Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Trump: Sexism didn’t sink Warren campaign
WASHINGTON — “Lack of talent.” Unlikable. “Mean.”
President Donald Trump insisted Friday that sexism wasn’t to blame for the end of Elizabeth Warren’s Democratic presidential campaign, even as he showered her with insults that are often deployed against women.
Speaking to reporters as he signed a funding package to help tackle the coronavirus outbreak, Trump was asked whether he thought sexism had anything to do with Warren’s departure from the presidential race Thursday.
“No, I think lack of talent was her problem. She has a tremendous lack of talent,” Trump responded. The president commended her debate performances, saying she “was a good debater” who had “destroyed” the candidacy of former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg “like it was nothing.”
“But people don’t like her,” he went on to say. “She’s a very mean person. People don’t want that. They like a person like me, that’s not mean.”
Trump has a history of making unkind comments himself. While he has defended himself as an equal opportunity insulter, he has used especially harsh rhetoric against women, going after their physical appearances, comparing them to animals and seeming to dwell on their criticism of him.
Sen. Warren, D-Mass., has not blamed sexism for her failed candidacy, but on Thursday suggested that her road may have been harder than that of the male candidates in the race.
“If you say, ‘Yeah, there was sexism in this race,’ everyone says, ‘Whiner!’ ” she said. “And if you say, ‘No, there was no sexism,’ about a bazillion women think, ‘What planet do you live on?’ ”
Warren ended her campaign after failing to win a single Super Tuesday state.