It was inappropriate for the Republican National Committee to censure U.S. Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, according to a former chairman of the Wyoming Republican Party.
Diemer True told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday that he thought it was not only inappropriate of the RNC, but also the Wyoming Republican Party state central committee, to censure Cheney or any other Republican legislator who has not committed a crime.
“I’m a big advocate of the Ronald Reagan rule, where if someone agrees with me 80% of the time, they’re comrades in arms,” True said. “The purity test that seems to be coming out of the organized Republican Party, which is certainly not true of entire Republican Party, is a formula for defeat.”
True, a former state senator and longtime GOP activist, said that if the Republican Party continues to administer litmus tests to determine who is a “true” Republican, there will be more “extreme left-wing” policies coming down the pipeline.
As a former Wyoming Republican Party chairman and state party committeeman, True was also a member of the RNC for about a decade.
He said that during his time in the Republican Party ranks, officials were more concerned with electing as many Republicans as possible.
“I used to say, ‘Our job is not to play in the primaries, but to make sure we had a credible Republican candidate in every primary,'” True said. “Once we had a credible candidate in every primary, then the party’s role was complete.”
True said there was no question about Cheney’s status as a credible Republican.
“She voted with President Trump more than just about anyone in Congress,” he said. “She certainly does not deserve that kind of treatment from the organized Republican Party. If the voters of Wyoming don’t return her to office, then they have spoken. But that’s not the job of the state central committee or the RNC.”
True was just one of several Republicans who denounced the RNC for censuring Cheney and Kinzinger last week because of their work on the U.S. House committee investigating the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was one of the most prominent dissenting voices.
“This issue is whether or not the RNC should be sort of singling out members of our party who may have different views from the majority. That’s not the job of the RNC,” he added about the censure resolution.
U.S. Sen. John Barrasso had a less direct response, not saying whether or not he supported the RNC’s censure of Cheney during a Fox News interview on Sunday.
“Liz and I disagree. I voted against the Jan. 6 commission. I voted against impeachment twice. We’re going to have a very spirited primary. Liz is going to have to travel the state and make her case to the voters of Wyoming if she wants to get re-elected,” he said.
