Wyoming's new House member is a wack job

Also: Can Ohio Senate candidate Tim Ryan reconnect the Democrats to the working class?

Harriet “Crazy Eyes” Hageman, the new at-large representative from Wyoming.

The person Liz Cheney just lost the Wyoming Republican primary to, Harriet Hageman, is not just a Never Trumper turned groveling Trump toady, we learn from Olivia Beavers in Politico. She is also a pathological liar:

Hageman told Fox News that Cheney had “left a very brief two-second message on my cell phone” Tuesday night, without addressing “any kind of concession or anything else.” According to audio provided by the Cheney campaign to Politico, however, Cheney called Hageman to concede the race at 8:13 p.m. on Tuesday night.

Audible in the recording is an aide notifying Cheney that the Associated Press had just called the race for her opponent.

“Hi, Harriet, it is Liz Cheney calling,” Cheney is heard saying in the audio. “It is about 8:13 on Tuesday the 16th, I’m calling to concede the election and congratulate you on the win. Thanks.”

The recording contradicts the narrative Hageman offered host Sean Hannity on Wednesday about Cheney’s call on primary night.

“I haven’t had any other contact with Liz Cheney. She made the one effort and all she said was ‘Hello, Harriet.’ And then that was the end of it,” Hageman said. When Hannity sought to clarify that she was alleging Cheney had “just said ‘Hello, Harriet’ and then hung up,” Hageman reiterated: “That was the end of the call, yes.”

I know that politicians are not always the most truthful people in the world, and that Trump trained a new generation of politicians to say down is up. But to lie when there’s no particular reason to, except to be a nasty sore winner? That’s just freaking nuts.

My New Republic political obituary for Cheney, whose politics I abhor but whose courage I very much admire and will miss, can be read here. I argue that Cheney’s loss to Hageman is a defeat for conservatism. Apparently it’s also a defeat for sanity.

Also, in the latest print issue of TNR I have a report on Tim Ryan’s Senate race in Ohio, which, if he wins, may help reconnect the Buckeye State to the Democrats, and reconnect the Democrats to the working class. You can read that here.