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Neera Tanden's mean tweets: 'Vampire' Ted Cruz to 'fraud' Tom Cotton, Joe Biden's adviser is controversy's child

Despite her controversial past, Tanden was appointed special advisor to the president, a position that doesn't require Senate confirmation

Despite her history and obvious issues with Republicans, Neera Tanden has finally got a job in the Biden administration. The controversial Indian-American has been appointed as a senior adviser to President Joe Biden, a position that doesn't require Senate confirmation. Tanden historically became the only Cabinet nominee to be rebuffed by the Senate, thanks mainly to her history of tweets.

Twitter has proved to be a painful tool for many in the past, but Tanden became the first politician to see herself denied a role thanks to it. Republicans, for good reason, were worried about her ability to work with them. Tanden's less colorful past saw her delete more than 1,000 tweets prior to her confirmation hearings, but to no avail.  

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What did Tanden say that caused such outrage among Republicans? Well, a dive into the archives provides a look at why she is such a controversial figure and why the Biden administration struggled to get her a job.

Tanden's mean tweets

With over 1,000 deleted tweets, there's plenty to talk about when it comes to Tanden, but we'll stick to just some of the more prominent examples. In December 2017, she tweeted, "The Republican party is gleefully supporting an alleged child molester. And everyone who gives money to the RNC is doing the same." That was in relation to Roy Moore, who was running for Senate from Alabama at the time. That same month, she called Susan Collins and Jeff Flake "criminally ignorant" and said that "they have no business being legislators". 

In another instance, she took a shot at Mitch McConnell, tweeting, "Apparently a lot of people think #MoscowMitch is a threat." In other instances, she compared Ted Cruz to a "vampire", called Tom Cotton a “fraud”, and even dubbed McConnell “Voldemort". 

Tanden also deleted some tweets that did not seem as controversial. Following the hearing for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanagh, she tweeted, "Susan Collins’ terrible treatment of Dr. Ford should haunt Collins the rest of her days." In August 2018, she said, "Trump just called a black woman a dog and about 80% of the GOP don't think he's racist". In 2019, she tweeted, "Can people on here please focus their ire on McConnell and the GOP senators who are Up This Cycle who enable him: Cory Gardner, Collins, Ernst, Cornyn, Perdue, Tillis And many more." It's unclear why Tanden deleted these tweets, but it could have been to curry favor with the Republicans ahead of the confirmation hearing. 

Naturally, that prolific history caught up with her at her confirmation hearing and returned to public light as she was announced as an advisor. 

Tanden the 'quintessential definition of failing upwards'

As news of her confirmation spread, Twitter had plenty to say. One person said, "Neera Tanden, the quintessential definition of failing upwards." Another responded, "guess you don't care about civility on twitter after all." Another said, "honestly neera tanden being unpleasant to white house staff rather than omb staff seems like a fair compromise." Another said, "We can't vote these people out We rejected Neera Tanden when the country rejected Hillary Electoral politics is a joke."

Tanden also found plenty of support, with many users tweeting in favor of her appointment. That included Senator Elizabeth Warren, Joy-Anne Reid and Senator Mazie Hirono. According to CNN, she will launch a review of the US Digital Service and is also working on potential policy changes depending on the SCOTUS' decision over the Affordable Care Act. Advisory roles do not need confirmation by the Senate, so Tanden can serve irrespective of how Senators feel about her. 

It could cause some issues down the line, especially as Tanden is known to be confrontational. For now, though, Biden has chosen to stick with her, after defending her during the controversial confirmation hearings.