BOSTON — Massachusetts U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren took her war of words with President Donald Trump to Monday’s breakfast honoring civil rights icon Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., using her opportunity to speak before a Boston Convention & Exhibition Center crowd brimming with top Massachusetts Democrats to label the commander-in-chief a “racist bully.”
According to a Boston Globe report, Warren claimed Americans “face the challenge of an openly racist president of the United States” and added that Trump “is a racist bully, and we know how to deal with bullies.
“We do not back down. We do not shut up. We fight back. And no matter what they throw at us, nevertheless, we persist.”
Warren’s reference to persistence was a not-so-subtle reminder of her actions last February, when she used her time on the Senate floor to tear into then-fellow Senator Jeff Sessions after the Alabama Republican was nominated to lead the Justice Department. Republicans voted to silence Warren for breaking Senate rules that forbid disputing the honesty and integrity of another senator. Warren had read aloud a letter that King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, had submitted to the Senate in 1986.
At that time of Mrs. King’s letter, Sessions was a U.S. attorney for the state of Alabama being considered for a federal judgeship, pending a Senate vote. King’s letter was highly critical of Sessions. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) uttered the phrase “nevertheless, she persisted,” referring to warnings issued to Warren about breaking Senate rules.
King’s niece, Alveda King, later accused Warren of using her aunt’s letter to “stir up” emotions and further divide the country by “play[ing] the race card.”
John Kingston, a Republican businessman from Winchester who is one of three prominent GOP members looking to unseat Warren, was quick to respond to the Cambridge Democrat’s breakfast remarks.
“Senator Warren’s toxic message of division could not be more out of step with the legacy of Dr. King,” Kingston said in a prepared statement. “King inspired a nation by bringing people together in pursuit of a greater good and a better, more just future for our nation.
“Senator Warren continues to demonstrate she is willing to stoop to any level in order to score quick and cheap political points to advance her presidential ambitions.”
Kingston also referred to King, mentioning his experience pledging an all-black University of Pennsylvania fraternity during his time as an undergraduate during the 1980s, noting that it was King’s “legacy of leadership” that inspired him.
“I aspire to bring people together, in the spirit of 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.
“Massachusetts voters know a celebration of the life and legacy of Dr. King is not the time or place for partisan sniping. Warren’s inability to set aside her divisive agenda, even on occasions for unity, will contribute to her defeat in 2018.”
Warren’s 2017 Martin Luther King Day breakfast comments likewise revolved around Trump:
