WARREN STARTS ’18 BATTLE WITH $14M
Liz Trumps King day with prez-bashing
On a day meant to honor Martin Luther King Jr., U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren stole the spotlight instead, tearing into President Trump in a fiery speech that should generate more fuel for her national ambitions.
Warren’s charge that Trump is a “racist bully” came as her campaign released new eye-popping numbers showing she’s coming into her
2018 re-election campaign with more than $14 million in the bank.
The Massachusetts Democrat has three credible GOP opponents, but she still seems more intent on raising her national profile and cementing her status as Trump’s top sparring partner.
“Donald Trump is a racist bully, and we know how to deal with bullies. We don’t back down. We don’t shut up. We fight back,” Warren said in a speech at Boston’s Martin Luther King Jr. breakfast.
Warren’s scripted attack dominated what normally is a day of tribute to King. She has called Trump a bully before and has criticized him for making racist comments but this is her strongest attack yet on the president, who is still reeling from the “s---hole” storm he raised last week.
It shows that Warren intends to base her re-election campaign on her staunch opposition to Trump — a tactic used successfully by Mayor Martin J. Walsh in his re-election campaign last year.
And the Massachusetts senator’s impressive fundraising performance also helps her build an army of loyal supporters around the country who would gladly join her on a 2020 White House bid.
But Warren should also keep an eye on her re-election bid.
One of her opponents, state Rep. Geoff Diehl (R-Whitman), has already passed the $1 million mark in donations, according to campaign strategist Holly Robichaud.
“A lot of people didn’t think Geoff could raise this kind of money and he has,” Robichaud said.
“It shows we’ve got not only grassroots strength but fundraising strength.”
Another GOP candidate, John Kingston, a Winchester businessman and philanthropist, has poured $3 million of his own money into his Senate campaign, and will come up with more in the coming months.
Kingston is an unknown and first-time candidate but he hopes his message resonates with voters, including Democrats.
“I aspire to bring people together, in the spirit of Dr. King, to tackle the serious challenges our nation faces and to upend the noxious politics-as-usual peddled by figures like Sen. Warren,” Kingston said yesterday.
“Sen. Warren’s toxic message of division could not be more out of step with the legacy of Dr. King.”
The other GOP candidate, Beth Lindstrom, who was campaign manager for former Sen. Scott Brown and is more well known in party circles, has also criticized Warren’s divisive rhetoric.
But Warren will be tough to beat and speeches like yesterday’s show why. Even on Martin Luther King Jr.’s day, she can make it all about political attacks.