Former House Republican Conference chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) tore into her party’s leaders on Monday morning for fueling white nationalist “great replacement” fearmongering.
This comes amid allegations that the racist great replacement conspiracy theory inspired a white gunman to allegedly fatally shoot 10 people in a Black neighborhood grocery store in Buffalo, New York on Saturday.
“The House GOP leadership has enabled white nationalism, white supremacy, and anti-semitism,” Cheney tweeted, directly denouncing the colleagues she once joined in GOP leadership before they ousted her. “History has taught us that what begins with words ends in far worse.”
The Wyoming Republican called on the leaders to “renounce and reject these views and those who hold them.”
Cheney’s condemnation comes as Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who replaced Cheney as conference chair, is under fire over her campaign ads on Facebook that accused Democrats of plotting a “PERMANENT ELECTION INSURRECTION” with their immigration policies.
Though Stefanik is by no means the only Republican to peddle the racist conspiracy theory, which baselessly suggests Democrats are trying to bring in immigrants to widen their voting base, her ads have come under fresh scrutiny in the wake of the shooting in her home state.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) put Stefanik directly on blast after the shooting on Saturday and compared her to Cheney, who was kicked out of her leadership position for acknowledging that ex-President Donald Trump played an incitement role in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.
“Did you know: @EliseStefanik pushes white replacement theory? The #3 in the house GOP,” Kinzinger tweeted. “@Liz_Cheney got removed for demanding truth.”
Kinzinger also said that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) ought to be “asked about this.”
Cheney and Kinzinger are the only Republicans on the House Jan. 6 committee to investigate the Capitol attack.
Shortly after Cheney posted her tweet about GOP leaders on Monday morning, Stefanik’s campaign issued a caustic defense stating, “Any implication or attempt to blame the heinous shooting” on the New York Republican “is a new disgusting low for the Left, their Never Trump allies, and the sycophant stenographers in the media.”
Stefanik’s senior adviser, Alex DeGrasse, insisted that the GOP lawmaker “has never advocated for any racist position or made a racist statement.”
Meanwhile, Stefanik’s Twitter feed on Monday shows the lawmaker doubling down on the racist conspiracy theory she promoted in her ad campaign.
The Justice Department and the Erie County district attorney’s office are investigating the Buffalo shooting as a hate crime amid discoveries of the suspected gunman, an 18-year-old white man, allegedly posting online a host of white supremacist content based on the “great replacement theory.”
The suspected shooter allegedly killed 10 people and injured three others in the attack, and all but two of the victims were Black, according to law enforcement.
