Republicans Ignore ‘Out Of Touch’ Dick Cheney Over Kamala Harris Endorsement

Republican senators on Monday dismissed former Vice President Dick Cheney’s extraordinary endorsement of Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, calling his stark warning about former president Donald Trump’s threats to democracy irrelevant.

“Oh, brother,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) responded when asked about her fellow Wyoming Republican’s plan to vote for the Democratic presidential nominee in November.

“I think he’s out of touch,” she added of the former vice president.

Last week, both Cheney and his daughter, former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, announced they would be supporting Harris in November due to Trump’s unprecedented effort to overturn an election that he lost, culminating in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

“In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” the former vice president warned in a statement. “He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He can never be trusted with power again.”

“As citizens, we each have a duty to put country above partisanship to defend our Constitution,” he wrote. “That is why I will be casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.”

The statement from Cheney, a conservative icon who has been revered in GOP circles since stepping down as George W. Bush’s vice president in 2009, took many in Washington by surprise, including some veteran Republicans who aligned with his expansive view of presidential power and foreign policy.

“He believes, I guess, Trump’s the worst thing in the world. I think the world is on fire, and that Trump’s policies are much better than hers,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who was first elected to the Senate in 2002, told HuffPost.

“I don’t think it will matter to most Republicans,” he added. “You’re going to have a hard time convincing a Republican that Harris is the answer.”

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the Senate Pro Tempore whose tenure in Washington predated Cheney’s political rise and has long outlasted him, called Cheney “a free agent” who can “do whatever he wants.”

“It’s a fascinating time when you have Dick Cheney supporting [Harris] and you have Robert Kennedy Jr. supporting President Trump…I don’t know how much any of these endorsements matter,” added Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), who also served in the Senate chamber when Cheney was vice president.

Meanwhile, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said Democrats’ calls to eliminate the Senate filibuster, the chamber’s supermajority requirement for advancing legislation, is a “much greater” concern than what electing Trump could mean for the future of democracy.

“That, to me, is a very clear and present danger to this institution, and I think it would be a turning point in American history,” he warned of Democrats potentially moving to change filibuster rules if they win control of the Senate next year.

Harris previously indicated her support for suspending the filibuster rule to pass Democratic legislation protecting access to voting nationwide and codifying access to abortion. Her campaign has not said what she would do if elected president next year.

The Cheneys are only the latest prominent Republicans to back Harris’ campaign. Others include former Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and retired federal appeals court Judge J. Michael Luttig. Jimmy McCain, the son of the late Arizona GOP Sen. John McCain, also changed his voter registration to Democrat and plans to vote for Harris.

“I’m impressed with the range and number of seniority of Republicans who have endorsed Vice President Harris,” said Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.). “Not because they agree with her policies, but because they see Trump as such a threat to our constitutional order, and I thought Vice President Cheney was particularly clear in his statement.”