Liz Cheney’s Abe Lincoln Comparison Clobbered by MAGA: ‘Truly Delusional’

Republican Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming is being mocked for comparing herself to former President Abraham Lincoln after being ousted in her state’s GOP primary election.

Cheney, one of former President Donald Trump’s most outspoken Republican critics, was defeated by a wide margin on Tuesday by Trump-backed challenger Harriet Hageman. While delivering her concession speech, Cheney noted that Lincoln had lost elections for House and Senate seats before becoming president after “winning the most important election of all.” The congresswoman suggested that she would also “ultimately prevail” and referenced Lincoln’s famous speech at Gettysburg.

“Abraham Lincoln was defeated in elections for the Senate and the House before he won the most important election of all,” said Cheney. “Lincoln ultimately prevailed, he saved our union and he defined our obligation as Americans for all of history. Speaking at Gettysburg of the great task remaining before us, Lincoln said, ‘That we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain.'”

“‘That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and a government of the people by the people and for the people shall not perish from this earth,'” she continued. “As we meet here tonight, that remains our greatest and most important task.”

Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming listens during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on September 25, 2019, in Washington, D.C. Cheney lost her reelection bid Tuesday night during her state’s Republican primary. Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

A number of pro-Trump conservatives quickly reacted to the speech and Cheney’s comparison on social media.

“A clear message is being sent about what the Republican Party needs to be,” Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia tweeted. “It’s not anything like liar Liz Cheney, who is nothing like Abraham Lincoln.”

“Liz Cheney really compared herself to Lincoln… LMFAO,” tweeted Donald Trump Jr. “That CNN & MSDNC fluffing really got to her carpetbagger/warmonger head.”

“Liz Cheney is no Abraham Lincoln but she looks and sounds more like Crooked Hillary by the day!” conservative media personality Tomi Lahren tweeted.

“Someone should inform Liz Cheney that Abraham Lincoln would have voted for Harriet Hageman,” conservative commentator and author Nick Adams tweeted.

“Whoever wrote Liz Cheney’s concession speech is living in a state of delusion,” tweeted conservative author and anti-Muslim activist Brigitte Gabriel. “She just got obliterated in her primary and she’s comparing herself to Abraham Lincoln.”

“Liz Cheney’s political career began in 2014 when she announced a run for senate in Wyoming with a Facebook post geotagged to McLean, Virginia,” digital strategist Greg Price tweeted. “It ended with her comparing herself to Abraham Lincoln after losing her congressional seat by over 35 points.”

“What is hilarious about this tweet is that there is not a shred of exaggeration,” tweeted Ben Kew, editor-at-large for the Spanish-language conservative media platform El American. “Cheney LITERALLY compares herself to Abraham Lincoln. These people are utterly shameless.”

“Liz Cheney compared herself to Abraham Lincoln because I believe she’s truly delusional, wants a Civil War and thinks her side would win,” author Tim Young tweeted.

Cheney’s reference to Lincoln could be a hint that she intends to run for president in 2024, which has been the subject of a considerable amount of speculation. Cheney has not ruled out the possibility of running, although polls suggest that her chances of securing the GOP nomination are very slim.

Cheney also told her campaign team that “our work is far from over” during the concession speech. She insisted that she could have easily retained her seat if she had embraced Trump’s false claims of massive fraud in the 2020 presidential election, which she said “was a path I could not and would not take.”

“No House seat, no office in this land, is more important than the principles that we are all sworn to protect,” said Cheney. “And I well understood the potential political consequences of abiding by my duty.”

Trump celebrated Cheney’s loss before she made her concession speech, congratulating Hageman “on her great and very decisive WIN in Wyoming” in a Truth Social post. He also said that Cheney “should be ashamed of herself, the way she acted, and her spiteful, sanctimonious words and actions towards others.”

“Now she can finally disappear into the depths of political oblivion where, I am sure, she will be much happier than she is right now,” Trump added. “Thank you WYOMING!”

In an additional post made after Cheney’s concession, Trump called the outgoing congresswoman “a fool” and mocked her having a “tiny” crowd, although he did not address the Lincoln comparison. Instead, he repeated his claims of a “rigged” 2020 election, falsely claiming that there was “massive and conclusive evidence” that he was the election’s true winner.

Newsweek reached out to Trump’s office for additional comment.