Liz Cheney warns of 'threats to our freedom' during Reagan Library speech

The saying “politics make strange bedfellows” most certainly applies to Rep. Liz Cheney’s work with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and other Democrats on the bipartisan January 6 select committee. Although Cheney is an arch-conservative Republican and the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, the Wyoming congresswoman has played a valuable role on the committee — infuriating unhinged MAGA Republicans while joining Democrats in warning that U.S. democracy is facing a dire threat from former President Donald Trump and his allies.

During a speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California on Wednesday, June 29, Rep. Cheney warned that democracy isn’t something that can be taken for granted in the United States.

“God has blessed America, but our freedom will only survive if we protect it, if we take our duty and our obligation seriously,” Cheney told the crowd. “Today, we’re facing threats to our freedom abroad, around the world, and here at home. And the list of these threats is not insubstantial. From Russia to China to Iran to North Korea, American adversaries are certainly on the march.”

Cheney also voiced her support for NATO at the Reagan Library.

During Trump’s four years as president, he was openly hostile to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and, at times, called for the U.S. to pull out of the alliance. And far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia also wants the U.S. to withdraw from NATO.

President Joe Biden, in contrast, has been an aggressive champion of NATO, saying that he welcomes NATO’s expansion. And Cheney obviously welcomes that expansion as well.

When Cheney was giving her Reagan Library speech, Biden was in Madrid, Spain for the 2022 NATO Summit. Spain, like other European countries, has been seeing its share of Ukrainian refugees. Since Russian forces launched a brutal invasion of Ukraine on orders from President Vladimir Putin on February 24, millions of Ukrainians have fled their country.

Cheney told the Reagan Library crowd, “We had some good news within just the last 48 hours or so that Sweden and Finland will become members of NATO. And I think it’s an important lesson to Vladimir Putin that that is the opposite of what he had expected. If he had hoped that his invasion would lead to weakening NATO, he’s managed to expand NATO. And I think that’s an important message.”