Fact Check

Liz Cheney didn't write letter urging Democratic Party to fight Trump's 'authoritarian machine'

A Facebook user claimed credit for the post and shared it in a group titled: "Liz Cheney/Adam Kinzinger Against Trump."

by Laerke Christensen, Published April 17, 2025 Updated June 24, 2025


A white woman speaking into a microphone is pictured. Next to it, black text says, "This administration is not simply "a different ideology." It is a coordinated, authoritarian machine with the Supreme Court, the House, the Senate, and the executive pen all under its control" and "You keep sending emails begging for $15, while we're watching fascism consolidate power in real time." A blue box highlights both "coordinated, authoritarian machine" and "emails begging for $15."

Image courtesy of Getty Images/Snopes illustration


Claim:
Liz Cheney wrote a letter to the Democratic Party urging it to do more to fight the Trump administration’s “authoritarian machine.”
Rating:
Incorrect Attribution

About this rating


In mid-April 2025, a letter (archived) circulated online attributed to former Republican U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, in which Cheney allegedly called on the Democratic Party to do more to counter the actions of the Trump administration, described in the letter as "a coordinated, authoritarian machine."

The full letter was more than 1400 words long. The introduction read:

Dear Democratic Party,

I need more from you.

You keep sending emails begging for $15,

while we're watching fascism consolidate power in real time.

This administration is not simply "a different ideology."

It is a coordinated, authoritarian machine — with the Supreme Court, the House, the Senate, and the executive pen all under its control.

And you?

You're still asking for decorum and donations. WTF.

That won't save us.

I don't want to hear another polite floor speech.

I want strategy.

I want fire.

I want action so bold it shifts the damn news cycle — not fits inside one.

Every time I see something from the DNC, it's asking me for funds.

Surprise.

Those of us who donate don't want to keep sending money just to watch you stand frozen as the Constitution goes up in flames — shaking your heads and saying,

"Well, there's not much we can do. He has the majority."

I call bullshit.

Copies of the text spread across Facebook (archived), X (archived) and Bluesky (archived). Snopes readers also emailed to ask if Cheney actually wrote the text.

However, all evidence pointed to the letter appearing for the first time in a post by a Facebook user in a group called Liz Cheney/Adam Kinzinger Against Trump (this title since changed to "Group title pending"). That user, "Pru Pru," posted the text on April 15, claiming authorship at the top of the post. 

(Facebook user Pru Pru)

Cheney herself had posted no such letter on her Facebook, X or Bluesky accounts. We found no credible reports naming her as the author on popular online search engines. Therefore, we determined it was incorrectly attributed to Liz Cheney. (We attempted to reach Cheney through the University of Virginia Center for Politics, where she is a professor, and a number of campaign email addresses to double-check, but we had not received a reply at the time of publication.) 

Pru Pru's post bore an introduction reading: "Written by Dr. Pru Lee (Pru Pru)." It was unclear if this line was added before or after users started incorrectly attributing the letter to Cheney. 

Moreover, the text itself cast doubt on claims that Cheney wrote it. For example, toward the end of the letter, a sentence read: "I've only got 6,000 followers — but the groups I'm in? The networks I touch? Over a quarter million. Often when I speak, it echoes."

But Cheney had more than 700,000 followers across her Facebook, X and Bluesky accounts at the time of this writing, though only her Bluesky account, with 158,000 followers, appeared to be active.

Though it was clear Cheney did not write the April 15, 2025, letter, the former Wyoming Republican representative had gone through somewhat of a political shift in recent years. Cheney said in 2024 that she did not consider herself a "member" of President Donald Trump's Republican Party and reportedly voted for Kamala Harris in that year's presidential election. Cheney's political action group, Our Great Task, donated almost exclusively to Democratic candidates in the 2024 presidential election.


By Laerke Christensen

Laerke Christensen is a journalist based in London, England, with expertise in OSINT reporting.


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