The West Wing is often held up as an example of what liberals dream American democracy can be, but right now two of its stars are digging at each other over current political events. Late last night, Rob Lowe tweeted in exasperation about the protesters at LAX:

Lowe’s West Wing co-star Bradley Whitford snarked back by retweeting him with a sarcastic dig:

The exchange seemed to have gotten under Lowe’s skin, because the actor later tweeted this photo of himself visiting a refugee camp in Syria:

This little tiff might not seem like much more than two former colleagues digging at each other over politics, but it seems to confirm rumors about Lowe’s relationship with the rest of The West Wing team. The story goes that Aaron Sorkin‘s political drama was initially envisioned as a vehicle for Lowe and Moira Kelly. However, as the first season unspooled itself, it was soon clear that the ensemble cast — which included Whitford, Allison Janney, John Spencer, Richard Schiff, Janel Moloney, Dulé Hill, and Martin Sheen — was far stronger than Lowe and Kelly. As the focus of the plots shifted towards this ensemble, the rest of the cast earned awards and accolades, and Lowe’s character, Sam Seaborn, was relegated to fluffier storylines.

Lowe finally left in the middle of The West Wing‘s fourth season and it’s long been suggested that he didn’t part on the best of terms. (He didn’t appear at/was barely mentioned at The West Wing‘s big reunion panel last summer at ATX.) Whitford’s very public dig at Lowe might be official confirmation that these rumors are at least a little bit true.

Stream 'The West Wing' on Netflix