This afternoon at a press conference in Bismarck, North Dakota after officially clinching the GOP Presidential nomination, Donald Trump defamed Senator and VP shortlist contender Elizabeth Warren as “Pocahontas”.
A reporter by the name of Nicole Robertson correctly took offense to that, only for Lyin’ Donald to repeat the word when confronted by the reporter.
Alan Smith at Business Insider:
Donald Trump again attacked Elizabeth Warren on Thursday, calling her "Pocahontas" during a press conference in North Dakota and prompting pushback from a person identified as a reporter.
"That's very offensive," the person shouted.
"Oh, I'm sorry about that," Trump said.
"Pocahontas? Is that what you said? Elizabeth Warren?" he said.
He said he hits back at the Massachusetts senator because "she tweets a lot about" him.
Emily Cahn at Mic News on Trump’s offensive “Pocahontas” remark made against Sen. Warren:
When asked a question about Sen. Elizabeth Warren's Twitter rants against Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee went on to call her "Pocahontas," a reference to her disputed claims of Native American ancestry.
"Pocahontas? Elizabeth Warren? She tweets a lot about me," Trump said, before adding that, "She is a Senator that is highly overrated, she's passed very little legislation, she's been a real disaster about a lot of people, including the Democrats, who frankly really can't stand her."
xTrump calls Elizabeth Warren "Pochontas", asks "is that offensive?" to someone literally yelling "that's offensive!" pic.twitter.com/RXJE0eHp2x
— Mic (@micnews) May 26, 2016The Guardian’s Ben Jacobs notes that Robertson, the reporter who correctly called Trump’s “Pocahontas” remark offensive, is a member of the Cree Nation.
xNicole Robertson, the reporter who called Trump's "Pocahontas" remarks offensive is a member of the Cree Nation
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) May 26, 2016Emily Crockett at Vox explains why Drumpf’s usage of “Pocahontas” is insulting:
While Warren was listed as a minority in the Association of American Law Schools Directory of Faculty, she had declined to apply as a minority to Rutgers Law School, and had listed herself as "white" while teaching at the University of Texas. The head of the committee that recruited Warren to Harvard also said he had no memory of her Native American heritage ever coming up, and the 1995 Harvard Crimson article reporting on her tenure made no mention of it.
It's true, Franke-Ruta learned, that Warren wouldn't meet the criteria to officially qualify as Cherokee. She only claimed to be 1/32 Cherokee, which is too little to qualify for citizenship in two of the three major Cherokee tribes. She also doesn't have a known direct ancestor listed on the Dawes Rolls, which is a strict requirement for membership in the Cherokee Nation, or on the Baker Rolls, a requirement of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
But just because Warren can't find hard evidence of Native American heritage doesn't mean she doesn't have any, Franke-Ruta said.
And even if she doesn't, that wouldn't make her a liar. Hazy oral histories about Native heritage are especially common in Oklahoma, where Warren grew up, and she would have no particular reason to disbelieve the stories she was told growing up.
His insensitive and bigoted comments against Native Americans (along with Hispanics [Mexicans in particular], Muslims, people with disabilities, and the African-American community, to name a few) are further proof that he is NOT fit to be our next President.