Liz Cheney’s endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris is welcome, the “Morning Joe” team says — but they’re not entirely surprised. As host Joe Scarborough put it, Cheney is “just voting for democracy.”
“She’s voting that the Constitutional republic endures with Madisonian checks and balances,” Scarborough added.
He then switched his attention to Donald Trump, saying, “Something I’ve been saying here since 2015 — he doesn’t talk like a conservative. He’s abandoned conservatives on the issues that matter to them the most. So at this point are you for a personality cult? Do you want to be in a personality cult or do you want the republic to endure?”
“That’s what it comes down to as far as the republic as we have known it with Madisonian democracy and checks and balances. Liz Cheney shows Madisonian democracy. It shouldn’t be a shock,” the MSNBC host reiterated.
Cheney’s endorsement isn’t a shock, Willie Geist agreed, noting, “What is shocking, though, is that ‘yours and hers’ among actual conservatives now is a minority position, which is to say most Republicans — most people who call themselves conservatives now or were conservatives but really are just Trump supporters — now they are going along for the ride with all the things you just laid out.”
“All the contradictions that Donald Trump presents to conservatives, all the flip-flopping and core issues like abortion, the debt, and the deficit, immigration, all of those things — what she’s saying is not only has Donald Trump flip-flopped on that, but he represents something that is so counter, not just to conservatism but to the American way of life, to democracy, that she’s got to stand in the door,” Geist added.
“I guess the only surprise to me over these last whatever it’s been since January 6th when she officially really took the lead on that investigation, along with many Democrats, is that more Republicans haven’t taken that door that was presented on January 6th, and said, ‘He has abandoned us, he has left us, he has led us down this disastrous path. We have no choice but to oppose him,’” he continued. “But again, she, Adam Kinzinger, or other Republicans are still in the minority among conservatives among Republicans.”
Cheney endorsed Harris on Wednesday while speaking at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy. “Because of the danger that Donald Trump poses, not only am I not voting for Donald Trump, but I will be voting for Kamala Harris,” she said in a video from the event shared on X.
Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon then said in a statement published by NBC News, “She is a patriot who loves this country and puts our democracy and our Constitution first. Vice President Harris will be a president for all Americans, regardless of political party.”
“For any American who is looking to reject the chaos and division of Donald Trump, turn the page, and pursue a new way forward that protects our freedoms and defends the American values we all believe in, there is a place for you in the Harris-Walz coalition, and we will continue working to earn your support,” Dillon added.
You can watch the segment from “Morning Joe” in the video, above.
