MSNBC’s Morning Joe opened Tuesday’s program with an unusual tribute to former Vice President Dick Cheney, hailing him as a principled Republican who “kept his bearings” during the rise of Donald Trump and who, in their view, stood firm in defense of democracy when “many others lost their way.”
Cheney’s death was announced late Monday in a statement from his family, who said he died “due to complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease.” He was 84 and is survived by his wife, Lynne, two daughters, and six grandchildren.
Reflecting on Cheney’s long and often controversial career, host Joe Scarborough described it as a life lived in “three acts.” The first, he said, was as a “respected voice in Congress,” followed by his tenure as the forceful architect of the Bush administration’s post-9/11 response to terrorism—an era that earned him the nickname “Darth Vader.” The third act, Scarborough said, was Cheney’s emergence as a leading Republican critic of Trump.
Scarborough defended Cheney’s aggressive national security policies following the September 11 attacks, arguing that they reflected a singular focus on protecting the country from further violence. “He was determined from that moment on, after 9/11, there would never be another 9/11 again. And he was going to do whatever he could to stop it,” Scarborough said. “But he also is seeing reports day in and day out that would have scared the absolute hell out of any American that had access to all the threats.”
The Morning Joe host went on to frame Cheney’s later years as those of a principled statesman who stood against Trump’s challenge to democratic norms. “One of these Republicans, you know, was seen as a defender of democracy,” Scarborough said. “When so many others lost their way, Dick Cheney kept his bearings after January the 6th, always kept his bearings when it came to democratic norms. And he was on the right side. I think most certainly Republicans from my era would believe, and I think we all should be grateful to him for that.”
Co-host Willie Geist echoed the sentiment, noting Cheney’s public opposition to Trump and his endorsement of then-Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential campaign. “One of his last public acts was about a year ago, when he put out a statement saying, I’m going to be voting for Kamala Harris in this presidential election,” Geist said. “Dick Cheney, Darth Vader, as you said, the face of the Republican Party in many ways in the Bush years, said Donald Trump can never be trusted with power again, appearing with his daughter, Liz Cheney, of course, who was one of the most outspoken voices against the Trump administration.”
For many Cheney’s legacy is a dark one marked by remains a deeply polarizing figure—reviled by critics for his role in the Iraq War and enhanced interrogation policies—Scarborough and his anti-Trump panel cast him as a model of steadiness in a party they see as adrift.
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