Embattled Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) on Thursday’s night debate stage justified the war in Ukraine, while challenger Harriet Hageman said former President Donald Trump would have prevented it.

“It’s the frontline in the battle for freedom,” Cheney said of President Joe Biden’s involvement in the conflict with arms gifts and intelligence operations.

Dick Cheney’s daughter, who has been dubbed by Trump as a “warmonger,” has consistently supported Biden’s costly involvement in defending Ukraine’s border from Russia, aligning herself with Biden’s administration.

“[O]n the issue of Ukraine, there is no daylight between us [Biden],” Cheney wrote in a Washington Post May 6 op-ed. “And there should be no partisan divide among members in Congress. It must be the policy of the United States that the strategic objective in Ukraine is a victory for a free and democratic Ukraine.”

But Cheney’s opponent has taken a different approach to the war in Ukraine. Speaking on the debate stage with Cheney, Hageman said Russian President Vladimir Putin never would have invaded Ukraine if Trump’s strength was still in the White House.

“Putin would not have invaded Ukraine if President Trump was still the president,” she said. “I truly believe that there is a special place in hell for people who will adopt policies that are intended to increase the cost of energy, housing, and food, and that’s exactly what the current administration is doing.”

Republican congressional candidate Harriet Hageman meets attendees at a rally at the Teton County Fair & Rodeo Grounds on June 14, 2022, in Jackson, Wyoming. (Natalie Behring/Getty Images)

On Tuesday, Biden’s economic adviser Brian Deese claimed the prolonged war in Ukraine is worth it, even if it means gas prices soar above the already high prices fueled by Biden’s war on energy.

“This is about the future of the Liberal World Order and we have to stand firm,” he said:

During the Wyoming primary campaign, in which Cheney is down 28 to 30 points in the polls, Hageman has highlighted Cheney’s strong ties to the Washington, DC, establishment by dubbing her a “D.C. Diva.”

“That’s not our agenda. We don’t agree with what Liz Cheney is doing,” she said in April.

Cheney has fought back against the accusation by asking Democrats for their votes. Sending direct mailers to Wyoming Democrats, Cheney has requested they change parties to be eligible to vote in the open Republican primary.

Cheney’s direct mail scheme is a flip-flop from what she told the Times in February. “That is not something that I have contemplated, that I have organized, or that I will organize,” Cheney said about soliciting Democrats.

“Liz Cheney has lost Wyoming. Liz Cheney doesn’t live in Wyoming. She doesn’t represent us,” Hageman told Breitbart News. “She doesn’t represent our values.”

It’s not the first time Cheney has allied herself with Democrats. Cheney voted to impeach Donald Trump and has worked with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on the January 6 committee, which has sought to investigate the January 6 incident without focusing on the alleged FBI informants at the Capitol.

Cheney’s conduct has drawn condemnation from the Wyoming Republican Party and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. After the Wyoming GOP voted to no longer recognize her as a Republican in November, McCarthy announced in February his endorsement of Hageman to defeat Cheney, a rare move for a minority leader.

The Wyoming primary is August 16.

Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter and Gettr @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.