MSNBC host Rachel Maddow described the significance of former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) endorsing VP Harris in the 2024 presidential election as “like a mouse endorsing a cat.”
“I mean, it's bananas. It's like a mouse advertising a cat, you know,” Maddow said during an appearance on ABC's “The View” on Tuesday.
The host of “The Rachel Maddow Show” said the endorsements of the former Republican vice president and former No. 3 House Republican show how far this election cycle has departed from “normal” politics.
Maddow, a frequent critic of former President Trump, emphasized that she disagrees with the Cheneys on most policy issues.
“I'm not convinced a vampire would endorse garlic, but this election shows how far we've come from normal politics,” Maddow said. “This isn't about disagreeing on taxes or foreign policy. This is about whether we're going to have an American political system. Dick Cheney and I agree on very little, but Dick Cheney and I agree that we should have an American political system.”
Maddow was then asked by “The View” co-host Joy Behar whether the support from the Cheney family would make a difference.
“Maybe so. A statement of support can be overstated in terms of its effectiveness, but I think the message of, 'We may disagree on most points of politics, but we agree that we need to stand up to keep the election alive' is powerful. In this system, if you're voted out, you have to step down, you can't riot to stay,” she replied. “The pro-democracy coalition is much larger than any one party, and in this election, that's the Harris coalition.”
Dick Cheney confirmed his support for Harris last week. He made the statement shortly after his daughter, Liz Cheney, endorsed her father for the Democratic nomination in an interview at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin. Cheney had said days earlier that she would vote for Harris, despite being a lifelong conservative.
Liz Cheney, a vocal critic of President Trump, called on Republicans who privately oppose him to publicly support Harris.
“I also want to remind them, you know, this is a secret ballot, so I would love as many people as possible to give their opinion publicly,” she said Sunday. “But at the end of the day, you're just going to have to wrestle with your conscience while you're at the polls. And when the time comes, you're going to see a lot more Republicans and independents show up, and they're going to have to make a decision. And they're going to have to make the right decision.”
