On Sunday night, seemingly out of the blue, President Donald Trump fired off a few racially-charged tweets about Senator Elizabeth Warren, who recently threw her hat into the ring as a 2020 presidential candidate. Warren is one of Trump’s frequent targets, yet his petulant tirade somehow managed to outdo even himself.
“If Elizabeth Warren, often referred to by me as Pocahontas, did this commercial from Bighorn or Wounded Knee instead of her kitchen, with her husband dressed in full Indian garb, it would have been a smash!” Trump tweeted, along with the Instagram live video Warren posted on New Year’s Eve to announce her candidacy over a beer with her husband, Bruce.
“Best line in the Elizabeth Warren beer catastrophe is, to her husband, ‘Thank you for being here. I’m glad you’re here.’ It’s their house, he’s supposed to be there!” he continued ten minutes later.
If Elizabeth Warren, often referred to by me as Pocahontas, did this commercial from Bighorn or Wounded Knee instead of her kitchen, with her husband dressed in full Indian garb, it would have been a smash! pic.twitter.com/D5KWr8EPan
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2019
Best line in the Elizabeth Warren beer catastrophe is, to her husband, “Thank you for being here. I’m glad you’re here” It’s their house, he’s supposed to be there!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2019
Trump’s tweets are troubling on so many levels, it’s difficult to even begin where to start — from mocking Warren’s heritage and his use of the word “Indian” instead of the politically correct term Native American, to using the tragic Wounded Knee Massacre as a punchline.
Upwards of 300 men, women, and children were killed in the battle, which both houses of Congress formally apologized for in 1990, expressing “deep regret on behalf of the United States.”
It’s unclear whether or not Trump even understands the full implication of his words, which went over about as well as one can imagine on Twitter.
Doesn't this racist tweet violate Twitter's rules? https://t.co/tXHR57aEee
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) January 14, 2019
The massacre at Wounded Knee. pic.twitter.com/cFwCqH4WDO
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) January 14, 2019
Bullying Elizabeth Warren like this means that Trump has some deep insecurity about his impending impeachment and imprisonment that he just can’t help himself. He is alone in the White House and very afraid.
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) January 14, 2019
While Donald Trump spent his evening calling Jeff Bezos “Jeff Bozo” and insulting Elizabeth Warren and being disrespectful to her Native American heritage
I would once again like to thank Melania Trump on her amazing anti bullying campaign “Be Best”.
You are da real MVP FLOTUS!
— Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) January 14, 2019
For the record, the President of the United States just trivialized the massacre of more than 300 Lakota — the majority of the murdered were unarmed women and children. https://t.co/efNj6CZXj1
— Simon Moya-Smith (@SimonMoyaSmith) January 14, 2019
https://twitter.com/waltshaub/status/1084646696322256896
https://twitter.com/PalmerReport/status/1084649575778906112
Twitter has yet to take action, since the tweets actually do violate their terms and conditions, yet anyone hoping they do can probably hold their breath.