Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday night carried the mantle of a GOP narrative that Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) was not ousted from Republican leadership because of her repudiation of former President Donald Trump’s election lies — she was not “canceled” — he contended.
“Yes, Congresswoman Liz Cheney was booted from her GOP Leadership position after months of nonstop negative remarks about Trump and those who support him,” Hannity said.
Hannity claims Liz Cheney wasn’t canceled. He says she was fired. pic.twitter.com/whNpDZJSv8
— Acyn (@Acyn) May 13, 2021
“For the record, you were not canceled,” he continued, directing a clarification at Cheney. “You were removed from leadership because you put your selfish agenda ahead of the party’s agenda and the caucus fired you from your leadership position for your failure to lead the agenda.”
The comments come as GOP lawmakers who once complained about the dangers of curbing free speech and issued battle cries over “cancel culture,” cast out Cheney on Wednesday over her refusal to adopt and perpetuate the falsehoods that appear to have become a requirement to remain a respected member of the Republican Party: that former President Trump was the victim of a stolen election and that he had not incited a violent attack on the Capitol to disrupt the democratic process as Congress convened on Jan. 6.
Hannity suggested that the “media mob” and Democrats had anointed Cheney as “some modern-day martyr,” for repeatedly speaking out against a dangerous and antidemocratic string of false claims about a stolen election.
“She is not,” Hannity said.
Meanwhile Republican lawmakers have been spinning their wheels trying to reframe Cheney’s ouster as a personnel decision unrelated to her rebuke of Trump.
“I don’t think anyone is questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election. I think that is all over with,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said after the ouster on Wednesday, rebuffing any suggestion of the link between Cheney’s dismissed truth-telling and the GOP’s advance of Trump’s false claims.
But McCarthy’s support for the No. 3 Republican dwindled as Cheney challenged Trump. Calls for Cheney’s removal also intensified as she grew louder about laying bare Trump’s big election lie and sought to peel the party away from the former president’s looming influence.
“Liz Cheney was canceled today for speaking her mind and disagreeing with the narrative that President Trump was putting forward,” Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) told reporters after the ouster vote on Wednesday.
Hannity in his own fashion of a farewell to the canceled Republican said: “Alright Liz, enjoy the sanctimonious ranks of the never-Trumpers.”
