Trump, Denying Sexism Helped Bring Down Warren, Says Something Sexist About Her

While political pundits fight over what exactly went wrong for Elizabeth Warren, one thing is reasonably agreed upon: The former Harvard law professor was one of the 2020 contest’s most qualified candidates, one whose unrivaled policy expertise became an unlikely but rousing campaign trademark. 

Not according to Donald Trump. Nope. While speaking at a press conference on the coronavirus Friday, the president offered his own take on the situation.

“I think lack of talent was her problem, she has a tremendous lack of talent,” Trump said, denying that gender politics had played a role in Warren’s downfall.

“She’s a very mean person, and people don’t like her,” he continued, inadvertently but ever-reliably deploying sexism with the very statement. “People don’t want that.”

Then in perhaps his most ridiculous political observation, Trump asserted that voters “like a person like me, that’s not mean.”

Fact check: Donald Trump is a very mean person. We’ll have some video evidence for you in a moment.

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Russian bots are impersonating us. Trump and his allies want to silence us. AI wants to (and does!) steal our content. The list goes on. But with 50 years of experience, we know we were built for this moment: We’re ready to keep diving deep and uncovering the truth, then getting that to you right here, completely accessible and never behind a paywall.

While our work is free to read, watch, and listen to online, it’s incredibly costly to make. Court documents, travel, research: It all adds up. Because we’re a nonprofit newsroom, we rely on reader support to fund our investigations. Will you stand with us in these extraordinary times, as headlines clamour for our attention and disinformation is rampant? We can’t get the truth out without you.

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