Ari Melber Confronts Matt Schlapp on GOP Ousting Cheney: Your Own Organization Ranks Stefanik as Far Less Conservative

MSNBC’s Ari Melber spoke with American Conservative Union chair Matt Schlapp on Tuesday and asked him why Liz Cheney is likely being replaced by a Republican the ACU itself says is far less conservative.

Cheney is set to be ousted from House GOP leadership, in a vote set for Wednesday, for her public statements calling out Donald Trump’s big lie about the election. Stefanik has been publicly endorsed by Trump and Kevin McCarthy for the position, but it’s been widely noted that Stefanik, despite being more publicly pro-Trump than Cheney, hasn’t had as conservative a voting record as Cheney.

The American Conservative Union, as of this posting, has Cheney at a 78.03 lifetime rating, compared to 43.64 for Stefanik.

Melber asked Schlapp directly, “When you look at House Republican leadership posts, do you generally think they should be held by people with higher conservative ratings from your group or lower ratings?”

“We like conservatives to be in leadership, Ari,” Schlapp said.

He told Melber the ACU hasn’t made any endorsements for who should replace Cheney.

As for her ranking, Schlapp said, “She has a rating in the high 70s out of 100. It’s not perfect, but it’s very strong.”

He acknowledged Cheney is more conservative than Stefanik by their rankings, but added, “Elise Stefanik started out at a 33 percent with our group, and in the last year is getting closer to 60 percent… We seem to be mostly aligned on the big questions.”

Melber showed those numbers on screen and asked, “Is this, in your view, a good trade? Because it’s pretty extraordinary to see the potential demotion of someone who’s considered not only much more conservative, but actually voted with Trump more, to swap her out for someone who didn’t because of what you’re calling political messaging concerns and what some see as the need to be loyal to Trump no matter what, even when he’s lying.”

You can watch above, via MSNBC.

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