Kevin McCarthy wants Liz Cheney to 'tone down' her scathing anti-Trump rhetoric — but she isn’t budging: report

More than five months after Donald Trump was voted out of office and over three months after Joe Biden was sworn in as president of the United States, Trump continues to have a major influence on much of the Republican Party — including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, meanwhile, has become the face of Republican anti-Trumpism in the House. And in an article published on April 26, Politico's Melanie Zanona takes a look at the sharp contrasts between how McCarthy is dealing with Trump and what Cheney has to say about the former president.

McCarthy was critical of Trump following the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol Building, but while the House minority leader has walked back that criticism and tried to make amends with Trump, Cheney continues to be a blistering critic of him and is still glad that she voted to impeach him for incitement to insurrection. Trump supporters are hoping to remove Cheney from office via a Republican congressional primary in 2022 for being so blatantly anti-Trump. Wyoming State Sen. Anthony Bouchard, Cheney's GOP primary challenger, is campaigning on unwavering devotion to the former president and slamming Cheney as a RINO: Republican in Name Only.

Politico interviewed both McCarthy and Cheney to discuss their Trump-related differences. Interviewed on April 26, McCarthy told Politico, "There's a responsibility. If you're gonna be in leadership, leaders eat last. And when leaders try to go out and not work as one team, it creates difficulties."

McCarthy noted that he has encouraged Cheney to tone down her vehemently anti-Trump statements. When Politico asked him if the Wyoming congresswoman and daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney has followed that recommendation, McCarthy replied, "You be the judge."

McCarthy and Cheney also have very different views on what a 9-11-style commission on January 6 should include. Cheney wants its focus primarily on the assault on the U.S. Capitol Building, while McCarthy wants a broader discussion of political violence — in other words, he wants to get in the usual Republican talking points about antifa.

Cheney told Politico, "If we minimize what happened on January 6 and if we appease it, then we will be in a situation where every election cycle, you could potentially have another constitutional crisis. If you get into a situation where we don't guarantee a peaceful transfer of power, we won't have learned the lessons of January 6. And you can't bury our head in the sand. It matters hugely to the survival of the country."