Liz Cheney just taught Chris Christie a lesson in political courage | Moran

Liz Cheney said yesterday that she intends to swallow her tongue and endorse Kamala Harris in November, thereby fulfilling her stated belief that Donald Trump is a maniac with a knife to the throat of our democracy.

“I don’t think we have the luxury of writing down other people’s names, especially in the key states,” she told students at Duke University. “Not only will I not vote for Donald Trump, but I will vote for Kamala Harris.”

Can Chris Christie show that same kind of courage, that same patriotism? Like Cheney, she tells us that Trump is a despicable con man who is unfit for office. But unlike Cheney, she hasn’t done everything she can to stop him. She has joined the fight. He hasn’t.

And let us remember that he is the Dr. Frankenstein who helped create this monster, the first major Republican to endorse Trump in 2016 and his debate coach in the 2020 campaign. He owes America a debt for that.

But so far he has played it safe. The easy option is to vote for Ronald Reagan, his hero. That way, this time, he would keep his fingerprints on the gun. But if he really believes what he says about Trump, then this is a case of historic proportions.

Christie doesn’t want to talk about it, which means she must be thinking about it. She’s never been one to shy away from standing up for her point of view, once she’s made up her mind. Go to the beach and all that.

It’s true that Cheney is the bigger player, a Republican royal who gave his all to tell the truth and helped lead the remarkable investigation into the Jan. 6 riots. Christie can’t match his potential for influence.

“Cheney is special in terms of the seriousness he brings to the Republican case against Trump,” Bill Kristol, a prominent Republican opponent of Trump, told the Times. “He radically broke down and gave up on everything.”

But Christie can help. Harris is campaigning hard to appeal to Republicans who hate Trump, opening an organization called “Republicans for Harris” with a full-time national engagement director and investing tens of millions of dollars in a paid media campaign targeting anti-Trump Republicans. She understands that if Republicans don’t vote for Trump, that helps, but if they jump the fence and vote for her, it helps twice as much. That’s the math.

His primary target is the nearly 1 million Republicans in key states who voted against Trump in this year’s primaries, with Nikky Haley voters at the top of the list.

In this race, the endorsement could make the difference by giving undecided conservatives the chance to vote for a liberal like Harris and encouraging them to swallow this bitter medicine for the good of the country. With such a close race, a move like that could be decisive.

Christie knows this. After dropping out of the presidential race, he called President Biden “stupid” for not asking for his support. Harris’s campaign has reached out to Cheney repeatedly. If they haven’t reached out to Christie, they should. After all, the man has an ego.

Last month, Christie Whitman endorsed Harris, and more than 200 Republicans who worked for George W. Bush, Mitt Romney and John McCain signed a letter backing Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger endorsed her at the Democratic convention, as did one of Trump’s former press secretaries, Stephanie Grisham.

But for this movement to succeed, big names have to get on board. Cheney made his move on Wednesday. I assume, and hope, that Christie will join him soon.

Further: Tom Moran’s columns

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