Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois fired back at Vice President JD Vance after he likened her sparring session with Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing about America’s Venezuela policy to an argument between the fictional character Forrest Gump and Isaac Newton.
‘Watching Tammy Duckworth obsessively interrupt Marco Rubio during this hearing is like watching Forest Gump argue with Isaac Newton,’ Vance quipped in a Wednesday post on X.
Duckworth responded, ‘Forrest Gump ran toward danger in Vietnam. Your boss ran to his podiatrist crying bone spurs. Petty insults at the expense of people with disabilities won’t change the fact that you’re risking troops’ lives to boost Chevron’s stock price. It’s my job to hold you accountable.’
Other Democrats also responded to Vance.
Democratic Rep. Shri Thanedar of Michigan shared Vance’s post and wrote, ‘Imagine watching Forrest Gump and your takeaway is to mock people with disabilities.’
‘That’s a U.S. Senator doing her job. This is a random troll tweeting at her,’ Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker wrote in a post on X.
‘Comparing @SenDuckworth to Forrest Gump is classless and disgraceful. She’s a veteran who lost her legs fighting for this country. If you had any honor, you’d take this post down. But you work for Trump, so clearly you have none,’ Democratic Rep. John Garamendi of California declared in a post.
Duckworth served in the Illinois Army National Guard and was deployed to Iraq in 2004, according to a biography on her Senate website, which notes that ‘On November 12, 2004, her helicopter was hit by an RPG and she lost her legs and partial use of her right arm.’
She noted in 2022 social media posts that an RPG ‘tore through the cockpit of the helicopter I was co-piloting. The blast cost me my legs, partial use of my right arm and nearly my life,’ she noted.
Vance added in another post, ‘Thank God we have a Secretary of State who knows his facts AND has the patience of Job. Great job, @SecRubio.’