House Republicans are continuing down the path of self-immolation this week, having a very public fight for their future. Are they going to stick by the former guy and treason or the Constitution and the nation? At this point, it’s not looking good for the latter. Nor is it looking good for the GOP conference chair, Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, who staked her future in the party on being the “principled” opposition to Trump. (She is, after all, a Cheney. How much principle can she possibly contain?)

Shockingly, more opposition comes in the odious and opportunistic form of Rep. Elise Stefanik, who has decided her future in the party lies in treason. She’s the worm who got elected and reelected in New York by touting her “independence,” and who even called for the resignation of one of Trump’s worst lackeys, then-EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. Most recently, though, she’s been hyping the Big Lie, going to the Trumpiest of all outlets—Steve Bannon’s podcast—to declare she’s down with the QAnon MAGA infestation of the party. “My vision is to run with support from the president [Trump] and his coalition of voters, which was the highest number of votes ever won by a Republican nominee,” she said. She described Trump—“the president,” she repeatedly avowed—as the “strongest supporter of any president when it comes to standing up for the Constitution.”

Never mind that whole inciting a mob to attack the Capitol and threaten the lives of her and her colleagues to overthrow an election. You know, other than that. And the Russia thing. And the Ukraine thing. And the grift. And the letting more than half a million Americans die of COVID-19.

Stefanik’s full embrace of MAGAdom isn’t being returned, however. While Trump is calling her “a new Republican star,” his mob is breaking with him. Some of the choice comments coming from the ultra-right about her include “a slightly less annoying America Last Republican”; “neocon establishment twit”; “wolf in sheep’s clothing”; “the identity of a swamp creature [with] the most liberal voting record of anybody who represents a strong Republican district.” Lou Dobbs called her a “RINO.” This is all after Trump’s endorsement of her to oust Cheney.

That has everything to do with Stefanik’s initial opposition to Trump. She backed John Kasich in the 2016 primaries and even refused to use Trump’s name throughout that election, calling him “my party’s nominee.” Trump doesn’t give a damn about that now that she’s decided to kiss his ring, but others in his orbit have longer—or less fickle—memories. Those memories include the fact that she bucked Trump frequently in the first few years of his term, voting with Democrats on the Paris climate accord, on LGBTQ anti-discrimination bills, and even on the 2017 GOP tax scam. While Stefanik voted with Trump less than 70% of the time in 2019 and 2020—and got reelected in New York for it—Cheney voted with Trump 93% of the time.

That’s not enough to save her. Not since she opposed the insurrection and her treasonous colleagues, and voted to impeach the instigator. But some MAGAists still see Stefanik as a problem. “I understand that everyone hates Liz Cheney. I am not a fan of Liz Cheney. She should have never been in House leadership,” said Ryan James Girdusky, author of the National Populist newsletter and a GOP consultant. “However, we are exchanging Liz Cheney, who at least votes correct, even though she bashes Trump publicly, [for] somebody who doesn’t bash Trump publicly but votes with them almost none of the time.”

Ultimately, Trump doesn’t care about any of that, because Trump has never cared about the actual governing part. Stefanik is willing to go out publicly and mouth the Big Lie and echo the orange one’s insistence that he’s still the real president. That’s all that matters to him. And because Cheney wrote this. “We must be brave enough to defend the basic principles that underpin and protect our freedom and our democratic process.

“Trump is seeking to unravel critical elements of our constitutional structure that make democracy work—confidence in the result of elections and the rule of law. No other American president has ever done this,” Cheney continued. “The Republican Party is at a turning point, and Republicans must decide whether we are going to choose truth and fidelity to the Constitution.”

House leadership has apparently decided, and it’s not going to be truth and the Constitution. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is firmly aboard the Trump train. He’s publicly backing Stefanik’s insurrection against Cheney, after trashing her privately last week. Or at least he thought it was private. “I think she’s got real problems,” McCarthy said on an off-air hot mic before a live Fox & Friends interview. “I’ve had it with her. You know, I’ve lost confidence […] Well, someone just has to bring a motion, but I assume that will probably take place.”

By the way, remember those old infamous not-so-private thoughts of Kevin McCarthy? When he told fellow leadership back in 2016: “There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump […] Swear to God.” Good times.

It would all be hilarious to watch this massive unraveling of the GOP if it weren’t so damned dangerous to the country.