Cheney fought Democrats over Iraq before joining them against Trump
When Enemies Found Common Ground: How Dick Cheney’s Stand Against Trump Reshaped American Politics
In a moment that would have seemed impossible just years earlier, former Vice President Dick Cheney stood on the House floor alongside Democrats on January 6, 2022, marking the first anniversary of the Capitol attack. The scene was striking: Cheney, once the architect of post-9/11 hawkish policies that Democrats fiercely opposed, was there to commemorate the riot in solidarity with the party that had spent decades castigating him.
Sen. Adam Schiff, then a House member investigating the Capitol attack, didn’t even recognize Cheney at first, mistaking him for another lawmaker because of his mask. When Cheney’s daughter and fellow committee member Liz Cheney made the introduction, Schiff said something he never thought he’d say to the man whose Iraq War policies he had vehemently opposed: “I appreciated his being there.”
This unlikely alliance between Cheney and Democrats represents one of the most consequential political realignments in recent American history—one driven not by shared ideology but by a fundamental disagreement over the Constitution itself.
From Pariah to Patriot: The Evolution of Political Opposition
For decades, Dick Cheney was a Democratic target. As Defense Secretary under George H.W. Bush and then Vice President under George W. Bush, Cheney championed policies that liberals considered dangerous: the invasion of Iraq, enhanced interrogation techniques, and expanded domestic surveillance. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, who would later welcome Cheney to the Capitol on that January day, had called the Iraq War “a grotesque mistake” and “a war of choice.”
The shift didn’t happen overnight. Cheney maintained a relatively low public profile after leaving office in 2009, writing books and offering occasional commentary. Like many Republicans, he initially endorsed Donald Trump in 2016. But as Trump’s presidency progressed and culminated in the January 6 riot, Cheney’s position hardened.
“There has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” Cheney declared in October 2024, endorsing Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris—a stunning cross-party endorsement from one of modern conservatism’s most influential figures.
“Dick Cheney was a patriotic American who loved his country. While we strongly disagreed on most policy issues, his patriotism was clear when he returned to the House Floor to commemorate the first anniversary of January 6th,” Pelosi said in November after Cheney’s death at age 84.
Liz Cheney’s Courage and a Father’s Pride
The bond between Dick and Liz Cheney became central to this political transformation. Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican, was one of only 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump over January 6. She called him “clearly unfit” for the presidency and joined the House select committee investigating the riot—a decision that cost her dearly within her own party.
In February 2022, the Republican National Committee voted to censure both Liz Cheney and committee member Adam Kinzinger, the first time it had ever censured sitting congressional Republicans. Liz lost her primary reelection bid to a Trump-backed challenger in August 2022. Yet her father stood beside her throughout, attending that January 6 anniversary ceremony as a visible show of support.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democratic constitutional law professor who had marched against the Iraq War, recounted how Dick Cheney called him after Raskin defended Liz on the House floor against attacks from fellow Republicans. “It was very much a paternal gesture,” Raskin told USA TODAY. “It reinforced for me the tender feelings.”
The Constitutional Line They Refused to Cross
What made this alliance meaningful wasn’t agreement on policy—it was agreement on something more fundamental. Raskin articulated this distinction: “For all of our profound differences with Dick Cheney, he was not someone who said the Constitution and the rule of law didn’t matter. He just had a different interpretation of what they meant.”
That distinction proved decisive. Cheney had championed executive power throughout his career, pushing the boundaries of presidential authority. But crucially, he did so within the framework of constitutional government. Trump’s refusal to accept the 2020 election results and his role in January 6 represented, in Cheney’s view, something categorically different—an attack on the democratic system itself.
Rep. Steny Hoyer, the second-ranking House Democrat when the anniversary ceremony occurred, explained Cheney’s position with particular clarity. “Because he was no softie, his statement was even stronger that, ‘Yes, I believe in a strong, centralized president, but I don’t believe in insurrection. I don’t believe in treason. I don’t believe in undermining the Constitution,'” Hoyer said.
The House select committee investigating January 6 identified Trump as the “central cause” of the Capitol attack[apnews.com], after an 18-month investigation that included more than 1,000 witnesses and several public hearings. The panel, made up of seven Democrats and two Republicans, voted unanimously to recommend charges to the Justice Department.
The Price of Principle in Trump’s GOP
Cheney’s stand came at considerable cost. Trump has been relentless in his attacks, calling Cheney “irrelevant” and a “Republican in name only.” More troublingly, Trump and Republican allies have called for prosecuting both Dick and Liz Cheney for their roles on the investigation committee.
During Senate confirmation hearings for Trump’s attorney general nominee Pam Bondi in January 2025, Sen. Adam Schiff pressed Bondi on whether she would investigate Liz Cheney. Bondi refused to answer directly, calling the question “a gotcha” while insisting she would “never play politics.” Trump has remained silent about Cheney’s death but railed against him on the campaign trail[usnews.com].
Meanwhile, a December 2024 House Administration report alleged that Liz Cheney engaged in witness tampering during the investigation—charges the committee has vigorously denied. When Trump took office, he promised to consider pardons for January 6 defendants on his first day[abcnews.go.com], and has accused the House committee of “deleting and destroying all the evidence.”
Liz Cheney has responded directly to these accusations. “Trump knows his claims about the select committee are ridiculous and false,” she said in a statement, pointing to documentation from committee chair Bennie Thompson.
A Rare Moment of Bipartisan Clarity
What made January 6, 2022, unusual wasn’t just that Dick and Liz Cheney attended the anniversary ceremony—it was that they were the only Republicans who showed up. The stark absence of other GOP members underscored how thoroughly Trump had reshaped the Republican Party in his image, and how isolated those who refused to fall in line had become.
According to research on political polarization and institutional breakdown, periods of democratic crisis often produce unexpected alliances based on shared commitment to constitutional governance rather than ideological alignment. The Cheney case represents a textbook example of this phenomenon.
Hoyer, who had served with Cheney in the House during the 1980s and knew him as a “very, very tough” partisan conservative, captured the significance: Cheney’s willingness to break with his party mattered precisely because he wasn’t a “softie.” His conservative credentials were unimpeachable. When such a figure said the line had been crossed, it carried weight that transcended normal partisan disagreement.
As America continues to grapple with questions about election integrity, constitutional governance, and the limits of executive power, Dick Cheney’s unlikely alliance with Democrats stands as a reminder that some principles transcend party. Whether future generations will view this moment as a stabilizing force during a democratic crisis or merely as a footnote to an era of unprecedented polarization remains to be seen.
What is clear is this: In standing together against an attack on the Capitol, Dick Cheney and his Democratic colleagues demonstrated that even profound policy disagreements need not prevent agreement on the fundamental rules of democratic governance. In an era of relentless partisan conflict, that demonstration—however brief, however costly—offered something rare and valuable.