The Republican Party just lost one of its most controversial figures.
Dick Cheney spent decades at the center of GOP power.
And Dick Cheney made one final move that proved everything Donald Trump said about him.
The architect of endless war breathes his last
Former Vice President Dick Cheney died Monday night at his home at age 84 from complications of pneumonia and cardiac disease.¹
Cheney's family announced he passed away surrounded by his wife of 61 years, Lynne, and daughters Liz and Mary.²
For decades, Cheney stood as one of the most powerful and feared figures in Washington, D.C.
He served as White House Chief of Staff under Gerald Ford at just 34 years old, represented Wyoming in Congress for six terms, and ran the Pentagon under George H.W. Bush during the first Gulf War.
But it was his eight years as George W. Bush's Vice President that cemented his legacy as perhaps the most influential second-in-command in American history.
Cheney effectively took control of national security policy after September 11, 2001, becoming the driving force behind the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
He told the nation Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction and promised American troops would be "greeted as liberators."³
None of that turned out to be true.
The Iraq War became a generational disaster that destabilized the entire Middle East, created ISIS, and killed hundreds of thousands while costing American taxpayers trillions of dollars.
Cheney left office in 2009 with a 13% approval rating — one of the lowest ever recorded for a sitting Vice President.⁴
Trump turned the party against Bush-Cheney forever wars
Donald Trump built his 2016 campaign partly on rejecting everything Cheney represented.
Trump called the Iraq War the worst foreign policy disaster in American history and attacked the Bush-Cheney administration for lying about weapons of mass destruction.
While other Republicans still defended the war or stayed silent, Trump hammered home that Cheney and Bush had wasted American lives and treasure on endless Middle East conflicts.
The Republican base responded by giving Trump the nomination over establishment candidates who couldn't separate themselves from the Bush-Cheney foreign policy legacy.
Trump's "America First" message directly rejected Cheney's neo-conservative vision of using American military power to reshape the world.
By 2022, Cheney had become so alienated from the party he helped build that he appeared in a campaign ad for his daughter Liz calling Trump "a coward" and "the greatest threat to our republic" in American history.⁵
"He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him," Cheney said in the ad.⁶
Trump fired back by calling Cheney an "irrelevant RINO" after Cheney announced he would vote for Kamala Harris in 2024.⁷
Cheney's final betrayal vindicated Trump's assessment
In September 2024, Cheney released a statement confirming he would cast his presidential vote for Democrat Kamala Harris.⁸
"As citizens, we each have a duty to put country above partisanship to defend our Constitution," Cheney claimed. "That is why I will be casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris."⁹
The man who spent decades as a Republican champion voted for a radical leftist who supported Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, and defunding police.
Cheney's endorsement became a liability for Harris, reminding voters that the Democrat Party had become the party of endless wars and establishment elites.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung mocked the endorsement: "Who is Liz Cheney?"¹⁰
Cheney's daughter Liz had already been crushed in her 2022 Wyoming Republican primary, losing by more than 30 points to Trump-backed Harriet Hageman after she voted to impeach Trump and joined Nancy Pelosi's January 6 witch hunt.¹¹
The Republican Party had completely rejected the Cheney brand of politics.
Cheney's decision to endorse Harris proved Trump right about the corrupt Washington, D.C. establishment putting their own power ahead of conservative voters.
Here was Cheney — who launched a disastrous war based on lies, expanded government surveillance, and defended torture — lecturing Trump supporters about defending the Constitution.
Conservative voters saw through it immediately.
Trump won a decisive victory in 2024, securing both the Electoral College and popular vote.
Cheney died having witnessed the complete repudiation of everything he stood for within the Republican Party.
The party moved on from endless wars, nation-building, and putting globalist interests ahead of American workers and lives.
But Cheney-era dinosaurs and deceivers still ensconced within are hellbent on stamping out Trump and the GOP base’s America First instincts.
These same forces are now insisting that anyone who criticizes opposing views be de-platformed.
They’re even declaring that Tucker Carlson of all people “is not MAGA.”
That is of course ludicrous. Nothing more than confession by projection.
Such retro-grade, war-mongering voices are closer than ever during Trump’s tenure to manipulating their way into his good graces.
Trump giving in to their demand would be a travesty for America and our future generations.
Regardless of how anyone feels about Dick Cheney or what good or bad followed from how he spent his years in power, he was loved by people who are hurting today.
All people of good will should remember that.
But we should not forget the devastation the America Last policies he pushed throughout his life wrought on the country and, most especially, on the souls who senselessly paid the heavy freight for them.
The country is not better off for the spilled blood and squandered treasure of the Bush-Cheney years.
And lest anyone in the Republican Party or the Trump administration need reminding of it, Dick Cheney's final political act illustrates the kind of loyalty harbored by so many peddlers of America Last policy.
Endorsing a Democrat, showed he had more in common with the Washington, D.C. establishment than he ever did with the conservative movement that rejected his legacy.
¹ "Former Vice President Dick Cheney Dies at 84," Just the News, November 4, 2025.
² Ibid.
³ "Former Vice President Dick Cheney, who pushed for Iraq invasion, dies at 84," NBC News, November 4, 2025.
⁴ "Dick Cheney," Wikipedia, accessed November 4, 2025.
⁵ "What Dick Cheney said about Donald Trump," Newsweek, November 4, 2025.
⁶ Ibid.
⁷ "Donald Trump hits Dick Cheney over support for Kamala Harris," The Hill, September 7, 2024.
⁸ "Dick Cheney's bitter feud with Trump as he endorsed Harris," The Mirror, November 4, 2025.
⁹ "What Dick Cheney said about Donald Trump," Newsweek, November 4, 2025.
¹⁰ "Inside Dick Cheney's bitter feud with Donald Trump," Irish Star, November 4, 2025.
¹¹ "Dick Cheney, Former Bush VP, Dead at 84: Latest Updates," Newsweek, November 4, 2025.
