Warren’s rhetoric is risky, prejudicial

Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign began under a cloud of controversy but her unenviable position does not mean she should engage in irresponsible oratory just to gain some traction.

Warren made explosive comments Sunday during a campaign stop in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. “By the time we get to 2020, Donald Trump may not even be president. In fact, he may not even be a free person,” she declared. The president is under investigation by FBI special counsel Robert Mueller for possible Russia campaign collusion.

Thus far there has been no collusion found but it is possible that Mueller could file a report or a series of reports that spur Congress into impeachment proceedings.

Warren’s predisposition that President Trump may possibly be in jail illustrates a prejudice that would fly in the face of the Senate’s role. The Constitution requires a two-thirds vote of the Senate to convict, and the penalty for an impeached official is removal from office. As with the impeachment of President Clinton, there would be deliberations conducted in supposed good faith. Warren’s flippant remarks belie that possibility.

As the Herald’s Hillary Chabot reported, Republican National Committee spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany found the senator’s remarks to be irresponsible. “To say that he may not be a free person is just a really radical, extreme statement and another falsehood from Elizabeth Warren,” McEnany told Herald Radio Monday, referring to Warren’s exaggerated claim of Native American ancestry first reported in the Herald.

“I think that’s an extreme statement that has no bearing in truth. The president’s done nothing wrong,” McEnany said. “The Mueller investigation is about to wrap up if you believe the reporting that’s out there and the president will walk away from that.”

Either way, such language from the senior senator does nothing but spread disunity and anxiety in the public.

There is no doubt that had Warren put the Native American issue to bed in 2012 when the Herald broke the story, she would be in a better position to run for president and thus would be free from having to resort to incendiary language.

The American people should not be burdened by Warren’s inability to explain away why she claimed to be an “American Indian.” That is on her.