GOP seeks unity, even if that means embracing election lie

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. The House GOP led by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is moving toward stripping Rep. Liz Cheney of her leadership post for her frequent criticism of former President Donald Trump The unusual step, they say, is necessary to unify a party whose base still reveres the former president four months after he incited a deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol. With Republicans close to reclaiming control of the House next year, the treatment of Cheney suggests GOP leaders will do almost anything to rally the party's base, even if that means sweeping the events of Jan. 6 under the rug and embracing — or refusing to confront — Trump's ongoing lie that he won the 2020 election, a campaign that he actually lost by a wide margin. “The question before us now is whether we will join Trump’s crusade to delegitimize and undo the legal outcome of the 2020 election, with all the consequences that might have.” Cheney has been under fire since she joined nine other Republican House members in impeaching Trump for his role in sparking the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. “While the GOP leadership controversy may be headlines on the national news and much talked about inside the Beltway, it is simply no more than a bump in the road for GOP efforts to win the majority in the ’22 midterm elections,” he said, adding: “This issue will be long forgotten by this time next year.” Joe Gruters, the chair of the Florida Republican Party, agreed.