You can count on President Donald Trump to keep his priorities twisted. At one of his final rallies before the midterm elections concluded — this one in Ohio — he touted how proud he is of his nickname for U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who he’s called “Pocahontas.” The nickname surfaced over the Senator’s past casual claims of Native American ancestry, and the president has rehashed the racially charged derogatory jab over and over again, including literally while standing next to a group of Native Americans who’d worked as codebreakers for the U.S. Armed Forces.
This Monday night in Ohio, he offered, speaking of Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate and former Obama administration official Richard Cordray:
‘He was handpicked and he was a disciple of Elizabeth Warren, who I can no longer call Pocahontas because she has no Indian blood… I’ll call her Pocahontas anyway. That name is too good to give up.
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His reference to the Senator newly being revealed as not “Indian” stems from her revelation of a DNA test, which simply wasn’t some resounding signal pointing her to a family tree.
The jab is hardly alone among rhetorical atrocities from the sitting president. For instance, right before his latest utilization of the presidency as a bully pulpit via attacking Elizabeth Warren, he went off on a strange tangent about his daughter Ivanka, who was present with him in Ohio.
He complained — perhaps conscious of the past noticed occasional oddity of the relationship he shares with Ivanka — that it’s “politically incorrect” to call a woman beautiful, but at least he can say that his daughter is smart.
The list could go on and on. Reporter Daniel Dale, for instance, shared that Trump offered the following quote to his Ohio rally attendees:
‘I’ve actually kept more promises than I’ve made. When did you ever hear that from a politician? Maybe never. Never. It’s true.’
As for what that actually means or would even look like translated to reality, who knows.
This is what’s on the ballot this week — a nonsense word salad of racism, sexism, and who knows what else, and the opposite. Complain all you want about Democrats only being “against Trump,” they’re the ones who oversaw the expansion of rights for LGBT people via marriage equality, which was a massive seismic shift. They’re the ones who oversaw the expansion of health coverage to millions of people across the United States — which the Republicans couldn’t even garner enough ideological anger to overturn (!) and represents another massive seismic shift.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has made himself known for… what exactly? He’s spent his time in office letting every mean spirited sexist and racist know that — at least in the president’s world — it’s okay for them to come out and play without any regard for what happens next.
The good news is, Democrats are expected to win control of the U.S. House come the conclusion of the midterms this week, and who knows, maybe they could pull off an upset and take the Senate too.
That will put up a roadblock for but it won’t completely stop the Trump Train, which continues to careen wildly out of control.
Featured Image via YouTube screenshot
