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Calling Liz Warren “Pocahontas” Is a Good Thing
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D–Mass.) and President Donald Trump.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren is known for lying about being Native American to get a job at Harvard, but she’s not the first “Fauxcahontas” I’ve come across. As some on Ricochet know, I was once in the cheese business. About 20 to 25 percent of my business was with the DOD. They bought what was commonly referred to as commodity cheese. Think gasoline. For the most part gasoline is gasoline is gasoline as long as it meets certain standards. If an intersection has four gas stations, everything being equal, you buy from the one with the lowest price. The cheese that the DOD bought was like that.
The contracts were given to the lowest bidder, period. Bids were priced to the tenth of one cent. If two bidders were tied, the contract was rebid. Ties were fairly common. My gross markup was often about 10 percent. This gives you an idea how competitive it could be. I usually had a dedicated crew of about 30 souls including truck drivers assigned to this segment of the business. As competitive as it could be, I still thought it was worth it. They bought large volumes which helped my buying power and they paid well (most of the time).
All was well until sometime in the late ’80s. That is when affirmative action was introduced to the bidding process. In all their wisdom, Congress gave “minority ” bidders a 10 percent advantage. Even after its introduction, I got my share of business. It wasn’t something that could easily be replicated.
Then in about ’92/’93, I began losing every bid and so did all my competitors except for a new one. It was a minority bidder in Wisconsin identified as a female Native American. This went on for months. I had no choice but to institute the first-ever layoff at my business. This company came out of nowhere. Rumors started up, claiming that things were not as they appeared. Deliveries were not being made in a timely manner, if at all. The owner did not appear to be Native American. I hired a private detective.
I turned out that the owner wasn’t Native American — in fact, she wasn’t American at all. She and her husband were Russians. They were allowed in the US because they claimed religious persecution. They were Jewish, perhaps, at least that was their claim. What they really were was crooks. They had rented a small, bankrupt cheese plant and got favorable terms from the local government and bank. They defrauded their bank, were borrowing against their DOD contract, and not delivering the entire amount so they could pocket the difference.
You ask how this could happen. It took a long time to sort out. The minority status was self-reported and the DOD was not allowed to challenge the claim. Even with my PI report, they were forbidden to intervene, even as their logistics system was in chaos. After a certain time, if a bidder didn’t deliver, they could rebid the contract but, as crazy as it sounds, the minority bidder also could rebid — and did. I finally bit the bullet and got my congressman, Rick Santorum, involved.
I never found out how he did it, but Santorum got it straight quick. Within two weeks, I was getting contracts again. After a couple of years, the Native American Russians went to jail. Meanwhile, I had 30 displaced people whose lives were totally disrupted. They all had family. Two divorces were blamed on the layoff. I lost half of my team and had to hire and train new employees. All because of a Fauxcahontas or a Lieawatha.
Sen. Liz Warren probably didn’t affect as many lives, but she took someone’s position who was more worthy than her. She undoubtedly filled young skulls full of leftist mush at Harvard. Her very Senate seat is fake owing to deception. She is a thief and a liar. I have more respect for someone who shoplifts at a convenience store. If I had the same opportunity as President Trump, I would call her a lot worse than Pocahontas.
Published in Politics
That was a good opportunity for you to have explained that Trump wasn’t using a racial slur. Were you unaware that he was calling out a white senator that claimed to be Cherokee? Were you not familiar with the senator’s past of (actual) racial appropriation?
You asked if we could imagine Washington using a racial slur. I guess that would depend on whether the n-word was a racial slur at the time that he (presumably) used it. I would think his slave-owning is of more concern than his vocabulary choices. Curiously, Mr. Trump owns no slaves.
When one persists in making false claims about the president, even after being corrected, it is no longer ignorance, but deceit. Or, at best, obtuseness.
Usually, when Trump is criticized for something, he doubles down. We should expect him to say it again, although he might say that he meant “Fauxcohantas,” and change to that. The meaning is the same.
That is true. Perhaps half are offended, and half are not. I’ve campaigned in the Navajo Nation, and have talked to hundreds of Native Americans. I feel comfortable in saying that a majority of Native Americans are offended by Trump’s use of the “Pocahontas” word, and feel that it is a slur.
As a group, Navajos vote in much higher percentages in the Presidential elections. Trump is single-handedly increasing the Native turnout in non-Presidential elections.
One last note. My county includes the Havasupai Reservation which is inside Grand Canyon National Park. The election results from that precinct are packed out by mule. This is the last precinct in the Continental US to report in. The day after the election, you will note that in Coconino County some 71 out of 72 precincts have reported in, and in Arizona some 1,234 out of 1,235 precincts have reported in.
My client needed to be heard, not to be corrected for her outrage over the word “Pocahontas.”
The EEOC prosecuted Trump for overtly discriminary renting practices. See the case of “United States of America v. Fred C. Trump, Donald Trump and Trump Management, Inc.”
Fake Indian Gate is like many other situations in which Trump is falsely accused of racism. The false accusations turn off a lot of people. He has played this game many times before. It seems to work for him.
So I I’ve in a state that is 30% black, I can’t mention MLK?
Would be funny if it weren’t so sad.
The way you described, it sounded as if you brought it up, and she was willing to talk about it. In any case, why not help her, by letting her know that he had not insulted her people? What purpose is served by perpetuating divisive myths? Then again, perhaps I misunderstood what was going on in your office at the time.
As for Trump being accused of racial discrimination in an unrelated matter, that doesn’t seem relevant. It seems as if you’re admitting you don’t really have a case with the Pocahontas thing.
Maybe she thought she was a Solutrean? ;^D
What is needed is conservative media reinforcing the Elizabeth Warren angle rather than joining in with Democrats and decrying it as “slur” or inappropriate.
When our media learns how to highlight the message we want out instead of reacting to Dem media, I’ll consider the greatest lesson from Trump to be learned and maybe a mote aggressive Pence could win from there.
Oh really?
I really have no way of staying within the COC and expressing how much some of the comments on this post annoy me.
As victimhood gains value as the coin of the realm, some can’t find enough in their own life and therefore seek to be offended on behalf of others.
How about we leave it to actual Native Americans to decide individually whether or not they find Trump insulting E Warren offensive.
The difference is that Warren is not an Indian. If Trump had called the code talker “Sitting Bull” or something, that might be a slur. Not because the name is inherently a slur, but because it would be used to highlight his race in a way to evoke laughter. But Warren isn’t an Indian. So it’s a name that’s not inherently a racial slur being used to mock someone who used race to get ahead fraudulently. To which I say, Well done, sir. To not see this is to be willfully obtuse.
I disagree. A remark like Trump’s doesn’t suddenly become offensive when it reaches the ears of certain ethnic groups. It either was, or was not, offensive. If it were offensive, it should offend everyone. As it was not offensive, it should offend no one.
That being said, Debbie Porreco is a descendant of Pocahontas, and Dana Loesch is a descendant of Elizabeth Warren’s adopted Indian tribe. They both decline to take offense at Trump’s use of “Pocahontas.”
Yeah we saw this statement on your post yesterday–or whenever–and do you know how much of that 30% was voting Republican before Trump? Do you have any evidence that they voted GOP in the previous two presidential elections? Until you provide such proof counselor, I am afraid this line of argument is merely speculation and thus overruled.
So how are we as “nonmembers of the possibly offended group” to decide whether or not something is offensive? Some Native Americans find the team name “Redskins” offensive; others not. I am in no way qualified to decide how someone else should feel about a comment.
Anyway, the comment was directed at E Warren and not any Native Americans. And I couldn’t care less how she feels about it.
I’m short. So are my sisters. One sister hates this song. I am indifferent and know all the words. So is it offensive or not?
@annefy, it might help if I explain it this way. As a white person, when I hear a racist comment about black people, or hear someone use the n-word as a slur term to disparage them, I am not offended on behalf of black people. Instead, I am offended because I find racism offensive. Not that this makes me special in any way. On the contrary, because the races are equal, we have an equal capacity to be offended, and are equally fit to judge whether something is wrong or right.
It is true that a member of a certain group may have more knowledge about things that have been used to disparage them. It’s also true that being in such a group may compromise objectivity when an innocent comment is misjudged. Either way, no matter our heritage, we’re all allowed to have an opinion.
Your example of some Indians being offended by “Redskin” (or “Indian”) demonstrates my point. Our genetic make-up doesn’t determine whether something is offensive. We make that judgment as individuals.
So there is a law no one should ever be offended. That offends me.
Since in an earlier comment I said this:
I think we are in somewhat of agreement.
I too am offended by racial slurs and such talk is not allowed in my house (only been an issue once; threw the liberal out the front door). But, since there doesn’t seem to be a consensus by Native Americans about whether the term Trump used is offensive, far be it from me appropriate offense on their behalf.
Not to me.
Its funny the one thing the media never picked up on, is that this ceremony took place in front of a portrait of Andrew Jackson.
I wonder if Trump saw the portrait, and thought he’d better do something to distract from that hot mess…
OMG, unbelievable. I love this country.
I hadn’t seen my client for a couple of weeks as she lives over 100 miles from the County Seat. (Coconino County is larger than New Jersey and Connecticut combined.) She was eager to tell a non-Native like me how hurtful Trump’s comments were, and she showed me her Facebook post that Trump’s “comment was totally uncalled for and disrespectful.” Yes, she was hurt and offended by Trump.
This seems odd to me. If the President had used the word “Bohunks” even if I were offended by it I wouldn’t go around telling people and/or showing people my Facebook posts.
By the way, a favor? If any President ever uses Bohunks please don’t get offended on my behalf, I can choose whether or not to be offended on my own. Thanks!
Good point, but not totally relevant. In the 1990’s the Navajo Nation was in AZ-6. Our Republican member of Congress repeatedly spoke elequently about our “First Americans” and their love of country and their very high representation in our Armed Forces. He never carried the Navajo Nation, but he lost it be a much more narrow margin that a usual Republican would have, and that margin was swamped by conservatives in the rest of the Congressional District.
That’s what happened when we lost to Obama in 2008 (and 2012). It was not that Obama carried the black vote by a higher percentage, it is that in 2008, the black turnout was higher than the white turnout for the first time.
At the rate Trump is going, he is going to hugely inflate turnout in the Navajo Nation, leading to statewide Republicans losing.
If Trump ever mentions half-froggy, half-frito bandito, mackerel-snapping, heteronormative Texan imperialists, that’ll make my day.
Does anyone know Trump’s speechwriters? We need to get this inserted into a speech pronto.
Well. Anyone offended by Trump has lots of company. So she’s got that going for her
How?
Too bad @peterrobinson didn’t sign up last year!