Donald Trump Takes Aim at the 'Me Too Generation' at Montana Rally
This week saw Donald Trump directly and publicly address the #MeToo movement for one of the first times ever, but not in the way that a president would traditionally refer to such a sensitive subject.
Trump, who himself has been accused of sexual misconduct, held a Thursday rally in Montana to drum up support for Republican Matt Rosendale, who hopes to unseat Democratic Senator Jon Tester in the November midterms. But, as has become commonplace, the biggest news coming out of the event surrounded Trump's own comments, which included a racist remark about Senator Elizabeth Warren and a jab at the #MeToo movement.
The president went to the well to revive his attacks on Warren's heritage, bringing back the racist nickname "Pocahontas." He riled up the crowd by claiming that liberals want Warren to take a genetic ancestry test and then said he would not apologize to "Fake Pocahontas."
Trump also made one of his first direct remarks about #MeToo in what was intended to be a punch line for the Warren statement. "We will take that little kit and say—but we have to do it gently. It's the 'Me Too' generation, so we have to be very gentle. And we will gently take the kit and slowly toss it, hoping it didn't hit her and injure her arm. Even though it weighs only 2 ounces," Trump said.
"And we will say we will give $1 million to your favorite charity, paid for by Trump, if you take the test and it shows you are an Indian."
The crowd laughed.
Warren quickly responded, tweeting: "While you obsess over my genes, your Admin is conducting DNA tests on little kids because you ripped them from their mamas & you are too incompetent to reunite them in time to meet a court order. Maybe you should focus on fixing the lives you're destroying."
Trump has not regularly addressed #MeToo head-on, though he did seem to talk around the movement in a February tweet, after allegations of abuse about his now-former staffer Rob Porter became public.
After hearing his latest remarks, many took to Twitter to express their outrage.
It remains to be seen whether Trump's mockery of #MeToo will become part of his regular platform at rallies. New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman, who covers the White House closely, seems to think it is part of his strategy of instilling fear, though at the risk of firing up the Democratic base.
