President Donald Trump has returned to political name-calling, in reference to both Democratic Senate candidate Jacky Rosen and current Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren.
His remarks came in a speech on Saturday before an enthusiastic crowd at the Nevada Republican Party Convention in Las Vegas.
While first suggesting he would not repeat the derogatory labels he had used in the past toward Rosen and Warren, Trump happily obliged the crowd at its urging to call the women ‘Wacky Jacky,’ and ‘Pocahontas,’ respectively.
On Twitter, Rosen retorted, ‘Is that the best you’ve got?’
Also at the speaking engagement, Trump blamed Democrats for a slew of issues, while bringing up foreign trade agreements, border security, immigration and his comments made referring to members of the infamously violent MS-13 gang as ‘animals.’
President Donald Trump returned to name-calling at the Republican Party Convention in Nevada on Saturday, in reference to both Senate candidate and current US Rep. Jacky Rosen and current Sen. Elizabeth Warren
Trump called Democratic Senate candidate Jacky Rosen (left) ‘Wacky Jacky’ and current Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren (right) ‘Pocahontas’
From the podium, Trump teased the crowd, saying he shouldn’t say his ‘nickname’ for Rosen, who currently represents the 3rd District of Nevada in the US House of Representatives, but is looking to unseat Republican Senator Dean Heller on November 6 in the general election.
After not much persuasion from the crowd, Trump then said, ‘Wacky Jacky,’ at which those in attendance cheered.
‘Now that name didn’t come from me. People who know her, that’s what they call her, Wacky Jacky,’ Trump claimed.
Trump said that he had heard Rosen and Warren, who represents Massachusetts in the Senate, were campaigning together in Nevada, at which point he brought up his oft-repeated nickname for Warren, ‘Pocahontas.’
Trump addresses the Nevada Republican Party Convention at the Suncoast Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Saturday
Warren didn’t immediately respond, but Rosen’s campaign Twitter account tweeted in response to a Fox News post made shortly after his comments toward the candidate
Trump also defended his proposed tariffs against Chinese products and his threat to impose tariffs against European allies, specifically calling out German auto makers Mercedes and BMW
Trump’s use of the name for Warren is in reference to her self-proclaimed Cherokee and Delaware Indian heritage, a claim Harvard Law School once used to describe her her as a ‘minority woman’ to bolster its faculty diversity credentials.
Warren has been criticized for lacking documentation to prove this lineage, but cites family stories as her evidence, according to the Washington Post.
On Saturday, Trump called Warren the name again, and said that ‘They asked me to apologize for it.’ Then he said, ‘I did apologize… to the Native Americans.’
Warren didn’t immediately respond, but Rosen’s campaign Twitter account tweeted in response to a Fox News post made shortly after his comments toward the candidate, writing:
‘Is that the best you’ve got, @realdonaldtrump? Let’s fight back – chip in now,’ and sharing a link to her campaign’s fundraising site.
In the wide-ranging speech, Trump also defended his pending tariffs against Chinese products and his threat to impose tariffs against European allies, specifically calling out German auto makers Mercedes and BMW.
Trump also said he will raise the issue once again of whether NATO allies are spending enough on defense at a NATO summit in Brussels next month
‘The trade stuff is coming along, just starting. But gonna happen,’ Trump said. ‘We’re a piggy bank that everybody likes to rob from, they like to steal from.’
‘We probably lost $500billion in trade with China last year,’ Trump said.
The US trade deficit in goods with China in 2017 was $376billion in 2017. On July 6, the United States is set to slap tariffs on $34billion in Chinese goods to punish Beijing for massive theft of intellectual property.
Trump also took fresh shots at NAFTA and European allies.
‘NAFTA has been a disaster for our country… We are renegotiating NAFTA. It’s got to be a fair deal. We cant do this anymore,’ he said.
Trump said that Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau is ‘a nice guy’ but we ‘can’t have’ the trade imbalance. Last year the US had a $17billion trade deficit in goods with Canada.
‘We are working on Canada, we are working on Mexico. We are working on the European Union,’ he said.
Trump also said that at a NATO summit in Brussels next month he will again raise the issue of whether NATO allies are spending enough on defense.