by Farrukh Abadi
Former Republican Vice President and oil monopoly Halliburton CEO Dick Cheney gave his endorsement to Harris earlier this month. As part of a short statement posted on X, Cheney said: “As citizens, we each have a duty to put country above partisanship to defend our Constitution. That is why I will be casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.”
Liz Cheney, Dick Cheney’s daughter and fellow Republican, also endorsed Harris earlier in the week before her father.
The Harris campaign responded enthusiastically to the endorsements, with her campaign chair stating: “The Vice President is proud to have the support of Vice-President Cheney, and deeply respects his courage to put country over party.” Harris likewise said that she was “honored” to have their endorsements.
Vermont Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders also supported the endorsements, stating “I applaud the Cheneys for their courage in defending democracy.”
Dick Cheney’s political career in “defending democracy” took off in the 1970s in the Nixon administration. Over the following decades under various Republican presidents, Cheney oversaw numerous imperialist wars of plunder, including the invasions of Panama, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He consistently pushed for the increased centralization of power in the executive branch, characteristic of the general trend of reactionization, corresponding to the imperialist tendency of monopolization, total domination, and concentration of wealth.
Cheney became widely known in his role as vice president under George W. Bush from 2001-2009 and was one of the chief architects and profiteers of the US invasion of Iraq. He was responsible for justifying the invasion—falsely alleging that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and that Saddam Hussein had direct ties to al-Qaeda—which killed over a million Iraqis and cost US workers over $3 trillion. This money was funneled through the state to monopolies like Halliburton, who Cheney had previously been the CEO of prior to becoming vice president, and was among the top recipients of government contracts during the invasion worth tens of billions of dollars.
During his tenure, Cheney “put country over party” by openly defending the use of torture by the CIA, pushing for the use of detention without trial for US citizens, and warrantless surveillance. He left office with an approval rating of 13%.
Cheney is the most influential and high profile Republican to endorse Harris thus far. While Democrats have sought to paint Cheney’s endorsement as “turning the page,” his endorsement corresponds to the imperialist trend of reactionization, with each administration shifting further to the right.
Harris has increasingly positioned herself as further to the right of both Biden and Trump on various issues, claiming that she is more “business-friendly” than Biden, and has positioned herself as more hawkish and harsher on the border than Trump.
