Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 07:01 pm
We saw progressive hero Elizabeth Warren nail Donald Trump with a barrage of tweets yesterday. Trump lies with great frequency – as we’ve seen, 9 out of every 10 things he says. So let’s look at one tweet in particular, which was enough to prove both Warren’s point and Trump’s history of just making sh*t up.
She tweeted,
Anytime someone calls out @realDonaldTrump, he replies with right-wing conspiracies & lies. It’s not presidential – & getting very old.
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— Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) May 25, 2016
What does Donald Trump have to say in response? It may come as no surprise to anybody – least of all to Elizabeth Warren – but this was Trump’s response, seemingly to this very tweet:
Goofy Senator Elizabeth Warren @elizabethforma has done less in the U.S. Senate than practically any other senator. All talk, no action!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 25, 2016
She pointed to Trump’s failure to answer criticisms with anything but insults, so what does he do in answer to her criticisms but call her “goofy,” as though that erases all the problems she brought up in her series of tweets. He had not one cogent answer to any of them.
Speaking at a rally in Albuquerque, New Mexico Tuesday night, Trump had the same sorts of things to say about Warren, more ad hominem attacks. He called her “Pocahontas” because she said she has a Native American heritage back in 2012. So of course you have to use a racially motivated attack if you’re Donald Trump and your enemy is anything but white. He also attacked her Senate attendance and voting record, saying,
“Elizabeth Warren, she is going out — she is probably the senator that is doing just about the least in the United States senate. She is a total failure.”
This is the stuff Trump audiences love to hear. No substance. Just abuse. Hitler demonstrated very early on that the emotional appeal of insults are mana to simple-minded audiences. Trump didn’t sleep with a book of Hitler’s speeches by his pillow without cracking it open from time to time – to judge from his rhetoric, far more often than his Bible.
So all Trump has to attack Warren with is her Native American heritage and her attendance record. But GovTrackUS says of her attendance,
From Jan 2013 to May 2016, Warren missed 12 of 1,083 roll call votes, which is 1.1%. This is on par with the median of 1.6% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving.
As for what she does when she is there, Vote Smart has Elizabeth Warren’s voting record, and there are a LOT of votes. GovTrackUS shows membership on no less than 11 committees. Likewise, she sponsors bills:
According to GovTrackUS, Warren has sponsored bills in the following areas: Education (19%), Government Operations and Politics (15%), Health (15%), Finance and Financial Sector (15%), Labor and Employment (12%), Crime and Law Enforcement (12%), Sports and Recreation (12%).
Many of these bills are not the sorts of things Trump has any interest in so he’d probably call her ‘goofy’ over these as well, if bothered to check her record instead of flinging meaningless insults:
S. 793: Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act
Sponsor: Sen. Elizabeth Warren [D-MA]
Introduced: Mar 18, 2015
Referred to Committee: Mar 18, 2015
S. 1109: Truth in Settlements Act of 2015
Sponsor: Sen. Elizabeth Warren [D-MA]
Introduced: Apr 28, 2015
Passed Senate: Sep 21, 2015
S. 2744: Genetic Research Privacy Protection Act
Sponsor: Sen. Elizabeth Warren [D-MA]
Introduced: Apr 5, 2016
Referred to Committee: Apr 5, 2016
S. 1709: 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act of 2015
Sponsor: Sen. Elizabeth Warren [D-MA]
Introduced: Jul 7, 2015
Referred to Committee: Jul 7, 2015
S. 1981: Equal Employment for All Act of 2015
Sponsor: Sen. Elizabeth Warren [D-MA]
Introduced: Aug 5, 2015
Referred to Committee: Aug 5, 2015
Warren’s legislation -both her votes and bills she has sponsored – demonstrate she actually tries to help Americans, and to protect us from predators like Donald Trump, whereas, as she has pointed out, Trump’s goal is to help Donald Trump and nobody else.
So what has emerged out of all this is yet another Trump lie. Not only is there nothing wrong with her attendance record or the frequency with which she votes, but her 1.1% of missed roll call votes is actually BETTER than the median of 1.6%.
Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.
