Trump mocks Warren’s challenge
DONALD TRUMP attacked Elizabeth Warren, the first major Democratic candidate to declare for the 2020 presidential race, saying voters should “ask her psychiatrist” if she could win.
Ms Warren, 69, the Massachusetts senator, announced her intention on New Year’s Eve, saying she would “fight all the way” against Mr Trump.
The two politicians have previously had high-profile disagreements. Mr Trump’s nickname for Ms Warren is “Pocahontas” over her controversial claims of Native American ancestry.
Asked whether he thought she believed she could win, Mr Trump told Fox News: “Well, that I don’t know. You’d have to ask her psychiatrist.” In a taste of what may be to come when election campaigning gets under way, Mr Trump referred to her Native American claims, telling the interviewer: “I think you have more [Native American ancestry] than she does, and maybe I do too, and I have nothing.
“I wish her well. I hope she does well. I’d love to run against her.”
Mr Trump’s aides have suggested he would be delighted if Ms Warren, an outspoken critic of Wall Street, won the nomination, believing he could beat her more easily than some of the other potential Democratic candidates.
Ms Warren already has a staff of 70 and $12.5million (£9.8million) in campaign funds. She grew up in Oklahoma and went to work as a waitress aged 13, before becoming a teacher, a law professor and a firebrand liberal senator.
Nate Silver, the election analyst, said Ms Warren could become the standard bearer for the Democrat left, adding: “Voters know what she stands for.”
On New Year’s Eve, she hosted a live broadcast from her kitchen on Instagram, the social media platform. She cracked open a beer, cooked, introduced her dog and took questions.
In a new year message on Twitter, written in capital letters, Mr Trump said: “2019 WILL BE A FANTASTIC YEAR FOR THOSE NOT SUFFERING FROM TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME. JUST CALM DOWN AND ENJOY THE RIDE.”