Warren's Lemonade Stand Photo Op Backfires When Kids Donate Proceeds to Pro-Life Group
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts may have hoped that a photo of her at an Iowa lemonade stand would get her a few votes.
Instead, it will help the annual March for Life, an event that contrasts with the strongly pro-abortion platform espoused by Warren.
On Aug. 8, Warren stopped at a Harlan, Iowa, lemonade stand run by two 11-year-olds, Sienna Michels and Audrey Billings.
Warren tweeted an image of herself with the girls.
“Stopped for a quick drink at a lemonade stand in Harlan, Iowa. When life gives you lemons, make big structural change!” she tweeted.
Stopped for a quick drink at a lemonade stand in Harlan, Iowa. When life gives you lemons, make big structural change! pic.twitter.com/rp1PMyzwKX
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) August 8, 2019
“Our daughters thought [Warren] was nice,” said Dan Michels, a Trump supporter whose daughter was running the stand, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
Warren paid $10 for seven $1 cups of lemonade. The Michels family then discussed how to use the money.
The girls wanted their parents to vote for someone who was famous and treated them nicely. But her parents tried to explain that there was something more at stake in the upcoming presidential election.
“She came by and told us we should vote for her. And our daughters told us she was a nice person, but we don’t align with her politically and … because she’s pro-choice, we said we should donate her money to a pro-life [cause],” Michels said.
That led to a family discussion of abortion and Warren’s solidly pro-abortion legislative history.
“My daughter told us she wanted us to vote for her,” Michels said. “We talked about the abortion part of things and said maybe we should donate money to stop abortion, and my daughter was all for that.”
As a result, the girls and their parents decided the money might better go to the pro-life March for Life Education and Defense Fund.
When life gives you lemons ?
Thank you Sienna and Audrey for your thoughtful donation and for being amazing advocates in the #ProLife Generation! https://t.co/eTjbTWfwN4
— March for Life (@March_for_Life) September 23, 2019
The girls made $80 in sales and were in the national limelight for a heartbeat due to the Warren tweet. They had a taste of the downside of such national exposure when some commentators implied — sarcastically or not — that they were shrewd entrepreneurs taking advantage of Warren.
Obviously Warren doesn’t have a plan for solving the problem of price-gouging lemonade stands. https://t.co/fOTC6tQpbn
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) August 8, 2019
“Obviously Warren doesn’t have a plan for solving the problem of price-gouging lemonade stands,” The Nation’s Jeet Heer tweeted.
“I did see that on Twitter and people are saying that they are scamming her,” Michels said. “We explained it to them, it’s just how people are.”
And although by next summer the flood of politicians crisscrossing Iowa will have faded, the girls’ enthusiasm for selling lemonade will not, as Michels says he expects the girls to be back in business next year.
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