Donald Trump slammed Elizabeth Warren and her husband in a late-night tweet on Sunday, drawing considerable criticism for using racially charged language and making reference to an infamous massacre of Native Americans.
Trump made the tweet in response to a video Warren had posted showing herself and her husband together in their kitchen. In it, he continued mocking Warren for her Native American heritage, calling her “Pocahontas” and saying that she should have had her husband dress in “full Indian garb.” Trump also said she should have filmed the video from Wounded Knee, the site of a 1890 massacre where U.S. Cavalry disarmed members of the Lakota tribe and opened fire, killing up the 300 men, women, and children.
The tweet drew an immediate backlash to Trump, with many calling out his racially charged language and continued attacks against Warren’s Native American heritage. Trump had repeatedly claimed that Warren was lying about having Native American ancestry, leading the Massachusetts Senator to release results of a DNA test last year showing that she had a distant Native American relative, as she had claimed.
Trump continued his attacks, including calling her “Pocahontas” in a number of tweets.
As The Hill noted, Trump had shared a meme earlier in the month that mocked Warren’s Native American heritage, turning a Warren 2020 campaign logo into Warren 1/2o20th in reference to Trump’s claim that she had scant Native American ancestry. Trump had come under fire for this tweet as well, with some Native American groups defending Warren and calling out the president’s attacks.
JUST IN: Trump takes racially-charged swipe at Warren: She should’ve filmed “commercial” with her husband “in full Indian garb” https://t.co/CKOYL3O2gv pic.twitter.com/JJEcHDrjQl
— The Hill (@thehill) January 14, 2019
Some accused Donald Trump of launching the attack against Warren as a diversion to take attention away from a series of damaging reports released this weekend. One, from the New York Times , claimed that the FBI launched an investigation after the firing of James Comey to determine if Trump was working directly on behalf of Russian interests. The Washington Post then reported that Trump had taken great lengths to conceal what was discussed during his private meetings with Vladimir Putin, even going so far as to destroy notes from the events.
Donald Trump has frequently taken aim at Elizabeth Warren, who announced this month that she formed an exploratory committee to consider a run for president. Warren has ranked at or near the top of early Democratic 2020 primary polls, and has long positioned herself as a sharp critic of Trump and defender of the middle class.
