This is an adapted excerpt from the Oct. 3 episode of “The ReidOut.”
On Thursday, I was in Ripon, Wisconsin — known as the birthplace of the Republican Party — to witness a truly important moment in American politics. Former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, put country above party and joined Kamala Harris on the campaign trail for the first time.
“I am proudly casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris,” Cheney told the crowd.
You cannot overlook the symbolism of having this campaign event in Ripon. In 1854, it was the place where a group of Americans came together to form a new political party and fight against the spread of slavery. It was a moment of real moral clarity in our country. And on Thursday, as I stood in that crowd, I felt like this was another one of those moments.
I got to speak to Harris and Liz Cheney before the event, and they were both very aware of the symbolic significance and the weight of this moment. When you step back, it’s rather extraordinary to think about what we are seeing from the Democrats and the Harris campaign and their willingness to create a big tent. They’re not relitigating things that happened in the past. Instead, they’re coming together with those on the other side of the aisle around a common cause: our democracy.
This is not a choice between right or left, liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican. It is a moral decision about our constitutional order and about whether or not we’re going to put country over party.
When they took to the stage together, Harris and Cheney embraced that message. They essentially said, let’s set aside our political and ideological differences because our country is in survival mode. American democracy is facing a five-alarm fire. We must rise to the occasion and not let traditional ideological differences get in the way of recognizing the importance of this moment, because in November it’s all on the line.