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Former GOP Congresswoman Liz Cheney was ripped by conservatives on social media after she defended her previous work at USAID, which became the most prominent target of DOGE in recent days, in an exchange on X that drew the attention of DOGE's leader, Elon Musk.
"Damn right, @Elon," Cheney said on X in response to Musk, tagging an account that does not belong to Musk, on Wednesday. "I'm proud of what America did to win the Cold War, defeat Soviet communism, and defend democracy. Our nation stood for freedom. You may be unfamiliar with that part of our history since you weren't yet an American citizen."
Musk had written "interesting" in response to a post from Foundation for Freedom Online Executive Director Mike Benz, who had written that Cheney was "spawned" out of USAID, citing her previous position as an officer for the embattled and now seemingly shuttered agency.
Cheney spent time at USAID working within embassies related to efforts in Poland, Hungary, Russia and Ukraine.
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Several conservatives on social media took issue with Cheney's comment and defended Musk against any implication that he is "unfamiliar" with U.S. history.
"He is an American by choice instead of by birth, which is a weird thing to insult someone over, but more importantly, he didn't commit so many crimes against the country that he had to be pardoned by Joe Biden, so he's got that going for him," Federalist Editor-in-Chief Mollie Hemingway posted on X.
"You care more about illegals coming to this country stealing from this country than @elon giving to this country," former Georgia state Rep. Vernon Jones posted on X.
"Ya, but he was around when your daddy was making the military industrial complex billions sending me and my buddies to die chasing the ghosts of WMDs in Iraq," Fox News contributor Joey Jones posted on X.
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"Love the anti-immigrant sentiment from Liz," Right Turn Strategies President Chris Barron posted on X. "Funny how they always end up being everything they claim their opponents are."
"The fact Elon said a single word and was able to set you off tells me a lot, Liz," Twitchy.com editor Samantha Janney posted on X. "What's also revealing is your connection to USAID. Damn proud of WY for firing you."
"What a xenophobe," Breitbart senior editor Joel Pollak posted on X. "Pure bigotry."
"From Liz Cheney to Barack Obama, a lot of people still don't appreciate how much of America's political aristocracy class grew up in USAID families," Benz posted on X earlier this week.
The online debate about Cheney's time at USAID comes after Musk's DOGE efforts have resulted in the agency being effectively shut down over what the Trump administration argues is wasteful spending.
"For decades, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been unaccountable to taxpayers as it funnels massive sums of money to the ridiculous - and, in many cases, malicious - pet projects of entrenched bureaucrats, with next-to-no oversight," the White House said Monday.
The future of USAID remains unclear, though the doors to its headquarters were closed Monday, and thousands of employees across the globe sat waiting to hear whether they still had jobs after the apparent Musk takeover.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been named the acting director, and he agreed Monday with the White House that the agency needed an overhaul.
"The president made me the acting administrator," he told Fox News. "I've delegated that power to someone who is there full time, and we're going to go through the same process at USAID as we're going through now at the State Department."
Fox News Digital's Caitlin McFall contributed to this report.
