Tipsheet

Here's JD Vance's Take on That DOGE Staffer Who Resigned

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  February 07, 2025 2:45 PM

This article has been updated to also include President Donald Trump's take, as well as to include subsequent posts from Vice President JD Vance. 

There's been plenty of drama involving 25-year-old Marko Elez, a now-former member of the DOGE team who resigned after a Wall Street Journal reporter, Katherine Long, asked the White House about his social media account and racist posts that have resurfaced. As Jeff mentioned in his coverage, and as many have pointed out over social media, Long appears to have ties to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which the Trump administration has paused for review. Now, Vice President JD Vance is among those weighing in about Elez's resignation.

Vance began by pointing out that he was not in agreement with the racist posts. "I obviously disagree with some of Elez’s posts, but I don’t think stupid social media activity should ruin a kid’s life," his post read. He also stressed that "journalists who try to destroy people" shouldn't be rewarded, even adding an "Ever." Thus, he wants Elez brought back. Is there a time and place for firing employees? Sure, with Vance mentioning it should be if he's "a bad dude or a terrible member of the team."

The post was in response to a quoted repost from Elon Musk putting out a poll. Such a poll, from Friday morning, shows 78 percent of users expressing that Elez should be brought back, with Musk also highlighting how Elez was using "a now deleted pseudonym[.]"

Later still on Friday, President Donald Trump was asked at a press conference by Fox News' Peter Doocy about Vance's post. As part of his answer, Trump stressed that he stood by his vice president, declaring, "if the vice president said that... I'm with the vice president!"

Vance has long stood strong against the plague in our society that is cancel culture. Last December, as vice president-elect, he brought Daniel Penny as his guest to the Army-Navy football game, who earlier that same month had been acquitted of criminally negligent homicide in the death of Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old homeless man who was terrorizing people on a subway car. 

It was the office of Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg that brought charges against Penny. Prosecutors also charged Penny with manslaughter, but that charge was dropped after the jury deadlocked. Bragg and his office, which have meanwhile been soft on violent criminals, sought to cancel Penny in the most dramatic fashion. 

After Vance's post receive considerable attention, including from Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), Vance only doubled down further, especially when it comes to cancel culture, with a quoted repost of Khanna.

Since it was shared late on Friday morning, Vance's original post has approximately 11,000 replies, many in support, with many other quoted replies also decrying cancel culture. 

Our own Kurt Schlichter also chimed in, mentioning that he and Vance are both in interracial marriages. He also viciously went after the left, reminding, "there’s nothing more offensive than being a leftist, a poisonous ideology that’s killed 100,000,000 people."

Logan Hall also brought back the meme of Vance and his memorable line from last month's interview with CBS News' Face the Nation," when he told host Margaret Brennan, "I really don't care, Margaret," as she tried to harp on Afghani refugees having supposedly been vetted.