On Tuesday, April 22, President Scott Mcquilkin sat down with former U.S. Representative Liz Cheney for a Q&A event. They invited faculty, staff and students to engage in political discourse in the Robinson Teaching Theater.
Cheney served as a U.S. Representative from Wyoming from 2017 to 2023. She lost her seat in Congress to a Republican who was backed by current President Trump, after Cheney spoke out against the January 6 insurrection, according to a 2022 NPR article. This event was a part of the Leadership Forum, but also discussed her political career, beliefs and newest book titled “Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning.”
The first question was Cheney’s role within the committee in charge of the January 6 investigation. “I think back to what it was like in the days after the 2020 election and how sure I was […] that Trump was going to concede,” she stated. She went on to say how violence now plays a new part in our democracy, following the Capitol riot. Cheney emphasized her beliefs on the effects of the riot, stating, “I don’t want us to forget that we have been a nation to stand for the peaceful transfer of power.”
McQuilkin then asked why people would, or should, go into politics. Cheney responded, “We’re in a place right now that worries me very much, but that’s even more of a reason that we need good people.” Cheney calls upon “good people” to enter the field to enact positive changes to the system that she is currently criticizing.
When it came to leadership, she said that there is “no special sauce” to a good leader. But Cheney called out her fellow Republicans who knowingly voted in “unqualified” candidates. McQuilkin asked what the Statue of Clio, an art piece in the capital depicting a woman writing a history book, is writing about our current reality.
“What she’s writing today is that the U.S. is at a moment of real peril, and if we lose our democracy, it’s lost, not just for us, but for the world,” Cheney suggested. Despite her worries, she stated, “What gives me hope are young people. Young people who understand their generation is being called on” as a response to McQuilkin’s question on hope for America’s future.
Cheney and McQuilkin finished the event on a light note, with her talking about her love for her home state of Wyoming and promoting the President’s Leadership Forum, a Q&A that was hosted in downtown Spokane following this event.
