President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after a security briefing at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J. ,Thursday, Aug. 10, 2017.
- President Donald Trump on Thursday tweeted a meme mocking Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren's presidential ambitions as well as her claims of Native American heritage.
- Trump has attacked Warren over this issue numerous times, and has controversially nicknamed her "Pocahontas."
- Warren on Monday announced that she had launched an exploratory committee for a presidential run in 2020.
The 2020 campaign season seems to be upon us less than a week into the new year.
President Donald Trump on Thursday tweeted a meme mocking Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren's presidential ambitions as well as her claims of Native American heritage.
The meme, which was originally shared by the conservative news site The Daily Wire, says "Warren 1/2020th." This was seemingly a reference to the results of a DNA test Warren released in October that she claimed proved she has a Native American ancestor.
Warren has faced accusations of exaggerating her Native American heritage to benefit from affirmative action programs during her time as a law professor.
The Massachusetts senator did list herself as a "minority faculty member" while a professor at both the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University, but there's no record of her taking advantage of affirmative action programs at any point during her academic career. But this has not stopped Trump from going after Warren on this issue.
The president has controversially referred to Warren as "Pocahontas" and in July said he'd give $1 million to a charity of her choice if she took a DNA test proving she has Native American heritage. Warren attempted to call Trump's bluff, and went ahead and took the test.
The Democratic senator seemed to believe doing so might squash the criticism she's faced on this issue, but the move largely backfired and she was even decried by Native American groups.
Read more: Trump is reviving the attack that made him politically famous - this time against a new target
"It makes a mockery out of DNA tests and its legitimate uses while also dishonoring legitimate tribal governments and their citizens, whose ancestors are well documented and whose heritage is proven," Cherokee Nation Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. said in a statement at the time. "Sen. Warren is undermining tribal interests with her continued claims of tribal heritage."
Warren on Monday announced that she had launched an exploratory committee for a presidential run in 2020.
She's a favorite target of the political right due to her left-leaning views on economics and relentless criticism of corporate America and Wall Street, and has been labeled as a "divisive figure." But her tenacity and unapologetic commitment to her values have made Warren quite popular with progressives and she's considered among the top Democratic contenders for 2020.
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2019