Former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney was the commencement speaker for Colorado College on Sunday, and she received loud boos from the graduates.
Cheney reiterated her harsh accusations against Trump but avoided discussing his reelection in 2024 or her own political future.
The Wyoming Republican has criticized her fellow Republicans in Congress for failing to counter Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
Cheney urged the recent graduates not to make concessions when it comes to the truth and blasted one of the election-denying attorneys who worked for Trump after the election for allegedly telling a gathering of Republicans that ‘it is crucially important to make sure that college students don’t vote.
Many students and parents applauded throughout Cheney’s remarks, but there were also boos and chairs being turned away from the platform by those who disagreed with her selection as speaker.
A graduate’s headgear had a message for Vice President Cheney. Why listen to a racist, imperialist, transphobic, war monger?’ it screamed. Your intolerance resounds.
Cheney’s speech focused on ideas she has been advocating since leaving office in January, including standing up to the threat she believes Trump poses to democracy and discussing her work on the House committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
She also urged more women to enter politics and criticized recent comments made by one of Trump’s election-denying attorneys concerning college students’ right to vote.
“Cleta Mitchell, an election denier and adviser to former President Trump, recently told a gathering of Republicans that it is crucially important to make sure that college students don’t vote,” Cheney stated.
If people continue to exercise their right to vote, as President Obama stated, those “trying to unravel the foundations of our republic, who are threatening the rule of law and the sanctity of our elections” will not succeed.
The Washington Post cited an audio clip of Mitchell’s presentation from a recent Republican National Committee conference in which she expressed concern about the convenience of voting and the presence of polling locations on college campuses.
Political science major Cheney, who graduated from Colorado College in 1988, remembers entering a building on campus with the Bible scripture “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” etched over the entrance.
My fellow Republicans pressured me to lie after the 2020 election and the January 6th attack. When asked about the similarities between her time as a student and her time in Congress, Cheney responded, “They wanted me to say the 2020 election was stolen, the attack of January 6th wasn’t a big deal, and Donald Trump wasn’t dangerous.” This was part of a speech she gave on Sunday in Colorado Springs, relating her time in Congress to her time as a student.
The alternative to telling the truth was losing my leadership role in the House, so I lied.
After three terms in Congress, Cheney was the third-highest-ranking Republican in the House. However, she lost that position after voting to impeach Trump for the rebellion on January 6, 2021, and then continuing to be critical of the former president.
Since leaving office, rumors have circulated about Cheney possibly running in the 2024 Republican primary for president based on her active speaking schedule and topics.
In order to fight Trump’s criticisms without alienating the people who helped him win the White House seven years ago, candidates from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley have carefully timed their words on Trump.
While some have expressed reservations, no declared or possible contender has gone so far as Cheney in embracing anti-Trump campaigning.
She didn’t say anything about her plans on Sunday, but she has said in the past that she hasn’t decided if she will run for president.
Despite the odds, Cheney was able to rally a nationwide network of funders and Trump detractors to back a White House run because of her outspoken anti-Trump attitude and position as vice chairwoman of the House committee.
This month, a super PAC established to aid her campaign purchased airtime in New Hampshire to air attack commercials against Trump.
Cheney was appointed as a professor at the University of Virginia after she was beaten in the Republican primary by a Trump-backed candidate last year. Her memoir, “Oath and Honor,” is set to be released in November.
Cheney’s mother and two of her five children are also liberal arts college alums.
It seems that interest in Cheney’s speaking tour is growing. The Mackinac Policy Conference in Michigan is hosting her on Thursday.