Former VP Dick Cheney hit trending status online after appearing in a photo urging the use of face masks, earning praise from the anti-Trump #Resistance as critics recalled his infamous ‘hunting accident’ and lies about Iraqi WMD.
The hawkish ex-vice president was seen in an image shared by his daughter, Liz – a GOP rep from Wyoming – on Friday, declaring “Dick Cheney says WEAR A MASK,” followed by the hashtag “real men wear masks.” The moralizing tweet was quickly met with mockery, many netizens finding it impossible not to mention Cheney’s 2006 hunting mishap, which saw the VP blast Texas attorney Harry Whittington in the face with a shotgun.
If anyone knows the importance of protecting your face, it’s Dick Cheney https://t.co/LanBXirO8V
While Whittington, then 78-years-old, survived the shooting and both he and Cheney maintain it was an accident, the incident has become something of a legend in popular culture, producing a litany of ‘Dick Cheney will shoot you in the face’ jokes at the time – which were brought back in force on Friday.
Wear a mask or dick Cheney will shoot you in the face https://t.co/6x7z4Z30um
The CDC recommends that if you are with Dick Cheney, you wear a bullet-proof mask. pic.twitter.com/5pEbGa3Hjd
I just saw that Dick Cheney was trending and got excited. It was short lived. Sadly, he’s not taking the Trump’s hunting.
In some quarters, Cheney’s mask stunt was met with approval, with a number of netizens insisting anyone who refuses to wear a face covering is “actually a worse human” than the former VP. The GOP-led Lincoln Project, part of a constellation of conservative ‘NeverTrump’ organizations, also welcomed Cheney into the #Resistance, apparently seeing the mask as a political symbol.
If you don’t wear one, you are actually a worse human than Dick Cheney.
Imagine being a worse person than Dick Cheney. Yeah, that would be Mike Pence. https://t.co/Ieej5DXnA7
Dick Cheney…. welcome to the resistance. pic.twitter.com/gez5481WpF
Cheney’s detractors soon shot back, however, noting the former VP’s role in launching the disastrous 2003 invasion of Iraq, which according to some estimates consigned over 1 million Iraqis to death. Deeming Cheney responsible for a “war of aggression, kidnapping, torture and extrajudicial executions,” critics argued the hollow gesture – wearing a piece of fabric over his face – could not absolve “war crimes.”
Dick Cheney is responsible for more than a million deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan. https://t.co/dTYV2VE2xB
Dick Cheney is a war criminal who should be behind bars at The Hague for committing genocide in #Iraq and making millions off the destruction of an entire nation. https://t.co/Oa0PHsAF1b
Dick Cheney can wear a mask at his trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including war of aggression, kidnapping, torture and extrajudicial executions. What a monster. https://t.co/I4GKd9ydYe
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