Establishment Media Repurpose Liz Cheney for 2024

The establishment media are hyping Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) for a 2024 presidential run, as it appears unlikely she will prevail in the 2022 Republican primary.

With Cheney down 30 points to Donald Trump-endorsed Harriet Hageman, many in the media suspect Cheney will lose the August 16 primary and are, as a result, already repositioning her for a political comeback as a career politician in 2024.

Cheney was first elected to Congress in 2016. Six years later, her political career is on the rocks after she has fixated on fighting former President Donald Trump. Because of Cheney’s obsession, the establishment media have favored her by politically defending her fixation, which may end her political hopes in Wyoming.

Trump won Wyoming in 2020 with nearly 70 percent of the vote. According to pollsters, Cheney’s opposition to Trump is the key reason she is losing to Hageman.

“Is Liz Cheney finished?” Harold Maass titled his Monday article in the Week. “Losing this primary won’t end Cheney’s political career,” Maass claimed in the article. “[C]onservatives might see Cheney differently” after Trump is gone, he mused.

On Sunday, NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd asked Democrat Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA) if Cheney would be a 2024 contender upon losing her Wyoming primary.

“If she doesn’t come through this primary and come back to Congress, there are so many things that she can do in the future for our country,” Luria said. “I don’t want to speculate. She’s said herself she doesn’t know what her future plans would be.”

The Associated Press also hyped a potential Cheney 2024 bid on Friday with the title, “Liz Cheney braces for primary loss as focus shifts to 2024.” The article reframed Cheney’s hypothetical primary loss as a positive position for Cheney in 2024.

“[A]s primary day approaches, there is also a pervasive belief among Cheney’s team that her unorthodox strategy in 2022 may put her in a stronger position for the 2024 presidential contest,” the AP wrote. “Cheney’s fierce anti-Trump message as vice chairman of the congressional committee investigating the insurrection has strengthened her national brand while expanding a national network of donors and Trump critics in both parties who could boost a prospective White House run.”

The media’s idea of Cheney running for president in 2024 would likely fail in the GOP primary. Trump has maintained a commanding lead over potential 2024 primary contenders, according to a Wednesday Morning Consult/Politico poll. The poll found Cheney is only polling with 2 percent of the vote while Trump garners 53 percent.

Cheney’s odds of winning the Wyoming primary are only slightly higher than her 2024 polling. Her odds of winning the contest are pegged at 5 cents on the dollar, PredictIt’s betting odds show. Hageman is favored to handily defeat Cheney by 95 cents on the dollar.