On Thursday’s Boston Public Radio, “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd cited a classic moment from “Star Wars: A New Hope” while weighing in on this week’s GOP’s vote to remove Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., from her position as the third-ranking House Republican.
(A warning for those who still haven’t seen the movie, which was first released in 1977 — this post contains spoilers)
Cheney lost her spot as conference chair Wednesday morning over her sustained criticism of former President Donald Trump and his repeated lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
In an interview later that day with NBC’s Savannah Guthrie, Cheney said she remains opposed to Trump and is “very focused on making sure that our party becomes, again, a party that stands for truth.”
“I think that there is an Obi-Wan Kenobi parallel here,” Todd said, "when Darth Vader strikes him down in the first ‘Star Wars’ and he says, ‘[I’ll] become more powerful than you could ever imagine.'”
Now that Cheney is one of the most prominent members of the GOP to distance from Trump, speculation is growing around whether the congresswoman and daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney might become a viable 2024 presidential candidate — and an alternative for Republican voters looking to move past the era of Trump.
Todd expressed some doubt that enough conservative voters are interested in ditching the former president, but he added that Cheney has potential to make a real impact on the Republican zeitgeist with her message about principles enshrined in the Constitution.
“I don’t know how she can succeed in this party that has been hijacked by President Trump, but that doesn’t mean that running for president isn’t a way for her to, essentially, advance her cause,” he said. “You don’t have to win the presidency, or even win the nomination, to advance your cause that Trumpism is a problem for the party.”
“I do think striking her down made her more — potentially — powerful, in that sense,” he added.
Todd is the moderator of "Meet The Press” on NBC, host of “Meet The Press Daily" on MSNBC and the political director for NBC News.
