This is The New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker.

Welcome to The New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick.

There was a time not very long ago that Liz Cheney was a big deal, a serious contender in Republican politics.

She obviously came from a Washington power family.

She was the daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney,

and her mother is Lynn Cheney, who chaired the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Early on, Liz Cheney worked in the State Department

before running for office from the state of Wyoming.

In Congress, she quickly rose to be the number three Republican. In other words,

Liz Cheney was every bit the conservative Washington insider. She was totally on board when

Donald Trump came to town and voted with his positions a remarkable 93% of the time.

But finally, at the end of the Trump administration, she broke with Trump.

She balked.

She wouldn't go along with Republicans who ignored or amplified the stream of dangerous lies

about the 2020 election.

And in the aftermath of January 6th, she voted to impeach Donald Trump, something that only

10 Republicans did. And that was it. Republicans in Washington and back in Wyoming stripped Liz

Cheney of her party positions. They censured her, and finally, she lost a primary election very badly.

Cheney recounts all of this in a new book with the title,

Oath and Honor.

We spoke last week.

I think we should start out with the most important thing of all.

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