Elizabeth Warren

About

Elizabeth Warren is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party who has been serving as the senior United States Senator of Massachusetts since 2013. As an active advocate of consumer protection and regulation of the financial sector, Warren has a gained significant following among American progressives.

History

Career

Starting in the 1970s, Warren served as a law professor at various universities in the United States until the mid 1990s, when she began working in bankruptcy regulation and consumer protection advocacy. In 2004, Warren was interviewed on the show NOW with Bill Moyers, during which she accused Hillary Clinton of being largely influenced by credit card companies as a legislator (shown below).

In November 2008, Warren was elected Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel. In September 2010, she began serving as Special Advisor for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. On September 14th, 2011, Warren announced she planned to run for the Democratic nomination for United States Senate in the upcoming 2012 election in Massachusetts. Four days later, YouTuber LiveSmartVideos uploaded footage of Warren discussing the various economic issues, which gained over 1.07 million views and 8,300 comments over the next five years (shown below). In November 2012, Warren defeated incumbent Scott Brown to become the first woman elected to the United States Senate in Massachusetts.

Run Warren Run

In early December 2014, the Run Warren Run^[2] campaign was launched by members of MoveOn.org to encourage Warren to run for president of the United States in the 2016 election. On December 10th, the "Run Warren Run" Facebook^[1] page was launched, which gathered upwards of 75,600 likes over the next two years. In June 2015, the Run Warren Run campaign was officially suspended.

Endorsement of Hillary Clinton

On June 9th, 2016, Warren publicly endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton for president of the United States in an interview on The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC (shown below).

Criticism of Donald Trump

On March 31st, 2016, Warren appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, during which she discussed the upcoming presidential election and derided Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Within four months, a YouTube upload of the appearance received upwards of 1.4 million views and 7,700 comments.

On May 6th, Trump tweeted that he hopes "corrupt Hillary Clinton chooses goofy Elizabeth Warren as her running mate" (shown below).^[4]

That day, Warren posted a series of tweets calling Trump a "bully" and deriding his political tactics (shown below).^[5]

On July 22nd, Warren appeared a second time on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, where she criticized Donald Trump's acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, claiming he "sounded like a two-bit dictator" (shown below).

Tech Company Breakup

On March 8th, 2019, Warren wrote on the blogging platform Medium^[20] "Here's how we can break up Big Tech," a policy proposal for breaking up the technology companies Amazon, Google and Facebook with hopes of helping small business and increasing competition in the marketplace. Warren, argues, that, if elected president, she would seek to pass legislation requiring tech companies to be designated a "Platform Utilities." This would that sub-products of these companies would be spun off from the platform. These products include Amazon Basics and Google Search. Additionally, the administration would " appoint regulators committed to reversing illegal and anti-competitive tech mergers."

She writes, "Three companies have vast power over our economy and our democracy. Facebook, Amazon, and Google. We all use them. But in their rise to power, they’ve bulldozed competition, used our private information for profit, and tilted the playing field in their favor."

That day, Warren tweeted,^[21] "Facebook, Amazon, and Google have vast power over our economy and democracy. They’ve bulldozed competition and tilted the playing field in their favor. Time to break up these companies so they don’t have so much power over everyone else." The post received more than 3,400 retweets and 10,000 likes in four days (shown below).

Several days later, Politico^[22] reported that Facebook had removed three of Warren's advertisements on the platform. The ads were later restored. According to a spokesperson, "We removed the ads because they violated our policies against use of our corporate logo. In the interest of allowing robust debate, we are restoring the ads."

On March 11th, 2019, following the restoration, Warren tweeted,^[23] "Curious why I think FB has too much power? Let's start with their ability to shut down a debate over whether FB has too much power. Thanks for restoring my posts. But I want a social media marketplace that isn't dominated by a single censor. #BreakUpBigTech." The tweet received more than 8,700 retweets and 32,000 likes in 24 hours (shown below, left).

She later tweeted,^[24] "You shouldn't have to contact Facebook's publicists in order for them to decide to 'allow robust debate' about Facebook. They shouldn’t have that much power." The tweet received more than 800 retweets and 3,100 likes in 24 hours (shown below, right).

Controversies

Native American Heritage

In April 2012, the Boston Herald^[6] reported that Warren listed herself as a Native American in the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) directories from 1986 to 1995. Scott Brown, her opponent in that year's Massachusetts Senate race, speculated that she faked being Native American to advance her career. During an interview with NPR^[3] in May, Warren claimed she had always been told she was "part Cherokee" by her family, and that she was "very proud of her heritage."

Pocahontas Nickname

In late May 2016, Trump mocked Warren using the nickname "Pocahontas," a Native American of historical significance for her association with the colonial settlement Jamestown, in reference to her Native American heritage scandal in an interview with The New York Times.^[7]

"When I asked if he had been chided by any Republicans for his Twitter feud with Elizabeth Warren, he replied, 'You mean Pocahontas?'"

On June 10th, Trump posted a tweet referring to Warren as "Pocahontas" and "goofy" (shown below, left).^[8] Following Warren's speech at the Democratic National Convention on July 25th, Trump tweeted that the Senator was "often referred to as Pocahontas" (shown below, right).^[9]

On November 27th, 2017, Trump used the nickname while honoring a group of World War II Navajo code talkers who helped U.S. Marines send coded messages.^[10] He said, "I just want to thank you because you’re very, very special people. You were here long before any of us were here. Although we have a representative in Congress who, they say, was here a long time ago. They call her 'Pocahontas.'"

A spokesperson for the Navajo nation Mihio Manus responded to the comment by saying, "We’re very appreciative of President Trump honoring the code talkers first and foremost. It’s unfortunate that President Trump would refer to Sen. Elizabeth Warren as Pocahontas in a joking way. Pocahontas, although she wasn’t Navajo, definitely was a historical figure in the foundation of this nation who is misrepresented in history. And so we as the Navajo Nation don’t feel any member of any tribal nation should be used as the punchline of a joke." The post (shown below) received more than 17,000 retweets and 63,000 likes within 24 hours.

Warren responded to the president's comments later that day. She said,^[10] “This was supposed to be a ceremony honoring war heroes,” Warren said. “All he had to do was smile and thank them for their incredible service. But he couldn’t make it through the ceremony without throwing in a racial slur. He thinks he’s going to shut me up? It’s not going to work.”

The White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that the president did not intend to be offensive or use a racial slur. She said, “I think what most people find offensive is Senator Warren lying about her heritage to advance her career. I think that Senator Warren was very offensive when she lied about something specifically to advance her career."

DNA Test

On October 15th, 2018, Senator Warren released a DNA test that shows "strong evidence" of her Native American heritage. According to the Boston Globe,^[12] the test revealed that Warren had a "Native American in her family tree dating back 6 to 10 generations." The results suggest that Warren is "between 1/64th and 1/1,024th Native American."

The executive summary^[13] of the results states: "We find strong evidence that a DNA sample of primarily European descent also contains Native American ancestry from an ancestor in sample's pedigree 6-10 generations ago. We find little or no evidence of African ancestry in this sample."

That day, Warren tweeted^[14] a video about the controversy. She wrote, "My family (including Fox News-watchers) sat together and talked about what they think of @realDonaldTrump’s attacks on our heritage. And yes, a famous geneticist analyzed my DNA and concluded that it contains Native American ancestry." The tweet received more than 13,000 retweets and 38,000 likes in less than 24 hours (shown below).

She later tweeted,^[15] "I never expected my family’s story to be used as a racist political joke, but I don’t take any fight lying down. I want you to have the power to fight lies with the truth, so here's a new site for you to review every document for yourself." The follow-up tweet received more than 2,600 retweets and 10,000 likes.

The document she cited also quotes The Boston Globe's analysis that her ethnicity "played no role in her hiring" at Harvard Law.^[16] They wrote:

"In the most exhaustive review undertaken of Elizabeth Warren’s professional history, The Globe found clear evidence, in documents and interviews, that her claim to Native American ethnicity was never considered by the Harvard Law faculty, which voted resoundingly to hire her, or by those who hired her to four prior positions at other law schools. at every step of her remarkable rise in the legal profession, the people responsible for hiring her saw her as a white woman."

Some criticized Warren for her decision to take and release a DNA test. Twitter^[17] @EmmyNawjoopinga tweeted, "That's not how this works, that's not how any of this works. Can Warren just stop? I would much rather it said Warren meets with Cherokee women to apologize. This is NOT how you make amends to Natives FYI. #ElizabethWarren." The tweet received more than 560 retweets and 1,600 likes in 24 hours (shown below, left).

Twitter user @serena_graves^[19] tweeted, "As a Ntv person in academia I cant prove my Ojibwe and Lakotah lineage via DNA tests for scholarships. I have to provide tribal documentation and written proof that I’m connected to my community. @elizabethforma gets to take a DNA test to prove 'lineage' & it’s cool tho? 👀💀" The tweet received more than 100 retweets and 300 likes in 24 hours (shown below, center).

Others attempted to call attention to President Trump's offer to donate $1 million to charity if Warren released the DNA test. CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins tweeted,^[18] "Trump denies offering to pay $1 million to the charity of Elizabeth Warren’s choice if she proved her Native American heritage. He did." The tweet received more than 1,000 retweets and 2,200 likes in 24 hours (shown below, right).

That day, ABC this week released a video of Trump responding to the DNA test and denying the $1 million challenge. The post received more than 170 retweets and 330 likes in 24 hours.

President Donald Trump on Sen. Elizabeth Warren releasing the results of her DNA test: "Who cares?"

The results show "strong evidence" Warren had a Native American ancestor dating back several generations, The Boston Globe reported today https://t.co/EOm10j8Yef pic.twitter.com/iVw6tuhWA2

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) October 15, 2018

Search Interest

External References