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[.]"
Here’s my view:
— JD Vance (@JDVance) February 7, 2025
I obviously disagree with some of Elez’s posts, but I don’t think stupid social media activity should ruin a kid’s life.
We shouldn’t reward journalists who try to destroy people. Ever.
So I say bring him back.
If he’s a bad dude or a terrible member of… https://t.co/OgG6Z3hKPE
Bring back @DOGE staffer who made inappropriate statements via a now deleted pseudonym?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 7, 2025
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!"
🚨Trump backs JD Vance position to bring back DOGE staffer:
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) February 7, 2025
DOOCY: Do you agree with the Vice President that the fired DOGE engineer should be brought back?
TRUMP: I’m with the Vice President. pic.twitter.com/MZOZWgMSyS
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.
Are you going to tell him to apologize for saying "Normalize Indian hate" before this rehire? Just asking for the sake of both of our kids. https://t.co/7NY8m93hJa
— Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) February 7, 2025
I cannot overstate how much I loathe this emotional blackmail pretending to be concern.
— JD Vance (@JDVance) February 7, 2025
My kids, god willing, will be risk takers. They won't think constantly about whether a flippant comment or a wrong viewpoint will follow them around for the rest of their lives.
They will…
I don't worry about my kids making mistakes, or developing views they later regret. I don't even worry that much about trolls on the internet. You know what I do worry about, Ro?
— JD Vance (@JDVance) February 7, 2025
That they'll grow up to be a US Congressmen who engages in emotional blackmail over a kid's social…
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."
THIS IS WHY @JDVance IS A LEGEND.🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) February 7, 2025
Holy cow, we are so back.
Note that JD, like me, married someone outside his ethnicity. Obviously, we disagree with that alleged viewpoint of this guy – I don’t credit the regime media with accurately characterizing anything he says,… https://t.co/BcOtNrfQb4
GUARANTEE YOU that whoever dug up his tweets has posted things 10 times worse
— Jimmy Failla (@jimmyfailla) February 7, 2025
Amen! Thank you for standing up to bad faith, left-wing cancel culture.
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) February 7, 2025
The Left has defined the terms of social annihilation for the past decade. Vice President @JDVance has the opportunity to shift the calculus and end the era of doxxing, smears, and cancelation. The Right does not have to delegate social authority to malicious left-wing… pic.twitter.com/gs3tGzOXFe
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) February 7, 2025
Imagine any Republican, let alone the VP, standing up against leftist journalists and their attempts at cancellation like this before Trump/Vance
— Auron MacIntyre (@AuronMacintyre) February 7, 2025
Incredible https://t.co/N3ynZDoySb
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.
i am once again reminding you it cannot be overstated how important it was that trump picked vance for VP https://t.co/ozqAN6lgFb pic.twitter.com/BfvVIkEF8h
— Logan Hall (@loganclarkhall) February 7, 2025
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