‘Loser’ v ‘warmongering chickenhawk’: 2 Republican lawmakers in epic Twitter beef
A disagreement on 9/11 over John Bolton and US withdrawal from Afghanistan descended into a full-on Twitter war between Rep. Liz Cheney and Senator Rand Paul, in a sequel to the beef between their fathers over invading Iraq.
It all started when Paul (R-Kentucky) backed two state legislators who blasted Cheney (R-Wyoming) for demanding a more aggressive foreign policy. “Why do some neocons continue to advocate for endless wars?” he quipped. “Let’s focus on America First, not Afghanistan!”
Cheney snapped back that she stands with Trump and US troops in not surrendering to terrorists, “unlike [Paul], who seems to have forgotten that today is 9/11.”
I stand with @realDonaldTrump and our men and women in uniform who will never surrender to terrorists, unlike @RandPaul, who seems to have forgotten that today is 9/11. https://t.co/P0Ok2w48d5
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) September 12, 2019
Paul struck back on Thursday, going on CNN and accusing Cheney and her father – George W. Bush’s Vice President Dick Cheney – of being “never Trumpers” and “part of the foreign policy swamp” seeking to undermine the president, focusing on her praise of Trump’s ousted national security advisor, the hawkish John Bolton.
He later tweeted that Trump hears “all your NeverTrump warmongering. We all see your pro-Bolton blather. I’m just grateful for a president who, unlike you, supports stopping these endless wars.”
Hi @Liz_Cheney, President @realDonaldTrump hears all your NeverTrump warmongering. We all see your pro-Bolton blather. I’m just grateful for a president who, unlike you, supports stopping these endless wars.
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) September 12, 2019
“I feel like you might just be mad still about when Candidate Trump shredded your Dad’s failed foreign policy and endless wars,” he added in another tweet.
Cheney fired back in the best tradition of schoolyard insults, calling Paul a “big loser” for his failed 2016 presidential bid, and accusing him of loyalty to “Terrorists First, America Second.”
Hi @RandPaul I know the 2016 race was painful for you since you were such a big loser (then & now) with a dismal 4.5% in Iowa. No surprise since your motto seems to be “Terrorists First, America Second.” Here’s a TBT courtesy of @realDonaldTrump. No truer words were ever spoken https://t.co/7MIM31ZuKl
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) September 12, 2019
Those were fighting words for Paul, who put together a series of #ThrowbackThursday tweets illustrating the many times the Cheneys have opposed Trump and advocated for foreign wars.
And last but not least for this #ThrowbackThursdayhttps://t.co/5ynEMbmOKg#warmongerCheneys#NeverTrumpCheneys
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) September 12, 2019
Paul, who was elected to the Senate in 2011, is the son of retired Texas Congressman Ron Paul, a Republican who consistently argued against foreign wars and ran several presidential campaigns on that platform, most recently in 2012. The elder Paul was an outspoken critic of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, pushed by the Bush-Cheney administration.
Cheney was elected to the House of Representatives in 2017, to the seat held by her father between 1979 and 1989.
President Trump has not weighed in on the spat just yet, preferring to throw his supporters a curveball by saying that Bolton was “holding [him] back” on Venezuela and Cuba.
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