Sen. Al Franken (D., Minn.) does not like President Donald Trump's nickname for his colleague, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.).
Trump has taken to calling Warren "Pocahontas" because of Warren's claim to Native American ancestry. Warren listed herself as a minority in an Association of American Law Schools directory, and has proudly spoken of her heritage.
According to CNN, a genealogist supposedly traced Warren's ancestry and said that if she had Native American ancestry, it was only 1/32. Warren says that her ancestral claim comes from stories from family.
Last week, Trump told Democratic senators that "Pocahontas is now the face of your party."
CNN host Jake Tapper asked Franken on Sunday what he thought of Trump's statement.
"I would have said something," Franken said.
Tapper asked him what he would have said.
"'Mr. President, with all due respect that's racist. Please stop doing that,'" Franken said. "'I'm on Indian Affairs, this is completely unacceptable, you really should stop doing this. It doesn't serve anybody,' something like that."
But there were many on Twitter who took Trump's side, arguing that Warren was wrong for labelling herself a Native American without being raised as a part of Native American culture.
How about lying about your heritage to steal a spot from a minority? Is that racist? https://t.co/KRAtuFdlWI
— Jason C. (@CounterMoonbat) February 13, 2017
"Cultural appropriation" is super awesome when Liz Warren does it, for the most venal and selfish of reasons. https://t.co/YMxgUqwkkz
— John Hayward (@Doc_0) February 13, 2017
@thehill senator @alfranken, as a 4th gen Choctaw I find it racist that Warren abused her "heratige" to get ahead instead of true Nat Ams.
— Chris McCullough (@GrigLager) February 13, 2017
Warren has been one of Trump's fiercest critics, and she is rumored to be a candidate to challenge Trump in the 2020 elections.