Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) blasted Rep. Liz Cheney (R., Wyo.) on Twitter Wednesday night for advocating for "endless wars" and accused her of attempting to undermine President Donald Trump's foreign policy.
Cheney responded by accusing Paul of forgetting the significance of Wednesday's anniversary of 9/11. She also defended herself by saying she stands with Trump "and our men and women in uniform who will never surrender to terrorists," unlike him.
Cheney's voting record is significantly more in line with the president's positions than Paul's. A FiveThirtyEight analysis found Cheney votes with Trump's positions 96.4 percent of the time, while Paul votes in line with Trump 69.1 percent of the time.
Paul also called Trump an "orange-faced windbag" and a "delusional narcissist" during an appearance in 2016 on Comedy Central.
Paul tweeted an article critical of Cheney for pushing back against some of Trump's dovish moves in foreign policy. In Paul's view, Cheney was calling for "endless wars" by not completely supporting Trump's decisions.
"Why do some neocons continue to advocate for endless wars? I stand with @realdonaldtrump on ending wars. Let's focus on America first, not Afghanistan!" Paul wrote.
"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," Cheney tweeted.
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
On Thursday, Paul tweeted out another endorsement of Trump's attempts to end the war in Afghanistan and also criticized Cheney during an appearance on CNN.
"The problem with the Cheneys, both Dick and Liz, is they've always been Never Trumpers. They hate President Trump's foreign policy, they want to stay in Afghanistan forever, they're apologizing for John Bolton, they love John Bolton," Paul said. "So really they're part of this foreign policy swamp that's been trying to undermine President Trump."
"The main aspects of President Trump's America First foreign policy, the Cheneys are dead-set against it," he added. "They are Never Trumpers. And they just need to be honest with the people of Wyoming and honest with the people of the country."
In August, Cheney and her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, co-hosted a Trump 2020 fundraiser in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Cheney responded with another tweet Thursday blasting Paul as a "big loser."
"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,'" the Wyoming representative wrote.
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
She included a link to a Trump tweet from 2015 in which the future president wrote Paul reminded him of "a spoiled brat without a properly functioning brain."
Trump's decision to call off negotiations with representatives of the Taliban and the Afghan government generated backlash. Some pundits argued he never should have invited the Taliban to negotiations, especially with the approaching anniversary of 9/11.
In the wake of the cancelled negotiations, the U.S. military is poised to adopt a more aggressive stance in Afghanistan.