I love her so much:
At an event on Thursday, Senator Elizabeth Warren called President Donald Trump an "elf on the shelf" for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
During a rally in Arlington, Virginia, an attendee asked Warren what she would do as president to ensure everyone was held to the same standards under the law, including Putin's "boy in the White House." The attendee pointed out President Gerald Ford's pardon of former President Richard Nixon and asked for an assurance that Warren would hold everyone accountable for criminal actions.
"His elf on the shelf," Warren said in reference to Trump before adding, "So the answer is, yes, no one is above the law, everyone is held accountable."
The Massachusettes senator claimed it wasn't a matter of political prosecutions or retribution, but was a matter of having an independent Department of Justice that enforces the rule of law. Even if there is a president who is willing to "look the other way," in terms of improper behavior, Warren said administration officials who break the law should know they'll be investigated because "Elizabeth Warren as president will not look the other way."
Well said. Warren’s campaign event in Virginia was a huge success:
"I think she’s the only one who’s come up with a plan for after Trump, how to clean up the White House, and how to hold the administration accountable," Emily Best, a mother who drove from Harrisburg, Pa. with her toddler to attend the event, said. "She’s looking at it in a big-picture way that I don’t see any of the other candidates examining."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren became the first candidate after the New Hampshire primary to visit Virginia Thursday, betting on a bastion of progressive voters in this Democratic stronghold to help capture the commonwealth on Super Tuesday.
"You all are a Super Tuesday state, which means the road to the White House leads right through Virginia," Warren exclaimed, as a crowd of more than 4,000 cheered in a cavernous high school gymnasium. "We’ve heard from two states – but we have 55 states and territories ready to go."
The introductory remark was a slight allusion to a fourth-place finish in New Hampshire Tuesday, well below the campaign’s expectations.
But as a line into the front door of Wakefield High School stretched the length of two football fields, supporters hoped images and energy captured Thursday would help to reset a narrative projected by pundits and cable TV networks of a campaign in crisis.
"I think she’s the only one who’s come up with a plan for after Trump, how to clean up the White House, and how to hold the administration accountable," Emily Best, a mother who drove from Harrisburg, Pa. with her toddler to attend the event, said. "She’s looking at it in a big-picture way that I don’t see any of the other candidates examining."
Which is good because for Warren, it’s all about sweeping up on Super Tuesday:
In the Super Tuesday state of Virginia, at least, the enthusiasm for Warren was strong, with the line to get into the school stretching far down the street. Warren said she was nearly an hour late coming onstage because she had to first visit two overflow rooms.
“I had to take off a half day of annual leave,” said Kathryn Young, 76, her lapels adorned with three Warren buttons. She’s supposed to be working at a library until 9 p.m. but said she couldn’t miss this Warren event.
These are Warren’s people — they praised her plans, both their policy specifics and that she even has them at all.
“So I’m going to say something that is very controversial in Congress,” Warren told the crowd. “I believe in science.” Her supporters erupted in cheers of “Science, science, science!”
“I love it. I think that is my first ever ‘Science’ chant,” Warren said before promising to expand funding for basic research.
And in this suburban D.C. crowd, more than one supporter mentioned her doggedness in fighting to establish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Once onstage, Warren did too: “And it goes to show that when we fight, we can win.”
There were some undecideds in the crowd. More than a few said they were looking at Warren and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, despite their ideological differences. Richard Gordon, an Arlington resident originally from Australia, is supporting Klobuchar, but he was just here for the experience. He’d never been to a political rally before.
Some supporters said the media hasn’t treated Warren fairly — a message that her campaign blasted out in a fundraising email just as attendees were filtering into the high school gym. “Elizabeth hasn’t been getting the same kind of media coverage as candidates she outperformed,” the email read.
And Michael Bloomberg’s entrance into the race has given Warren a chance to show she’s a tough fighter:
It’s not too late for Warren to ditch the unity message, at least temporarily. The increasing prominence of Michael Bloomberg is the perfect opportunity. If Warren’s core message is that American democracy has been corrupted by big money, she couldn’t ask for a better foil than Bloomberg. Whatever his merits as an advocate for gun control or dealing with climate change, Bloomberg is a perfect example of our age of plutocracy. He is completely unashamed about using his wealth to buy political office, having already spent well over $300 million of his own vast fortune on his presidential bid.
On Thursday, a video surfaced of a 2008 interview where Bloomberg blamed the financial crisis on the end of redlining (the racist policy of denying African American neighborhoods the financial underwriting given to white neighborhoods.) Bloomberg’s statement was racist victim-blaming, an attempt to cast the guilt for the financial crisis on African Americans rather than the large banks.
Bloomberg. “I’m surprised that someone running for the Democratic nomination thinks the economy would be better off if we just let banks be more overtly racist,” she wrote. “We need to confront the shameful legacy of discrimination, not lie about it like Mike Bloomberg has done.”
This is a Warren we haven’t seen much of in the primaries, a Warren who throws off the handcuff of unity and goes after her rivals in the strongest possible terms.
If you live in Nevada, be sure to click here to RSVP for her big campaign even in Reno this weekend.
Also, click here to donate and get involved with Warren’s campaign.