Every Time Trump Says ‘Pocahontas,’ He Means to Slur Native Women

When the president evokes Pocahontas’ name in reference to Elizabeth Warren, it is racialized violence

Pocahontas, daughter of Chief Powhatan of Powhatan Indians of Virginia. (Credit: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

Since August 2014, Donald Trump has been calling Elizabeth Warren “Pocahontas.” By now, it’s no secret that most Natives find this deeply offensive. Yet despite strong rebukes from Indian Country, his inappropriate usage of the name has not ended. In fact, it has escalated. Instead of heeding the words of Natives and our allies, Trump has taken to wielding the name as a weapon in his hateful arsenal of divisive rhetoric — one that he uses to stir up racist, misogynistic vitriol in his base and distract the public from actual policy, as well as from his legal troubles and other scandals.

On August 27, 2019, he did it again. Trump tweeted, “They do stories so big on Elizabeth ‘Pocahontas’ Warren’s crowd sizes, adding many more people than are actually there, and yet my crowds, which are far bigger, get no coverage at all. Fake News!” In response to his latest attack, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) issued a statement strongly condemning Trump’s “continued use of the name ‘Pocahontas’ as a slur” and as an “insult for political gain” that “disrespects Pocahontas’ legacy and life.” And that he is. By continuing to use her name in this way, Trump is reinforcing and perpetuating some of the worst false, negative, racist, misogynistic stereotypes about Pocahontas and Native women in general.

For much of colonial history, pop culture has reimagined Pocahontas as a buxom beauty who fell in love with a dashing European explorer, a submissive sexpot Indian princess subject to the whims of the white men she sided with.

Long after her death, Pocahontas has been exploited by dominant settler society and the current system established to uphold white supremacy, patriarchy, and the wealthy.

But Natives know the reality of who she was. Pocahontas’ real name was Matoaka, or Amonute. Pocahontas was a nickname, meaning “playful one,” and while she was the daughter of Chief Powhatan, Natives did not have royalty, so she was not a princess.

Her experience with the European invaders was hardly romantic. When she first encountered them, Pocahontas was not yet a woman. She was only 10 when she met John Smith. She didn’t abandon her people, either. The invaders kidnapped Pocahontas and held her hostage. She was sexually assaulted and, finally, forced to marry one of her captors as a condition of her release; however, she would never be truly free again. She was taken from her homelands and paraded around Europe as an example of successful colonization. Pocahontas died from disease in England when she was just 20 years old.

Long after her death, Pocahontas has been exploited by dominant settler society and the current system established to uphold white supremacy, patriarchy, and the wealthy.