Watch: Crowd Cheers as Trump Retires 'Pocahontas' Joke & Replaces It With Brutal New One
Just a little over a week ago, not a whole lot of people were thinking about Sen. Elizabeth Warren or her specious claims to Native American heritage. Then, the Massachusetts senator decided to foreground both, and the results were not what she was looking for.
The intervening week hasn’t been a particularly easy one for Warren. Even the Cherokee Nation seemed to disown her, which prompted an African-American MSNBC analyst to call out the Cherokee Nation for “racism.” Except on MSNBC, however, the seas were rather choppy for Warren.
So choppy, in fact, that now Donald Trump won’t even call her “Pocahontas.” Well, sort of.
The president made the announcement that he was abandoning the nickname during a rally in Texas on Monday for Sen. Ted Cruz.
“A sad thing happened last week, because Elizabeth Warren was exposed as being a total fraud,” Trump said.
“And I can no longer call her ‘Pocahontas’ because she has no Indian blood. She doesn’t qualify,” he said as the crowd cheered.
“I’ve been saying it for years. I said I have more blood than she has, and I have none,” he continued.
“But I can’t use the name Pocahontas anymore. But if you don’t mind, I will anyway — is that OK?”
Well, that didn’t last long. However, the crowd seemed to like it, and thusly was a brutal new joke added to the president’s repertoire.
Warren’s test — which was primarily meant to silence the president, at least if one takes a look at everything the Massachusetts senator has said and done in rolling out the results and in the days since — has already provided Trump with endless moments of glee, mind you.
“Pocahontas (the bad version), sometimes referred to as Elizabeth Warren, is getting slammed,” Trump tweeted after the test backfired.
“She took a bogus DNA test and it showed that she may be 1/1024, far less than the average American. Now Cherokee Nation denies her, ‘DNA test is useless.’ Even they don’t want her. Phony!”
Pocahontas (the bad version), sometimes referred to as Elizabeth Warren, is getting slammed. She took a bogus DNA test and it showed that she may be 1/1024, far less than the average American. Now Cherokee Nation denies her, “DNA test is useless.” Even they don’t want her. Phony!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 16, 2018
Warren decided to make things a bit worse for herself by responding, saying that Trump had backed out on paying her $1 million he had promised if she took the test.
Millions of people watched you, @realDonaldTrump, as you fumbled and lied on your $1 million pledge. It then took a day for your handlers to tee up this recycled racist name-calling. You’ve lost a step, and in 21 days, you’re going to lose Congress.
— Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) October 16, 2018
Of course, part of the problem was that the $1 million was contingent on the fact that she proved she was a Native American. She proved she was at least 1/1024th of one, which I think is what you get from watching Disney’s “Pocahontas” and not actually being her descendant.
If it makes Warren feel any better, though, maybe Trump will only use his old sobriquet for her 1/1024th as often as he used to.
For whatever reason, I tend to doubt that, but it’s about as likely as her somehow getting America to forget about the hideous failure of this ill-starred gambit.
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