Trump mocks the #MeToo movement in derogatory rant about Elizabeth Warren at Montana campaign rally
- President Donald Trump used a derogatory term to reference Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and encouraged her to take an ancestry test to prove her self-described Native American heritage during a campaign rally in Montana on Thursday.
- Trump also revived the derogatory "Pocahontas" nickname he has used previously to describe Warren.
- Trump went on to rail against the #MeToo movement by sarcastically suggesting he needed to be "gentle" with its supporters.
President Donald Trump revived a derogatory term he has previously used to reference Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts while speaking at a campaign rally for Republican state auditor Matt Rosendale in Montana on Thursday.
"She's based her life on being a minority. 'Pocahontas,' they always want me to apologize for saying it," Trump said. "Pocahontas, I apologize to you. I apologize. To you, I apologize. To the fake Pocahontas, I won't apologize."
Trump accused Warren of using her self-described heritage to advance her political career and taunted her by suggesting she should take an ancestry test. Fact-checkers were previously unable to determine whether Warren is of Native American heritage, but, according to their findings, the lack of proof did not "preclude Warren from having traces of Native American heritage."
Trump also sniped at the #MeToo movement during his monologue on Warren's genealogy:
"I'm going to get one of those little kits, and in the middle of the debate when she proclaims that she's of Indian heritage, because her mother says she has high cheekbones," Trump said. "We will take that little kit and ... we have to do it gently because we're in the 'MeToo' generation so he have to be very gentle."
"And we will very gently take that kit, and we will slowly toss it," Trump continued. "Hoping it doesn't hit her and injure her arm. Even though it only weighs probably two ounces."
The #MeToo movement is dedicated to exposing rampant sexual misconduct and sexual harassment across multiple industries, which has taken down multiple high-profile figures since it began. Trump appears to have conflated it with being polite.
Warren has previously voiced her support for the movement.
Incidentally, Trump's remarks the same day the White House announced that former Fox News executive Bill Shine will join the White House as the next deputy chief of staff for communications. Shine stepped down as co-president at Fox News in 2017. He was close to the embattled chairman and CEO Roger Ailes, who had faced multiple allegations of sexual misconduct.
Shine was accused of trying to cover up allegations against Ailes, who left the network in July 2016, and died nearly one year later.
Shortly after Trump threw darts at Warren on Thursday, Warren fired back, noting the Trump administration was conducting DNA tests on separated migrant families. On Thursday, the Department of Health and Human Services announced it would conduct DNA tests as part of the effort to reunite migrant children who were separated from their parents as a result of the White House's "zero tolerance" immigration policy.