President Donald Trump didn't waste time going after Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) after she signaled a run for the presidency in 2020, tweeting out a graphic Thursday that clearly mocked her widely panned DNA test rollout last year.
With no accompanying words, Trump tweeted a campaign-style graphic that said "Warren 1/2020th," a play on her 2020 ambitions and the test showing she could have as little as 1/1,024th Native American ancestry.
Trump has frequently referred to Warren derisively as "Pocahontas" for her longtime claims of having Native American ancestry. Warren listed herself as Native American while teaching at the University of Pennsylvania Law School from 1987 to 1995 and then at Harvard Law School beginning in 1995, and the unproven claim became a sore spot during her 2012 run for the U.S. Senate against Scott Brown.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1080858959404240896
Warren released a DNA test in October showing she could have an ancestor between six and 10 generations back, and she demanded Trump pony up the $1 million he had promised if she could prove her claims.
However, the marginal nature of the results backfired. The Cherokee Nation attacked her for using DNA to try to claim a connection, saying she had undermined tribal interests, and the New York Times reported Warren privately worried whether she had damaged her standing with progressive activists and minorities. Her advisers suggested to her that she apologize, although she has publicly stood by her decision.
The graphic came from The Daily Wire, a conservative site founded by radio host Ben Shapiro.
Yesssss https://t.co/DU27HryepM
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) January 3, 2019
Warren is the first major Democrat to announce the formation of a presidential exploratory committee. She will visit Iowa this weekend and has made a series of high-profile hires for her team in the critical caucus state.
Trump said he would welcome running against Warren, who has been one of the president's sharpest critics since he came on the political scene.