires, they surely continue to pay a price. Cheney lately has settled on a language that captures the breadth of Trump’s contagion. After recounting Trump’s plot to overthrow the republic, and the dull menace of inaction on Jan. 6 as he watched the violence unfold on Fox News, she summed up his character: “That’s depravity,” Cheney said. Later, she summoned the language of moral distress again, repeating that Trump is “depraved.”

It’s an important word, and it’s important that a lifelong, hardboiled conservative deploys it. It conjures the moral collapse of her party, without which the elevation of such a thug would be impossible.

Whether Cheney and the other prodigals can break through to uneasy Republican voters is another matter. The choice of Montgomery County for the event was surely no accident. Montgomery, outside Philadelphia, is among the affluent, educated suburban counties that have been trending Democratic. To prevail in November, and make up for likely erosion among voters without college degrees, Kamala Harris will probably have to exceed Joe Biden’s performance in such places. She will likely need more than 5% of Republican votes overall — and more still in Montgomery.

The prodigal testimony offers a compelling invitation to cross over from the dark side. “When I made the leap to testify live in front of the January 6 committee, I expected the vitriol from Trump World. I expected them to come after me. I had once been part of that machine,” Hutchinson said. “But what I wasn’t sure was going to happen was where I was going to land.”

Hutchinson said she found compassion, forgiveness and “a second chance at life” on democracy’s shore. “I knew I was leaving essentially everything I knew behind,” she said. “But I had no idea how bright life in the light could be.”

The authoritarian assault on the U.S. began well before Jan. 6, 2021, and has only grown more intense since. Conservative America is shrouded in self-deception, malice and darkness. Each prodigal daughter found her own way home to democratic society. If they can light the way for others to follow, democracy might have a future yet.

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This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Francis Wilkinson is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering US politics and policy. Previously, he was executive editor for the Week and a writer for Rolling Stone.

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