When Your Political Party Kills You But You Haunt Them Anyway
Liz Cheney showed up to Halloween 2025 dressed as a ghost, which is either a devastating political statement or just a really convenient costume, depending on how much credit you want to give her for symbolism. The white sheet ensemble came complete with chains, representing the burden of being the only Republican who still thinks January 6th matters, which is a heavy load to carry when your entire party has moved on.
The ghost costume works on multiple levels, all of them depressing for Cheney. She’s politically dead to Republicans, dead to her former constituents in Wyoming, and haunting the party that killed her career like a phantom with unfinished business. Cheney’s ghost costume represents her status as a warning to other Republicans: this is what happens when you choose principles over party loyalty.
The chains she wore presumably represented the weight of “doing the right thing” or “defending democracy” or whatever talking points her new Democratic friends have been feeding her. It’s a bold costume choice for someone whose political career was murdered by her own party for the crime of believing in basic facts and constitutional norms. The ghost metaphor is so on-the-nose it’s actually impressive.
Conservative media immediately roasted the costume, with one outlet running the headline “Liz Cheney Dresses As Thing She Actually Is.” It’s mean, but it’s also kind of accurate. Cheney is a political ghost, wandering the halls of legacy media warning about threats no one in her former party cares about anymore. She’s Cassandra, but make it Wyoming.
Cheney’s post-Congressional life has been interesting, if by interesting you mean “perpetually appearing on CNN to be the token Republican who confirms everything Democrats already believe.” The ghost costume is fitting because that’s essentially what she is nowa specter of the Republican Party that used to exist before Trump, haunting the present to warn about what was lost.
The costume appeared at a Washington DC party, because of course it did. Where else would Liz Cheney go for Halloween? Back to Wyoming, where she lost her primary by 37 points? The ghost costume is perfect for someone who’s no longer welcome in their home state but can’t quite let go of their political identity.
Democrats at the party loved the costume, seeing it as brave political commentary. Republicans saw it as pathetic attention-seeking from someone whose fifteen minutes ended a while ago. Both interpretations miss the point: Cheney is just a person in a ghost costume at a Halloween party, and we’re all reading way too much into it because everything is political now and we can’t help ourselves.
Cheney’s exile from the Republican Party is complete, making her ghost costume less a choice and more an accurate description of her current political status. She’s the ghost of “reasonable conservatism,” wandering around warning people about dangers they’re too busy fighting culture wars to notice.
The saddest part? The costume is actually pretty clever political theater, but Cheney has been so thoroughly exiled from Republican politics that the only people who will appreciate it are Democrats who already agreed with her. It’s preaching to the converted while dressed as a ghost, which is perhaps the most 2025 political moment possible.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/liz-cheney%c2%92s-ghost-of-integrity-past/0
SOURCE: Sarah Pappalardo (https://bohiney.com/liz-cheney%c2%92s-ghost-of-integrity-past/0)
