In a time of deep partisan divisions, Thursday’s memorial service for former Vice President Dick Cheney will be revealing — not for who does show up, but for who does not, reports Peter Baker in The New York Times.
Cheney, who died earlier in November at the age of 84, was the architect of America’s “aggressive response to terrorism” after September 11, 2001, and then “championed the invasion of Iraq, making him a hero to Republicans and a villain to many Democrats who thought he went too far,” Baker writes.
But it was Cheney’s late-in-life decision to join his daughter and former Wyoming Republican representative Liz Cheney in speaking out and eventually voting against President Donald Trump that “left him isolated from his own party and re-examined by some of his most vocal critics.”
Former president George W. Bush, under whom Cheney served as VP, will deliver the eulogy at Thursday’s service at the Washington National Cathedral, and former President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who “assailed Mr. Cheney in a successful campaign to succeed him, will attend to honor his predecessor,” Baker writes.
“So will former House Speakers John A. Boehner, a reliable Republican ally during the Bush-Cheney years, and Nancy Pelosi, a staunch Democratic adversary at the time,” he adds.
Also expected to be in attendance: former Vice President Kamala Harris, a year after “Mr. Cheney stunned many Americans by announcing that he would vote for her against Mr. Trump,” Baker writes.
“In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” Cheney said, adding that because of Trump’s “lies and violence,” he could “never be trusted with power again.”
“We have a duty to put country above partisanship to defend our Constitution. That is why I will be casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris,” Cheney said.
Three other former vice presidents will be on hand as well: Al Gore, a Democrat, and Mike Pence and Dan Quayle, both Republicans.
Conspicuously left off the list: Trump, which, Baker notes, “is hardly a surprise.” Vice President JD Vance, however, was invited, but hasn’t said if he would attend even though it’s custom for the sitting VP to “honor the service of someone who once held the same office,” Baker notes.
“Trump ordered flags to be lowered to half-staff after Mr. Cheney’s death, as required by law, but issued no statement and has refrained from commenting publicly,” Baker says.
Other Trump administration officials are also staying away, as are those “incumbent Republican members of Congress who still want a political future may stay away as well, out of fear of angering Mr. Trump, who considers Ms. Cheney one of his chief nemeses,” Baker writes.
“Former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama are not planning to attend, although both released respectful statements after Mr. Cheney’s death praising his service and patriotism,” Baker notes.
Following Cheney’s endorsement of Harris, Trump lashed out on social media, calling him “an irrelevant RINO,” meaning Republican in Name Only. “He’s the King of Endless, Nonsensical Wars, wasting Lives and Trillions of Dollars, just like Comrade Kamala Harris.”
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