A tale of two Republicans
By 
How to get ahead and get defeated as a Republican in 2022:
With about 22 percent percent of the vote tallied, Hageman had more than 60 percent to Cheney’s 35 percent, according to the Associated Press, which projected Hageman’s win. Hageman headed into the day as the clear favorite and close observers had anticipated her for weeks.
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“We are facing a moment where our democracy really is under attack and under threat, and those of us across the board — Republicans, Democrats and independents, who believe deeply in freedom and who care about the Constitution and the future of the country — I think have an obligation to put that above party,” she added.
Cheney is the fourth House Republican to lose a primary after voting to impeach Trump last year, on charges that he incited a riot. The others are Reps. Tom Rice of South Carolina, Peter Meijer of Michigan and Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington.
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Hageman used to support Cheney and in 2016 opposed Trump, calling him “racist and xenophobic.” But she has come to embrace Trump and baselessly claims that the 2020 election was “rigged” against him, like many successful Republican candidates around the country. A Washington Post analysis found that in battleground states, candidates who deny the legitimacy of the 2020 vote have won GOP nominations this year for nearly two-thirds of state and federal offices with power over elections.
Cheney’s concession speech was good:
Cheney: Our republic relies upon the goodwill of all candidates for office to accept, honorably, the outcome of elections. Tonight Harriet Hageman, has received the most votes in this primary. She won. I called her to concede the race. pic.twitter.com/Z0NsRjX3JB— Acyn (@Acyn) August 17, 2022
Cheney: I have said since January 6th that I will do whatever it takes to ensure Donald Trump is never again near the oval office, and I mean it. I am a conservative Republican… I love what our party has stood for. But I love my country more. pic.twitter.com/NMT2VJGcGP— Acyn (@Acyn) August 17, 2022
Cheney differs from conservative orthodoxy on exactly one point: whether “Donald Trump should have been installed as a dictator in 2021” is an acceptable view. Her primary defeat is not a blow against the Iraq War or anything but basic democratic values. Hageman knows what Trump represents too, but she wants power more.