It looks like our President Donald Trump might have had a little too much to drink last night judging by his 4:55 a.m. tweet last Friday, November 3rd, when he repeated one of his favorite political slurs when referring to Democrat senator Elizabeth Warre as “Pocahontas”. Trump has been referring to Ms. Warren as the Powhatan woman since the campaign trail almost one year ago, referencing with this Warren’s supposed Cherokee and Delaware Indian heritage that to date has not been able to prove.
The unsavory Tweet that was posted at odd hours of the evening read, “Pocahontas just stated that the Democrats, lead by the legendary Crooked Hillary Clinton, rigged the Primaries! Lets go FBI & Justice Dept.” As you can notice, the post also contains two grammatical errors, a common occurrence when one is trying to communicate at such late (or early depending on perspective) hours.
Pocahontas just stated that the Democrats, lead by the legendary Crooked Hillary Clinton, rigged the Primaries! Lets go FBI & Justice Dept.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 3, 2017
The offensive name calling that Mr. Trump has resorted to comes as a surprise, as he had previously said in an interview with Fox News in June 2016, that he regrets calling Warren by that name. “I do regret calling her Pocahontas because I think it’s a tremendous insult to Pocahontas. said the then GOP candidate, “So to Pocahontas, I would like to apologize to you.”
However, Trump has defended the use of the racial slur because he believes that senator Warred has been lying about her background. “She made up her heritage, which I think is racist. I think she’s a racist, actually because what she did was very racist,” said the president.
Goofy Elizabeth Warren, sometimes referred to as Pocahontas, pretended to be a Native American in order to advance her career. Very racist!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 11, 2016
Warren waited a couple of hours before responding to the President’s tweet and wrote: “I understand your desperation to change the subject, @realDonaldTrump. Your campaign mgr was just indicted for conspiracy against the US.” and continued to address Trump’s rhetoric during the day, while the President then moved to other subjects like ISIS and Bernie Sanders, most likely forgetting what he had written.
I understand your desperation to change the subject, @realDonaldTrump. Your campaign mgr was just indicted for conspiracy against the US. https://t.co/Bazcx4IbX2
— Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) November 3, 2017
Several (if not all) Native American groups have previously condemned Trump’s use of the moniker. Cherokee Nation citizen Mary Kathryn Nagle spoke to NBC last year and said: “Trump’s inability to discern the difference between Senator Warren and Pocahontas is no accident. Instead, his attack on her native identity reflects a dominant American culture that has made every effort to diminish native women to nothing other than a fantastical, oversexualized, Disney character.”
The tweet once again drew ire from the Native American community and Indian Country columnist Ruth Hopkins called out the president for mocking Native American women when invoking Pocahontas, a member of an Algonquian tribe that was encountered by English captain John Smith on an expedition in Virginia.
Pocahontas was prepubescent girl held hostage & raped by European invaders. Stop mocking her & Native women. https://t.co/FDcZMz8Bth
— Ruth H. Hopkins (@RuthHHopkins) November 3, 2017
Article inspired by The Washington Post // Trump’s ‘Pocahontas’ jab at Elizabeth Warren draws the ire of Native Americans