Kevin Costner is offering an impassioned defense of Liz Cheney, saying the former GOP congresswoman, who bucked her party with her fierce criticism of President-elect Trump, should be applauded.
"I expect people in government to do the right thing. Public service is about public service. It's not about your career. It's not about your ego. Your four years is your four years," the former "Yellowstone" star said in live, town-hall edition on Monday of "The Michael Smerconish Program" on SiriusXM.
"When I think about our country," Costner said, "we have to think about other people."
"I'm very proud of Liz Cheney," he said of the former Wyoming Republican, whom he endorsed ahead of the midterm elections two years ago.
In 2022, the then-House member shared a photo on social media of the "Horizon" actor sporting a t-shirt with the message "I'm for Liz Cheney" on it. Cheney was later defeated in the GOP primary by Harriett Hageman, the Trump-backed candidate.
One of Trump's most ardent Republican critics, Cheney campaigned alongside Vice President Harris in this year's presidential race. On Sunday, Trump said Democrats made a "big mistake" by tapping her to help with Harris's White House bid.
Cheney denounced Trump earlier this month after he made comments calling her a "war hawk" and saying, "Let's put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK. Let’s see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face.”
Cheney equated Trump's language to a death threat, saying, “This is how dictators destroy free nations."
In his Monday interview with Smerconish, Costner praised Cheney, who was one of two Republicans who served on the House select committee charged with investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.
In Cheney, Costner said, "I found a person who’s completely at odds with one side and willing to stand up."
"And we should applaud her. We should protect her," the 69-year-old Academy Award winner said.
"This woman should never be threatened and neither should anybody that stands up in America, because we admire the people of the Revolutionary War that stood up," Costner said.
"So when someone stands up — even if we don't — we can't let her be vulnerable. As a man, I can't — I won't allow it. We shouldn't allow that," he added.
