A day after her official presidential campaign launch event in her home state of Massachusetts. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) traveled to Iowa to begin wooing voters in the state where bids for the presidency traditionally face their first test in less than a year from today.
Warren surely was responding to President Trump’s offensive attack on her yesterday — a tweet that contained a joking reference to the Native American genocide known as the Trail of Tears — when she opened her speech to supporters in Cedar Rapids, Iowa with a dig at Trump’s legal jeopardy in the multiple investigations of which he is currently the ultimate subject.
Vaughn Hillyard of NBC News reported on Warren’s speech via a series of Twitter posts that demonstrated that the Massachusetts senator won’t be cowed by Trump’s insults and that hinted that she believes that the president may not even be a factor by the time the 2020 elections roll around.
Elizabeth Warren in first minutes of Iowa speech—> "Here’s what bothers me, by the time we get to 2020, Donald Trump may not even be president. In fact, he may not even be a free person. But here’s how I see it – Donald Trump is not the only problem we’ve got." pic.twitter.com/WtUa6jw7Qz
— Vaughn Hillyard (@VaughnHillyard) February 10, 2019
After quickly dismissing Trump as so compromised as to be not even worth paying attention to, Warren reiterated the progressive agenda that she began rolling out yesterday and has championed since she first urged the establishment of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under then-President Obama.
Warren in Cedar Rapids: "We can make change…make big structural change, the kind that puts the power back in the hands of people." Warren rolls right into list of changes, ending lobbying "as we know it," strengthen unions… https://t.co/77xJCADo0g
— Vaughn Hillyard (@VaughnHillyard) February 10, 2019
Senator Warren’s willingness to confront the entrenched monied power brokers was apparent as she again declared her refusal to accept donations from billionaires, their corporations, or their political action committees.
Elizabeth Warren in Cedar Rapids: "I want to be clear on this. I’m not taking one thin dime of PAC money. I’m not taking one thin dime of federal lobbyist money. And I’m not going out kissing up to a bunch of billionaires hoping they’ll fund a super PAC for me."
— Vaughn Hillyard (@VaughnHillyard) February 10, 2019
Even the Senator’s system for choosing who would be able to ask her questions during the limited time available after her speech showed her commitment to fighting the forces of elitism and inequality.
Team Warren's method for choosing questioners: Drawing raffle tickets acquired by folks as they walked in.
— Vaughn Hillyard (@VaughnHillyard) February 10, 2019
Warren’s message of restructuring American society to eliminate the inherent rigging of the economy to benefit the already wealthy seemed to be well received by Iowa Democrats.
Elizabeth Warren winning over some local Democratic activists from her Cedar Rapids event #IACaucus https://t.co/dHjLNJuzFP
— Iowa Starting Line (@IAStartingLine) February 10, 2019
With a Democratic field crowded with candidates, Warren’s early start and clear progressive bona fides may help her establish an impressive level of support early in the race and assist her in staying in the competition for the nomination as more Democratic politicians mull whether they stand a chance at snagging the party’s ultimate prize.
One thing is certain, however, as long as Trump does remain president and a “free person,” he will soon be tweeting another insulting attack on Senator Warren and every other Democrat — progressive or mainstream alike — that seek to unseat him.
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