Sen. Bernie Sanders defended his rival 2020 Democratic hopeful Elizabeth Warren on Friday after Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) went after Warren for advocating a no-first-strike nuclear policy.
During the Democratic primary debate Tuesday, Warren pushed for the United States to adopt a policy of never using a nuclear weapon unless another country uses one first — a policy that CNN moderator Jake Tapper noted President Barack Obama had considered but ultimately declined.
Warren said the policy would help minimize misunderstandings by foreign adversaries of U.S. intentions, preventing an accidental catastrophe.But Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, lambasted Warren the following morning for her remarks. Liz Cheney sits on the House Armed Services Committee and holds hawkish views on defense, much like her father, who served in the George W. Bush administration during the launch of the 2003 Iraq War and the War on Terror.
"Which American cities and how many American citizens are you willing to sacrifice with your policy of forcing the US to absorb a nuclear attack before we can strike back?" Cheney wrote Wednesday on Twitter.
Friday afternoon, Sanders shot back at Cheney, sparking a heated back and forth.
"Taking national security advice from a Cheney has already caused irreparable damage to our country," Sanders tweeted. "We don't need any more, thanks."
Cheney responded by calling Sanders a "commie" who "is ok with U.S. getting attacked first."
"On a side note, he seems to have daddy issues...with my daddy," Cheney added.
Sanders wasn't the only Democrat to go after the Cheney family for its foreign policy history.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.
Y.) also chimed in on Friday, tweeting a gif of her exasperated face and the message: My face when "*Liz Cheney* of all people tries to offer foreign policy takes, as if an entire generation hasn’t lived through the Cheneys sending us into war since we were kids."Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine