SD Senate President Pro Tempore Schoenbeck has harsh words for Congressional Republicans

Lee Schoenbeck, the top Senator in the South Dakota Senate, has some harsh words for those in Congress who moved to oust Liz Cheney from her caucus position for speaking her mind on President Trump.

I had a correspondent also note to me..

Liz Cheney is so conservative, she stood against gay marriage even though her sister is married to her partner.

This is not the Republican party that my generation is remotely interested in.

I would also add that South Dakota’s lone voice in Congress, Dusty Johnson, expressed in an interview that he voted to retain Cheney in Leadership, because of her independent voice:

“I’ve had my disagreements with Liz, but she’s a strong, conservative and independent voice,” he said. “There’s room for that in leadership.”

Read the entire story here.

What are your thoughts on Cheney’s ouster from her caucus position yesterday? Are some Republicans demanding too much fealty to Trump at the expense of being able to express a contrary view?

38 thoughts on “SD Senate President Pro Tempore Schoenbeck has harsh words for Congressional Republicans”

  1. Is this the same Lee Schoenbeck who was kicked out of the Republican caucus, quit the legislature on Friday and unquit on Monday, called Republican leadership pond scum, and calls fellow Republicans crazies?

    1. In Lee’s defense, if you read the story below on Lora Hubbel (who is currently registered as a Republican) you can’t blame him for using the term “crazies” on occasion.

      1. There is no excuse for calling fellow legislators “pond scum” or “crazy”. That goes beyond the pale of professionalism.

    2. “The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.” — George Orwell

  2. The parallels to the McCarthy era are almost exact. Trump’s mentor, Roy Cohn, created the Big Lie of that era. Post-New Deal GOP majorities in Congress went along for the ride and didn’t stand up until the disaster of the televised hearings turned the nation against them. Thus, the wave of Kennedy, Johnson and the Great Society began that didn’t end until Reagan a generation later.

    Learn from history, folks.

  3. Not a huge fan of hers generally, but she was let go because people are still committed to stroking one man’s ego. The top 3 members of House Leadership (assuming Stefanik is picked) for the GOP are now people who refused to certify the election. My party keeps moving further away from me.

  4. I understand why Cheney had to be removed- fealty to Trump is the #1 issue for this GOP and she no longer represented the views of the conference she was trying to lead (on that issue). But that is a sad, sad reflection on the conference, not her.

  5. It’s time to get rid of dusty and run a real conservative. There are some folks in the SD House who could certainly step forward in what should be a 2022 conservative waive. Problem is our Gov will probably be 100% behind our current rino.

    1. Dusty is a real conservative. Treating Trump’s claims as bible truth is not a prerequisite for conservatism.

    2. Be patient. The winging of this dying generation of country club repubs has to run its course. They know it’s all coming to an end for them very soon. Hang in there. The war was over before it even started. Let them cry.

  6. All Liz Cheney does is go on left wing networks and bash members of her own party. She does nothing to advance conservative values or defeat the Biden agenda. For Dusty Johnson to support that is beyond believe. We need a primary challenge. We need Republicans who actually have the guts to stand up to the left wing instead of feeding into their narrative like Rep. Johnson has done.

    1. What narrative? The fact of the matter is that Cheney was fired for speaking out about the bs claims that the election was stolen. There is room for discussion about whether or not she was choosing the correct medium to correct people (don’t air the party’s dirty laundry on the news), but there is no “narrative” regarding election fraud. There wasn’t any. All the searches for bamboo and non-existent watermarks on ballots won’t change that.

      1. I didn’t say anything about election fraud. I’m talking about the narrative of an “Extremist Republican Party” and “GOP Civil War” that the media loves to perpetuate. Liz Cheney is obsessed with Trump. You don’t advance a conservative agenda by attacking fellow Republicans on CNN and MSNBC. Gas prices are going up, inflation accelerating at the highest rate in 12 years and Isreal under attack those are the things Liz Cheney should be worried about.

        1. Obsessed? She said he is lying and that people need to stop humoring the lie in the name of party unity. How is that obsessed?

        2. I’m pretty sure Trump is the one obsessed with the election and all Cheney is guilty of is calling him out for it. She is right that is does the party no good to continue to entertain his obsession.

  7. Cheney is still working harder against President Trump since he left office than against Old Man Biden who has done more damage in 100 days than most presidents do in a term. That is why I think Cheney needed to go.

    Stefanik as the replacement? Eh, not so sure on that one.

  8. Cheney has lost her mind. Trump is no longer in office but she can’t stop complaining about him, or his supporters.
    Sane Republicans know that insulting and antagonizing the 74 million people who voted for Trump in 2020 is not a good tactic for a re-election strategy. She needs to shut up.

    1. Well, maybe should let go of his crazy claims about the election being stolen. And maybe the Arizona GOP should be doing a THIRD audit conducted by a company with no election experience that fights against any oversight. And maybe other members of the party on the hill should stop supporting the lie. It’s absolutely crazy to me that he lies time and time again and your response is to tell Liz Cheney to shut up about it. Maybe Trump should just stop lying and other members of the party should stop supporting the lie.

      No, that’s crazy. The problem is with the honest person. Good call.

      1. As a follow up to cut off the completely bs argument that this is not about the lie and more about Cheney not being a conservative: the replacement for her being discussed is Elise Stefanik, a woman with a significantly more liberal voting record. The difference: Stefanik supports claims the election was stolen. Yeah, sure, this is about conservatism.

  9. The job Liz Cheney had was to help get Republicans elected. As the minority leader stated, when you are in a leadership position, you have to speak for the whole caucus. Cheney only spoke for herself. So it was time for her to go. She had/has a vendetta against President Trump and could not do anything that was not anti-Trump. It was time for her to go. BTW, notice who came out in support of her. Pelosi and Schumer to name a couple.

    1. A vendetta? She said he wasn’t telling the truth about election fraud! Why is it any time someone says Trump isn’t being honest, they are immediately attacked as “having a vendetta” or “being obsessed?” We hold children more accountable than we do the former President. It’s nuts at this point.

      1. “Former” President is exactly the point. She should be more worried about Bidens lies that are currently crippling the country. But instead she is worried about a former president putting out press releases while sitting at a golf course in Florida!

        1. And yet you have nothing to say about the people supporting the lies. Funny the things people pay attention to.

          1. Exactly my point. I’m paying attention to the current occupant of the white house. What exactly should of been done? Keep her in office and have her continue to undermine Republicans in congress?

            1. You pay attention to the person who says no to Trump lies, but ignore those who support the lies. Did you intentionally miss the point?

              1. The point I’m trying to make is why is she focused solely on what a former president is saying and not the current one. As far as “Trumps Lies” and the people supporting the investigation into voter irregularities go. I don’t see why a transparent investigation into the 2020 election is such a problem for some people. I always thought is you have nothing to hide then you have nothing to be afraid of

      2. Well, we do know some people are concerned about a strong look at the ballots. Look at what is happening in AZ with the shenanigans going on trying to stop the audit. Now we find servers have been wiped. That is about as innocent as Hillary using Bleach Bit to wipe her servers. What are they afraid of. We do not know President Trump lied. As you may recall she was also front and center of the soldier bounty lie. She never apologized for that. It is good she is done in leadership and will be gone in January 2023. Hopefully she runs for President against President Trump.

        1. They already had two “strong looks” at the ballots in AZ and came up with nothing. You lot didn’t like the results so you are doing it yet again, hoping this time will be different. And the “shenanigans” you mention are largely in response to a completely opaque process where a company with ZERO background in election work has actively fought against any oversight of the process that included checking for non-existent watermarks with UV lights and searching for bamboo in ballots because of the breathtakingly stupid assumption that China produces all its paper with bamboo and snuck in ballots. You people have disconnected from reality completely and feign confusion when people are turned off by your fantasy land.

  10. Trump has been a loser since the 70’s. He was on talk shows and news shows as the butt of jokes, no one ever accused him of being intelligent. Then, he got himself a TV show. People started to believe he was the character he played. All trump has done is demonstrate the power of television over the masses. Someday you will all have to explain why you let an idiotic, narcissistic, fool lead you around and steal your money to your children and grandchildren. Think about it.

  11. It’s an obsession because it’s all she talks about. Even yesterday she was vowing to keep him from the oval office. Seeings you keep bring up the 2020 election. Do you think there were no problems with the election? Was there massive censorship by Twitter, Facebook and the media leading up to the election? Were voting laws changed to allow easier access to mail in voting? Did liberal courts not strike down voting laws after democrats sued? Did Facebook interject millions of dollars into local election offices in the run up to the election? I’m not talking about magical voting machines and boatloads of ballots coming in from China. I’m talking about prove able facts

  12. I don’t know how anybody knows what Trump is saying as he has been blocked from social media. All we hear is people like Cheney who can’t stop talking about him. What is she hoping accomplish with that?
    It’s like listening to somebody who can’t stop complaining about an ex-spouse. How long do you listen to that before you ask “why can’t you just be happy you aren’t married anymore?” And insulting all the people who voted for him is stupid. Just stupid. If somebody says they hope he’ll run again in 2024, just pretend they are talking about Hillary, and react accordingly.

  13. Here is the crazy part (and makes Dusty the real conservative):

    Liz Cheney has a higher lifetime conservative voting record AND supported President Trump more than her replacement.

    So over an issue which has no more practical impact on people’s lives as it wouldn’t make a lick of difference either way just like a resolution, the Republican Party chose a less conservative person for leadership over a “resolution” which if it had any effect would have been struck down as Unconstitutional as elections are the purview of the states.

    Republicans have entered the same bizarro room as the Democrats.

  14. As someone looking into the tent from the outside, it seems that Cheney and McCarthy were pretty much on the same page on January 7. Then soon thereafter McCarthy made the trip to Mar-A-Largo to profess fealty, kiss the ring, or whatever it’s called. Then his and the one-time prez turned on Cheney, went to Wyoming to get her censured, etc. Ever since she’s been beaten like a bad dog for her commentary.

    If she’s supposed to “speak for the whole caucus,” it seems like she’s just pointing out that what happened on January 6 was supporting the guy who lost you the House, Senate, and the White House.

    Just saying.

  15. When we lived in Georgia we noticed that the Atlanta Constitution frequently published LTEs about the Civil War. For many people in Georgia it wasn’t over yet. There were lots of
    bumper stickers that said things like “Lee surrendered; I didn’t,” and “The South will rise again.”
    Rather than waste our time arguing with these people we demurred and said “ok, whatever”
    This is what normal people do. I would find Cheney a lot more interesting if she devoted herself to that subject. She would still be wasting her time but it would be entertaining.
    And she’s wrong about Trump undermining the public’s faith in the integrity of our elections; The Democrats have been doing that ever since Bush beat Gore in 2000.

    There are much more important things to do than antagonize Trump’s supporters.

    1. Good call, Ann. The best thing to do is completely ignore Trump’s lies. It’s not like anyone would storm the capitol over them.

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