President Trump joked Thursday night that he’ll offer $1 million to Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren to take a DNA test to determine whether she has Native American blood, if she becomes the Democratic nominee for president in 2020.
At a campaign rally in Montana, Mr. Trump took shots at several Democrats, including incumbent Sen. Jon Tester, who is running for reelection. But the president saved one of his sharpest barbs for Ms. Warren, whom he often ridicules as “Pocahontas” for her earlier claim of Native American ancestry.
Looking ahead to the 2020 race, Mr. Trump predicted, “let’s say I’m debating Pocahontas.”
“I promise you I’ll do this — you know those little [DNA] kits they sell on television for $2?” the president asked to laughter. “I’m going to get one of those little kits.”
He went on, “And in the middle of the debate, when she proclaims she’s of Indian heritage because her mother said she has high cheekbones… we will take that little kit and say, but we have to do it very gently because we’re in the ’me too’ generation… and we will very gently take that kit and we will slowly toss it, hoping it doesn’t hit her and injure her .. and we will say I will give you $1 million to your favorite charity, paid for by Trump, if you take the test and it shows you’re an Indian.”
“I have a feeling she will say no,” the president said.
Ms. Warren listed herself as a member of a minority group in a Harvard law school directory but has not claimed to be a Native American since being elected to the Senate in 2012.
Ms. Warren fired back on Twitter, “Hey, @realDonaldTrump: While you obsess over my genes, your Admin is conducting DNA tests on little kids because you ripped them from their mamas & you are too incompetent to reunite them in time to meet a court order. Maybe you should focus on fixing the lives you’re destroying.”
She was referring to illegal immigrant families separated at the border.
The president also said the IQ of Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters of California, with whom he has clashed many times, is “somewhere in the mid-60s.”
The reason for Mr. Trump’s trip to Montana was to urge voters to defeat Mr. Tester in favor of Republican state auditor Matt Rosendale. The president blasted the incumbent Democrat for voting against tax cuts and torpedoing his nominee to run the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“It’s time to retire liberal Democrat Jon Tester,” Mr. Trump told thousands of supporters at the rally in Great Falls. “Jon Tester says one thing when he’s in Montana …. but he does the exact opposite thing when he goes to Washington.”
He criticized the lawmaker for voting against tax cuts, against legislation to stop late-term abortions, and against enhanced vetting of refugees from terror-prone countries.
“You deserve a senator who actually votes like he’s from Montana,” the president said. “How did he get elected?”
Mr. Tester gave the president a tongue-in-cheek welcome to Montana by taking out a full-page ad in more than a dozen newspapers thanking him for signing 16 bills the Democrat sponsored or co-sponsored. The ad sought to counter the president’s arguments by pointing out that he and the president agree on several issues.
“Welcome to Montana, and thank you President Trump for supporting Jon’s legislation to help veterans and first responders, hold the VA accountable, and get rid of waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government,” the ad read.
Mr. Trump took the senator to task for voting against his judicial nominees and for his “shameful, dishonest attacks” on Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, the president’s previous nominee to run the VA this year. Mr. Tester released information accusing Adm. Jackson of misconduct on the job, but the president said a new report by the Secret Service showed “it never happened.”
“They could have ruined a lesser man,” he said of Adm. Jackson.
He also ridiculed the media for speculating that Mr. Trump isn’t prepared for his upcoming meeting next week with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland.
“Trust me, we’ll do just fine,” he said. “Putin’s fine. We’re all fine. We’re people. I’ve been preparing for this stuff my whole life.”
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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