TIME op-ed mocked for suggesting GOP used the ‘Soviet skill’ of ‘disappearing someone’ on Liz Cheney

TIME Washington Correspondent Philip Elliott compared the Republican Party to the Soviets Wednesday, saying the GOP "disappeared" Liz Cheney, to the mockery of Twitter users.

"It’s not just the Soviets who are masters of disappearing someone," Elliott warned in a piece titled "The GOP Just Borrowed a Soviet Skill and Disappeared Liz Cheney." "Just look at Wyoming, where voters this week drubbed a former senior member of the Republican establishment out of office on orders from former President Donald Trump," he said. 

The writer suggested in the article that Cheney, after losing by a massive margin in the Wyoming Republican primary, had somehow been erased from party history like somebody who had run afoul of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.

Elliott recounted how Cheney, once a mainstay of conventional Republican politics had rebelled against the new direction of the party as she moved against its leader, Donald Trump. "Her performance made her a darling of liberals who not that long ago thought the Cheney clan to be some of the worst people in America," he said.

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Elliott suggested that the vote that finally ousted her from political office for the time being "was a disappearing that would have made the Cold War Soviets proud."

The TIME writer remarked on how Republicans who voted to impeach a sitting Republican president have been punished by the American electorate, suggesting that "it’s worth treating the current roster of Republicans like a politburo postcard. Of the 10 Republicans who voted for Trump’s second impeachment, eight will not be returning next year."

He noted further that "Trump worked aggressively against nine of them and has a near-perfect record. Almost everyone not standing with Comrade Donald was cut from the roster, erased from the picture."

Elliott offered praise for Cheney while also slamming the GOP for its current political trajectory.

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"Cheney shows bravery by fighting to stay in the frame, but she is likely to find it is nearly impossible to change a party without powerful allies on the inside to sponsor the effort," he wrote. "The open question is if Cheney can jam the gear with sufficient force to at least make it lurch, or if the machine will keep grinding her further and further from real power."

Twitter users skewered the piece for saying the Republican Party had used the "Soviet skill" of disappearing people to oust Cheney.

DC Examiner columnist T. Becket Adams commented with sarcasm, tweeting, "Losing by 38 points in a free and fair democratic election, rejected overwhelmingly by the people who elected you in the first place, just like in the Soviet Union." 

He observed in a following tweet that "The people who say they love and respect democracy the most sure talk as if the voters have no agency or authority in the democratic process."

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Contributing editor for the Spectator Stephen L. Miller appeared to reply with similar sarcasm, saying, "The Soviet skill of private citizens quietly and politely casting votes in a primary election."

"'A Soviet skill'...lol..you mean...voting? Not sure we owe that one to the commies," said RedState deputy managing editor Kira Davis.

Podcast host Jesse Hawken wrote, "yes, the Soviet Union, famous for their... elections."