Elizabeth Warren launches crusade against Donald Trump

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren has launched an online crusade to keep Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump from reaching the White House. A week ago, Warren, one of the few US politicians as outspoken as Trump, began a Twitter series to denounce a candidate she calls “a sexist, xenophobic bully.” Trump, an avid Twitter user, immediately responded by tweeting: “Goofy Elizabeth Warren didn’t have the guts to run for POTUS.”

“I’m going to fight my heart out to make sure @real Donald Trump’s toxic stew of hatred and insecurity never reaches the White House,” the 67-year old tweeted. Before Bernie Sanders made his bid for the White House, Warren, a former academic, looked like Hillary Clinton’s toughest rival for the nomination and the hope of progressives within the Democratic Party. She declined to run in the primaries and has kept a low profile over the last year. Until now.

Trump, an ostentatious billionaire property magnate, embodies everything that Warren has fought against since entering politics in 2010. The “real” Donald Trump, she tweeted last week, “has built his campaign on racism, sexism, and xenophobia.” But Trump is “cool with being called an authoritarian” and he graciously accepts compliments from Russian President Vladimir Putin. “There’s more enthusiasm for Donald Trump among leaders of the KKK than leaders of the political party he now controls,” Warren added.

Trump, an ostentatious billionaire property magnate, embodies everything that Warren has fought against since entering politics in 2010

Trump immediately took up the gauntlet. As is his custom, first he chose a nickname for his victim. Warren is “Goofy” just like former Secretary Hillary Clinton is “Crooked” and his primary rival and fellow party member Senator Marco Rubio is “Little Marco.” Then, he found her weak spot and jabbed away. Trump attacked the senator over her claims of Native American ancestry, something her opponents previously used against her when she ran for the Senate in 2012. Warren detractors say she has used this hard-to-prove claim to bolster her career.

“Goofy Elizabeth Warren, Hillary Clinton’s flunky, has a career that is totally based on a lie. She is not Native American,” Trump tweeted. “Let’s properly check goofy Elizabeth Warren’s records to see if she is Native American. I say she’s a fraud!”

Warren reminded her followers of the Obama citizenship controversy during his 2008 presidential campaign. “We saw what happened when birthers like @realDonaldTrump attacked @BarackObama. They lost big. American voters knew better,” she wrote. President Barack Obama laughed off the claims that he was not indeed American and thus a legitimate candidate and the White House published a copy of his birth certificate.

Warren mocked Trump’s nickname for her saying “For a guy with ‘the best words’ that’s a pretty lame nickname. Weak!”

So far, Trump has emerged from these kinds of tussles unscathed. Over the course of his campaign to win the Republican Party nomination, he has attacked immigrants, mocked US military veterans and insulted women. He has dominated the Republican primary race, despite widespread opposition from within the party.

As for Warren, rumor is that she’s in the running for veep once Clinton secures the nomination, but for the moment, she’s focusing her attention on destroying Trump.

Might ‘the Donald’ have met his match?

English version by Dyane Jean François