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Dick Cheney—the most powerful vice president in American history and a key architect of U.S. foreign policy just after the end of the Cold War—died an irrelevant, all-but-forgotten figure on Monday at the age of 84. His descent came about because of his own disastrous mistakes, and dramatic changes in Republican Party politics (which were themselves partly a result of his mistakes).

He figured briefly in the 2024 elections, when Kamala Harris touted his endorsement, hoping it would lure enough anti-Trump Republicans to give her the edge. But it turned out Cheney no longer had any standing (Harris won just 5 percent of GOP voters, fewer than Joe Biden had won f

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