NICOLLE WALLACE: Do you think -- I’ve asked people that study democracies the same question. And do you think that the violence is ahead or behind?
LIZ CHENEY: I think that it may well still be ahead. I think the fact that- that, you know, you begin with former President Trump and the extent to which he continues to make actually even more aggressive and more extreme attacks and claims, the kinds of things he knows caused violence on January 6th, you see- even if you look, for example, at what was going on in the Speaker's race, when Members of the House Republican conference were receiving threats if they weren't saying that they would vote for Jim Jordan, and in one of the most chilling reported episodes, and I talked to a member who was in this meeting, when members were saying to Jim Jordan, look, we're getting threats of violence if we don't support you. Warren Davidson of Ohio, a Jim Jordan supporter, reportedly responded and said “well, that's not Jim Jordan's fault. That's your fault.” And think about, you know, what that means. That acceptance of violence in our political system.
WALLACE: Well, I want to ask you what it means because I don't know if I read it and felt it- obviously, I read it and felt all of the parallels to this time of great threat to the country that we served in government at the same time, and that was post 9/11. But what's so disorienting about this chapter is not just that we have fewer tools to address this threat, but that it masquerades and it burrows in under legitimate functions: as Speaker of the House, the front runner for the Republican nomination. And I wonder if you can talk a little bit about what you see as the way forward.
CHENEY: Yeah. Um, you know, part of the challenge is that it is, as you point out, is very disorienting. You remember after 9/11, Republicans and Democrats together stood on the steps of the Capitol and sang "God Bless America." After the attack…
WALLACE: And voted 100-0 or 99-0 on the Patriot Act. I mean, the tools were passed. Everyone agreed on them, and the enemy was clear. This is the opposite.
CHENEY: Well, and I think this is a situation where you have the Republican Party actively trying to ensure that people- actively trying to ensure- to whitewash what happened on the 6th. And to collaborate with the former president, I think that's a really important point. Because the threat that he poses wouldn’t be so significant if people had done the right thing, had said “no, he’s not…that’s not who we are.” But instead there’s obviously, there’s this embrace of him, and this collaboration with the very damaging efforts he’s undertaking.