2020 elections Trump vows to revive 'Pocahontas' attack against Warren

President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he planned to revive an old attack strategy on Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren, focusing on her contentious past claims of Native American heritage.

“Like, Elizabeth Warren — I did the Pocahontas thing,” Trump said during a New Hampshire rally Thursday. “I hit her really hard and it looked like she was down and out but that was too long ago, I should’ve waited. But don’t worry, we will revive it.”


Trump mocked Warren in the early days of her candidacy for previously claiming Native American heritage and taking a DNA test to prove her claims. Warren’s move was widely derided by Native American leaders, who argued that cultural ties were a stronger indicator of indigenous heritage than distant historical blood relations.

Though controversial at the start of her candidacy at the beginning of the year, the issue of her heritage has since faded from public attention. Still, that hasn’t stopped Trump from calling the Massachusetts senator “Pocahontas” at many of his rallies — a moniker that has been widely panned as racist.

Trump said on Thursday that he regretted going after her on her claims of heritage so soon and that he would renew the line of attack going forward.

Warren has proved a growing threat to the Trump campaign with her own populist message to counter the president’s. The Trump team has increased its attention on the senator, digging up opposition research and recasting her as a leftist extremist, POLITICO reported in June.

Warren recently jumped closer to the front of the pack, trailing behind only former Vice President Joe Biden among the crowded Democratic field, according to a Fox News poll released on Thursday. The second-place position had previously been held by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.