Rep. Liz Cheney isn’t having a good day, at least insofar as her prospects for remaining in leadership go. As I wrote last weekend, her colleagues are just about fed up with Cheney’s antics. More recently, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said on a hot mic that Republicans have “had it” with the division she’s sowing (see Kevin McCarthy Has a Hot Mic Moment, Speaks Absolute Truth About Liz Cheney).

Most of the derision is stemming from Cheney’s obsession with continuing to fight battles over January 6th that the rest of the members of the Republican caucus aren’t interested in participating in. With 2022 on the horizon, unity is the name of the game, and Cheney isn’t willing to do her job as a leader to codify it.

Despite these obvious, untenable tensions, the obtuseness around what’s going on is flowing in from the usual suspects. One of those people is Sen. Mitt Romney (I know you are shocked). Here’s a double whammy of stupidity with him being quote tweeted by David French.

If the House GOP ultimately takes stronger action against Liz Cheney than it did against Marjorie Taylor Greene, then one has to wonder if it's time to make tough choices about the continued unity of the party. https://t.co/5g9rd6nMqw

— David French (@DavidAFrench) May 4, 2021

Let’s be clear. Liz Cheney is not on the verge of being forced out of leadership because she has convictions. There are plenty of GOP House members who 1) don’t like Trump and 2) have varying views on things like amnesty and foreign policy (Cheney is out of step with most Republicans on those two issues). Those members are not being pushed out of the party or punished.

The reason Cheney is in trouble is that she’s refusing to let go of her anti-Trumpism and January 6th obsession when those things are simply not relevant to the party anymore. She’s also been directly undermining McCarthy publicly after he went out of his way to give her space to vent. She’s had that space and now is the time to let it go and move forward. Cheney doesn’t have the capacity or will to do that. Thus, she has no place in leadership.

Her colleagues gave Liz Cheney another chance and she's stabbed them in the back again and again and again. That's entirely on her and no one else. https://t.co/bMv5bzfK0x

— Varad Mehta (@varadmehta) May 4, 2021

As to French’s ridiculous comparison to Marjorie Taylor Greene, last I checked, she’s not in a leadership position. Plus, she was stripped of her committee assignments. Again, no one is trying to oust Cheney from the party or punish her (though, some might think that’s warranted at this point). All that’s possibly happening is a re-alignment of leadership that is necessary to bring the party forward to victory in 2022. Cheney has refused to be a team player, and that’s fine, but it’s only fine if she does that from the backbench. Republicans need leaders that aren’t going to go on Chuck Todd’s or Jake Tapper’s show and cut the knees out from under their own caucus.

Comparisons to Greene are nonsensical. Pretending this is about Cheney not being “willing to lie” is also garbage. This is about being a leader and doing what’s best for the party. Cheney is not delivering in that role so she needs to go. It’s that simple.