It was hardly an unexpected outcome, but Liz Cheney was trounced yesterday in her primary run against Harriet (Who?) Hageman, a Republican attorney who once supported her. Wyoming voters — who gave Trump his biggest victory in 2020 — thought Cheney was “out of step” with their own desires.

By now it’s clear that the defining attribute of the current Republican party is a requirement of loyalty — the thing that Donald Trump also prizes above all other things.

The Republican party has turned into the Mafia.

Cheney is correct, of course, in her assessment that history will not be on the side of this Republican party. Given all of his legal troubles — which are beginning to coalesce — Trump may be lucky to just stay out of jail for 2024.

Cheney, in the meantime, has built a vast financial base and network which will allow her to challenge Trump directly in 2024, something she is clearly thinking about.

“In coming weeks, Liz will be launching an organization to educate the American people about the ongoing threat to our Republic, and to mobilize a unified effort to oppose any Donald Trump campaign for president,” according to Cheney spokesman Jeremy Adler (as reported by Politico).

In the general election, Hageman will be running against indigenous American Lynnette Grey Bull, who has no chance at all to beat her. Last night Hageman got 106,322 primary votes; Grey Bull got 4410.

Goodbye.

But good for her for running. Hageman, for her part, is destined for an undistinguished career as a back-bencher, while Cheney’s future over the next few years should be interesting to watch.

In any event, history will be much kinder to her than any of the others.

In other news, Lisa Murkowski comfortably survived her senatorial primary in Alaska, and Sarah Palin advanced to be the Republican nominee in Alaska’s lone congressional district.