In a February 5 editorial, "The GOP Censures Liz Cheney," the Wall Street Journal indicated that its ongoing nostalgia for the Bushies still clouds its political judgment.  The editorial insisted that the censure by the Republican National Committee of the turncoat representatives Cheney and Kinzinger will be detrimental to GOP chances in the midterm congressional elections later this year.  Why?  In a squib highlighting the editorial's main point, the suggestion is that the RNC's censure is "dividing" Republicans and, thereby, will hand the Democrats victory in the congressional midterms.

What nonsense.  Those "Republicans" in Liz Cheney's corner are, more than likely, NeverTrump people who, since 2016, have gotten used to voting against Republicans — to the point where they have placed the Oval Office in the hands of the most incompetent president since James Buchanan, if not ever.

Thank heavens — the fact is that the Bush family's hold on the GOP ended with Jeb Bush's failure as a presidential candidate in 2016, and, as this U.S. News story reports, the RNC vote to censure Cheney and Kinzinger makes it clear that Trumpians — conservative populists — control today's Republican Party.  Now that may not please the Wall Street Journal, but it informs U.S. political reality.  Note well: RINOs are not to be found among GOP conservative populists.

The Journal commented at the end of this head-in-the-sand editorial, "When political parties try to purge non-crazy dissenters, the result is that they get smaller."  This observation necessarily implies that Cheney's active participation on the Pelosi partisan panel for prosecutorial purposes is rational.  One might as well be surprised that the Journal did not accuse the RNC of transgressing Ronald Reagan's Eleventh Commandment: "Thou Shall Not Speak Ill of Another Republican."

The Journal (carefully?) avoided mentioning Cheney's sheer relish in denouncing Republicans, not only the former president, as a member of Pelosi's witch-hunting crew.  Cheney has all the credibility of a Rep. Schiff claiming evidence that Trump is a Putin stooge when she insists that she is still a good conservative.  The Republicans in Wyoming don't think so.  The RNC doesn't think so.

The Journal contends that rather than censure Cheney, "Republicans should be talking about President Biden's $5 trillion spending plan, 7% inflation, and the Americans who are still trying to flee Afghanistan."  By placing herself in the service of Nancy Pelosi, what is "conservative" Cheney doing to put a stop to the policy disasters the Journal mentions?  In fact, she is enabling Biden's disastrous leadership

Liz Cheney, as an active member of the January 6 Committee to Keep Democrats in Control of Congress, is a false Republican.  She might as well be a Pelosi mole, working to keep Nancy Pelosi speaker another two years.  To believe that Liz Cheney is a conservative, one might as well believe that, notwithstanding his treason to the American cause, Benedict Arnold continued to support the idea of American independence,

The Journal also included criticism of the RNC's appropriate action against Cheney and Kinzinger on grounds that "the media is now crowing" because the RNC "says Ms. Cheney and Mr. Kinzinger's role in investigating Jan. 6 amounts to 'persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.'"  What can one say, but that in strained support for the Bushies, the Wall Street Journal betrays the symptoms of Trump Derangement Syndrome?  This syndrome, by the way, becomes feverishly irrational at the idea that a president might, indeed, drain the swamp and bring about government of, by, and for the people, not government of Fiona Hill, by Alex Vindman, and for the coffers of the swamp-dwellers.

Photo credit: Hudson Institute (cropped), CC BY-SA 2.0 license.