Liz Cheney hints at 2024 ambitions in concession speech where she compared herself to LINCOLN

US Rep. Liz Cheney has hinted at a possible 2024 run for president against Donald Trump in her concession speech where she compared herself to Abraham Lincoln. 

In her concession speech on Tuesday in Jackson, Wyoming, Cheney made comparisons to President Lincoln, who lost a string of races before winning the White House.

‘Abraham Lincoln was defeated in elections for the Senate and House before he won the most important election of all,’ Cheney said.

Although hinted at presidential aspirations, the bulk of her time up on the podium was spent condemning former President Donald Trump, whose unfounded claims that the 2020 election was stolen she attributed to her loss. 

‘Two years ago, I won this primary with 73 percent of the vote,’ Cheney said as she recalled the pre-Trump political landscape. ‘I could easily have done the same again. The path was clear. 

‘But it would’ve required that I go along with President Trump’s lie about the 2020 election.. That was a path I could not and would not take.’ 

In her speech, Cheney warned Americans that Trump is not the choice for 2024, condemning the January 6 Capitol riot, of which she led the Senate hearings investigating the deadly violence. 

‘Our nation is barreling once again towards crisis, lawlessness and violence. No American should support election deniers for any position of genuine responsibility where their refusal to follow the rule of law will corrupt our future,’ Cheny said of the attack at the Capitol, which was conducted by Trump supporters.

‘Like so many Americans, I assumed that the violence and the chaos of that day would have prompted a united response… Instead, major elements of my party still vehemently defend those who caused it,’ she added.

She also called on people from all parties to unite against those denying the 2020 presidential results, saying that unfounded claims against America’s elections were an attack on democracy.  

‘This is not a game. Everyone of us must be committed to the eternal defense of this miraculous experiment called America.’ 

Trump lashed out at Cheney’s speech, reiterating his false claims that the election was stolen as he said it is her who is looming threat to democracy.    

‘Liz Cheney’s uninspiring concession speech, in front of a ‘tiny’ crowd in the Great State of Wyoming, focused on her belief that the 2020 Presidential Election was not, despite massive and conclusive evidence to the contrary, Rigged & Stolen,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social. 

‘It was, and that’s not even counting the fact that many election changes, in numerous States, were not approved by State Legislatures, an absolute must. 

‘Liz Cheney is a fool who played right into the hands of those who want to destroy our Country’! 

At the top of her concession speech, Cheney informed her supporters that she had called Trump-backed challenger Harriet Hageman and conceded the race – making the point that part of American democracy is ‘honorably’ accepting election results. 

Speaking to supporters at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Event Center, Hageman characterized her win as an effort to ‘dislodge entrenched politicians’ from Washington, D.C.’s ‘uni-party – those Democrats and Republicans who don’t really care which party is in power, just as long as they are.’ 

‘Wyoming has put the elites on notice,’ Hageman said, adding that if you want to represent the Cowboy State, ‘you damn better well live in Wyoming.’ 

She also thanked Trump for his early support – and used his trademark Apprentice line. 

‘If we put you in power you will be accountable … you will answer to us,’ she said. ‘And if you don’t, we will fire you.’  

Former President Donald Trump – who made Cheney his No. 1 2022 target – reveled in her loss. 

‘This is a wonderful result for America, and a complete rebuke of the Unselect Committee of political Hacks and Thugs,’ the ex-president said.

‘Liz Cheney should be ashamed of herself, the way she acted, and her spiteful, sanctimonious words and actions towards others,’ Trump continued. ‘Now she can finally disappear into the depths of political oblivion where, I am sure, she will be much happier than she is right now.’ 

‘Thank you WYOMING!’ Trump added. 

Wyoming Republicans DailyMail.com spoke to Tuesday outside Cheyenne’s historic Storey Gymnasium had all voted for Hageman – with a lone Democrat saying he chose to stick with his party, and not cross over to bolster Cheney’s chances. 

Wyoming voters can switch political parties the day of the election. They can also vote at any polling place, but have to show identification. 

‘Well first of all she should represent her constituents, and she’s not clearly – because that’s why she’s getting voted out – but secondly here’s the reality, she didn’t grow up in Wyoming,’ said 58-year-old Cheyenne resident Roger Forystek, who works in insurance. 

Thanks to her father’s political career, Cheney split her time between Casper and Washington, D.C.  

‘And furthermore, she’s kind of a spoiled brat, in my opinion. She’s a spoiled brat. She’s so used to getting her way, when she doesn’t, she’s throwing a tantrum,’ Forystek added. 

A local pastor, who asked not to be named because of his line of work, told DailyMail.com that his vote for Hageman ‘was moreso to spank Cheney.’ 

‘She’s being sent to the principal’s office,’ he said. 

Cheney has become the most prominent House Republican critic of Trump – currently serving as vice-chair of the House select committee on January 6.

She’s paid a price – losing her No. 3 leadership position in the House Republican Conference and was expelled by Wyoming’s Republican Party, as the state’s voters in 2020 had voted Trump over President Joe Biden by about 43 points.  

The daughter of the former Republican vice president has remained steadfast in her criticism, saying in a campaign ad last week that her party’s embrace of Trump’s ‘big lie’ – his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him – is a ‘cancer.’ 

‘The lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen is insidious,’ she said in the video. 

She added that the false claims are a ‘door Donald Trump opened to manipulate Americans to abandon their principles, to sacrifice their freedom to justify violence, to ignore the rulings of our courts and the rule of law.’ 

For 20-year-old University of Wyoming student Abby Humble, who backed Hageman, it’s not the substance – but Cheney’s style. 

‘I don’t disagree with what she did, I think she was just trying to defend the Constitution,’ Humble told DailyMail.com. ‘But at the same time, I don’t really think that’s what the people of Wyoming wanted … because a lot of them are, you know, Trump supporters.’