WSJ editorial board: GOP deserves to be in minority if Cheney is punished

The Wall Street Journal's editorial board warned on Tuesday that "if bowing before all things Trump is the litmus test for being a loyal Republican, the party should get used to continued losses in the suburbs."

Why it matters: The GOP effort to oust Conference Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) from leadership is gaining momentum, after the No. 3 House Republican doubled down on her criticisms of former President Trump, whom she voted to impeach in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 insurrection.

• Cheney tweeted on Monday: "The 2020 presidential election was not stolen. Anyone who claims it was is spreading THE BIG LIE, turning their back on the rule of law, and poisoning our democratic system."
• The Wall Street Journal editorial board — along with other Murdoch-owned media outlets such as Fox News and the New York Post — is an influential voice in conservative politics and has traditionally been favorable to Republicans and Trump.

What they're saying: The editorial board compared the effort to remove Cheney with House Republican leadership's backing of conspiracy-supporting Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who was ultimately stripped of her committee assignments during a vote in which only 11 Republicans chose to penalize her.

• House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) "should be defending his colleague’s vote as a matter of principle, even if he disagreed with it, rather than living in fear of the wrath of Mar-a-Lago," the editorial board writes, noting that McCarthy did not whip Republicans against voting to impeach Trump.
• "The main goal of the House minority is to become the majority, and in 2022 Republicans should have an excellent chance. But they’ll squander it if they purge serious Members like Liz Cheney and let themselves be defined by conspiracy theorists and Parkland truthers."