How the GOP’s Darth Vader turned into Luke Skywalker

In politics, we’ve seen many eyebrow-raising friendships built across the aisle. President Ronald Reagan and Speaker Tip O’Neill (D-Mass.) famously got along like Irish pols and pals. Senate Leaders Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and Trent Lott (R-Miss.) worked together and liked each other. So did progressive hero Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and conservative leader Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). 

But even though I know that politics can sometimes make strange bedfellows, I never dreamed, figuratively speaking, I’d ever crawl in bed with Dick Cheney. But I happily did so this week when the former vice president announced he would not only not vote for Donald Trump but cast his vote for Kamala Harris. Cheney is my new BFF. 

“In our nation’s 248-year history,” Cheney said in a statement released on Sept. 6, “there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump. He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him.”  

Americans have a “duty” to put saving the republic over playing partisan politics, Cheney added, warning that Trump can “never be trusted with power again.” 

For this dyed-in-the-wool Democrat, it’s hard to describe what an image-shattering transformation that statement is. During the build-up to the Iraq War, Democrats loathed Vice President Dick Cheney even more than they hated his boss, President George W. Bush.

We called him “Darth Vader.” Books have been written about how Cheney led the younger Bush by the nose; Cheney who pressured the CIA to “cherry-pick” evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction; and Cheney who convinced Bush to launch the war in Iraq. And now the bad guy is suddenly the good guy. It’s enough to make your head spin. 

Dick Cheney, of course, follows the heroic example of his daughter former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who broke with Donald Trump after the Jan. 6 riot, served with courage and honor as Republican vice chair of the House Select Committee on January 6 and last week announced her intention to vote for Kamala Harris. She’s joined by fellow January 6 Committee member former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), who endorsed Harris at the Democratic National Convention. 

In the world of politics, Dick Cheney, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger are today’s profiles in courage: those rare politicians who are willing to put the good of the country ahead of the good of their political party. What a contrast with so many other Republicans, who are afraid to stand up to Trump.

They fall into two camps. First, those like Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and former Vice President Mike Pence, who say they won’t vote for Donald Trump but also won’t commit to vote for Kamala Harris. Romney and Pence say they’ll write in someone else.

That’s not good enough, as Liz Cheney has advised: “Given the closeness of this election, particularly if you’re going to find yourself voting in a swing state, you’ve got to take the extra step [and endorse Harris] if you really do recognize the threat that Donald Trump poses.” 

But the worst are those in the much larger second camp: Republicans who have fiercely condemned Trump in the past, but who now line up behind him like spineless puppy dogs, including: Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.); Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp; and even Trump’s own vice presidential nominee, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio). Unlike Dick Cheney, they’ve put their own political futures over country. 

Still, you have to give Trump credit for one thing. Only Donald Trump could turn Dick Cheney from Darth Vader into Luke Skywalker. 

Press is host of “The Bill Press Pod.” He is the author of “From the Left: A Life in the Crossfire.”