SO WHO'LL BEAT LIZ CHENEY IN HER 2022 PRIMARY? WILL IT BE DON JUNIOR?

Yesterday, Liz Cheney appeared on Fox News Sunday and told host Chris Wallace that she won't leave office, despite the fact that she's been censured by her state party.

I assume she's doomed in 2022, and it's only a question of which Republican will beat her in a primary and then, because it's Wyoming, go on to win the general election. Tell me whether I'm misinterpreting this passage from Politico Playbook:

After her Sunday interview, DONALD TRUMP JR. told Playbook he’s gearing up for a trip to Wyoming to take on Cheney.

“I hear it’s lovely during primary season,” he said.

Are we being told that Junior intends to "take on Cheney" as in "go to Wyoming and attack her on behalf of a local challenger"? Or are we being told that he intends to "take on Cheney" as in take on Cheney?

Last month, Politico reported that Junior had passed up a race in Wyoming.

Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of President Donald Trump, decided against running for an open Senate seat in Wyoming in 2020, according to Politico.

In an article detailing the political futures of the Trump family, specifically that of White House advisor Ivanka Trump, who is thought of as a potential Republican challenger to GOP Sen. Marco Rubio in 2022, the development about Wyoming was notable.

"The president's eldest son, Don Jr., is eyeing a future in politics as well, though allies say it's unclear when or what office he'd seek after he passed on running for the Senate in Wyoming this last cycle," Politico said.

Junior has involved himself in Wyoming politics before. In 2018, he published an op-ed in Wyoming's Casper Star-Tribune endorsing the unsuccessful gubernatorial candidacy of right-wing billionaire Foster Friess. Friess is best known in politics as the man who largely bankrolled Rick Santorum's surprisingly successfully presidential primary race in 2012. Friess backed Trump Sr. in 2016, and the then-president backed Friess in 2018.

And recently, when Matt Gaetz spoke at a rally against Cheney in Wyoming, he phoned Junior during his speech, and Junior attacked Cheney.

At one point, Mr Trump Jr took aim at Ms Cheney’s father, former vice president Dick Cheney, saying: “It seems like Liz Cheney's favorables are only slightly worse than her father's shooting skills.”

But would Trump Sr. endorse Trump Jr.? I assume he would ... half-heartedly. We know he'd be over the moon if Ivanka ran for anything, but his son? I'm not so sure. I wonder if uncertainty about his father's support is giving Junior pause.

*****

I don't want to sentimentalize Liz Cheney, but why are so few elected officials willing to risk their careers the way she's risking hers? I wouldn't say she's courageous or brave -- the unwillingness of others is cowardice.

Has anyone in the past few decades ever left Congress and become destitute? That's a real risk for the vast majority of Americans who lose their jobs. It's not a risk for members of Congress. They invariably move on to cushy jobs as lobbyists, to seats on corporate boards, to speechmaking and book-writing and appearances on television. None of them will ever miss a meal. So why won't more of them risk these jobs that aren't supposed to be for life, even though they effectively are?

Cheney's father was a political careerist -- deputy White House chief of staff, then chief of staff, then a congressman, then the secretary of defense. But then -- when he was approximately the age his daughter is now -- he left politics and became a director of the Council on Foreign Relations, then CEO of Halliburton.

See? That wasn't so bad -- Cheney left politics and landed on his feet. And then he appointed himself George W. Bush's running mate and he became vice president.

Life is so precarious for so many Americans that you can't blame them for staying in their jobs despite misgivings. D.C. politicians have no such excuse. We keep reading that Republicans privately believe Donald Trump is a cancer on th eir party -- there's another story to that effect at Politico today. You really feel this way, congressional Republicans? Then do something about it. And if you lose your next primary, so what? You'll be fine.