The Darth Vader of the “Forever Wars”

Dick Cheney, the architect of Iraq’s 2003 invasion who left behind a bloody legacy that claimed millions of lives, died on November 3 at the age of 84. Although the White House ordered flags to be flown at half-mast as protocol requires, U.S. President Donald Trump did not say a single word about Cheney’s death. Vice President JD Vance, like Trump, chose to remain silent.

Some said Cheney was lucky not to have lived to see Zohran Mamdani — a man from a Muslim family of Indian-Ugandan descent, not “White American” — elected mayor of New York City, the heart of America, on November 4. Others quipped that “he must be turning in his grave.”

Those mourning Cheney were limited to Neocons and Israel — fitting for a man who played a crucial role in the Republican Party’s takeover by Neoconservatives. Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a leading Neocon think tank, said, “America has lost a hero.” The Israeli Foreign Ministry described Cheney as “a loyal friend of Israel and a true defender of the U.S.-Israel alliance.”

In the U.S. Senate, hawkish Republicans such as Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, and Tom Cotton praised Cheney while others like Trump stayed silent. Even those tributes alone revealed deep cracks and empty spaces within the Republican Party.

Cheney embodied everything that had gone wrong with the Neocon project. From his tenure as White House Chief of Staff in 1975 to his years in Congress, and from Secretary of Defense to Vice President, Cheney ended his political career as one of the most despised figures in modern American history. He was so infamous that people compared him to Darth Vader, the villain of George Lucas’s Star Wars. Vader once said, “The only thing surrounding me is fear and dead men.” Cheney’s legacy fit that line perfectly. As Vice President under George W. Bush, Cheney was considered the most powerful in history — some even called him the “co-president.”

Under “Bush Sr.,” Cheney served as Secretary of Defense. During the first Gulf War, when there was a debate over whether the U.S. should invade Baghdad and remove Saddam Hussein, Cheney said, “If we go into Baghdad, we’ll be stuck in a quagmire. How many more Americans is Saddam worth? We judged not very many, and I think that was the right decision.”

In Star Wars, Darth Vader had once been Anakin Skywalker — a Jedi hero of the Clone Wars — before turning to the Dark Side. Vader later said, “Skywalker was weak. I destroyed him.” Dick Cheney, during “Bush Jr.”’s presidency, transformed into a real-life Darth Vader. Cheney himself once said, “Most of you knew me long before anyone called me Darth Vader. When I was asked if the nickname bothered me, I said no. Frankly, it’s one of the nicest things anyone’s called me lately.”

Though Trump stayed silent about his death, Cheney is often seen as the true founder of the “Trumpist” movement. In the 2016 elections, Trump had pledged to end America’s “forever wars” — the very wars Cheney helped start. Unexpectedly, that promise carried Trump to victory. One of the key ideas behind the “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) movement was to pull the U.S. out of Cheney’s endless wars.

Cheney’s daughter, Liz Cheney, was the third-ranking Republican leader in the House during Trump’s first term. After clashing with Trump, she lost both her leadership position and her congressional seat. Both Dick and Liz Cheney eventually backed Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential race. To Trump, Dick Cheney was “the king of endless, meaningless wars” who wasted countless lives and trillions of dollars. Cheney, for his part, said of Trump, “In our 246-year history, no individual has posed a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump.” The rift was that deep.

Dick Cheney believed in displaying American power — justified or not — in its most aggressive form. For Cheney, what mattered were not the “reasons” but the “results.” Some U.S. political analysts argue that although Trump’s rhetoric differs from Cheney’s, his actions often follow the same pattern. Meanwhile, within both Congress and Trump’s own circle, there are plenty eager to slip into the “Cheney–Darth Vader” role if given free rein. The fate of MAGA, ultimately, will depend on which path Trump chooses.