‘Forrest Gump ran toward danger’: Tammy Duckworth slams JD Vance over ‘petty insults’

US Senator Tammy Duckworth, a decorated war veteran who lost both her legs in combat, has fired back sharply at Vice President JD Vance after he mocked her conduct during a Senate hearing, triggering outrage across Democratic circles and on social media.The spat erupted after a heated exchange in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where Duckworth (D-Illinois) pressed Secretary of State Marco Rubio on whether US actions in the Caribbean and against Venezuela could drag American troops into another prolonged conflict. Rubio denied that the US was “at war” with Venezuela, prompting Duckworth to warn against what she called a dangerous slide towards another “forever war”.Watching the exchange, Vance took to X with a sarcastic post, writing: “Watching Tammy Duckworth obsessively interrupt Marco Rubio during this hearing is like watching Forrest Gump argue with Isaac Newton.” The remark was widely criticised for invoking a character portrayed with intellectual and physical disabilities, and for targeting a Purple Heart recipient.Duckworth responded with a rebuttal. “Forrest Gump ran toward danger in Vietnam. Your boss ran to his podiatrist crying bone spurs,” she wrote, referring to President Donald Trump’s Vietnam-era draft deferments.””Petty insults at the expense of people with disabilities won’t change the fact that you’re risking troops’ lives to boost Chevron’s stock price. It’s my job to hold you accountable.”

Duckworth, a retired US Army lieutenant colonel and former Black Hawk helicopter pilot, lost her legs when her aircraft was shot down in Iraq in 2004. She later continued to serve in the Illinois National Guard before entering politics.The vice president did not directly respond to Duckworth’s retort. Instead, he praised Rubio in a separate post, calling him patient and knowledgeable, drawing further criticism online.Democratic leaders quickly rallied behind Duckworth. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker dismissed Vance as “a random troll tweeting at her,” adding that Duckworth was simply “doing her job”. The Democratic Party of Illinois said voters had sent Duckworth to Washington “to ask tough questions and demand answers,” calling Vance’s sneer “vile”.California Representative John Garamendi was even harsher, branding the remark “classless and disgraceful”. “If you had any honour, you’d take this post down,” he wrote, adding, “But you work for Trump, so clearly you have none.”On social media, users also slammed Vance, with journalists and commentators pointing out the contrast between his attack and Duckworth’s military service. One widely shared post described the episode as “watching a serial opportunist insult a military helicopter pilot who lost both her legs in war and still served her country”.