If Elizabeth Warren's tiny amount of Native American ancestry were changed to "sub-Saharan African," would that make her "black"? Of course not! You can't complain about the way people are treated because of "the color of their [dark] skin" if you are also going to claim that people with fair skin and European phenotypes are equal members of those "racial" groups.
8
Another professor to lecture us instead of fight for us. If you don't have a slogan, you don't have focus.
3
When I was a kid I used to watch the lone ranger. Always felt that Tonto and I had a lot in common. Then I watched broken arrow. Then as an adult I watched dances with wolves and really liked Kevin Cosner's transition. Later in life I had a friend who was part S. American Indian. We shook hands a lot of times and got drunk together. I also am a great admirer of Quanah Parker.
So, in light of all that, I've decided to self-identify as a native American. My new name is He who speaks at least as much truth as Elizabeth Warren.
12
I in no way support Trump nor his attacks on her, but this seems a strange point to defend, and a failing way to defend it. I have, by the numbers cited here, between twice and 64 times as much native DNA (1/16, documented 4 generations back). I would certainly never claim to be anything other than white, since that is, as with Warren, what my experience of life has been. That she is seeking to use such a minuscule bit of native blood as defense of her "status" is laughable. It reminds me of nothing more than a funny viral tweet from earlier this summer that went something like:
" Newspaper Headline: 'Man sues to prove not white'
Caption: Yeah, but suing to prove you're not white is a pretty white thing to do"
11
The Cherokee nation and many other Native American groups have debunked Warren's attempt to claim Native American ancestry. They see through her blatant attempt to garner support because of a miniscule amount of Native American DNA reveals her political motives. Warren is not a member of any Native American tribe. She is just a phony politician pandering for votes.
16
Maybe Elizabeth Warren is a descendant of the "outalucks" Native Americans. I know I am and I am proud of it. Having DNA tests prove it is just an added bonus and an ironic twist of fate but I never needed it to know who I am. Just as I never needed a tribal membership to know who I descended from. I just enjoy that Warren may be the catalyst for having more understood about our history.
"Many traditionalist Indians, known as “irreconcilables” or “blanket Indians,” were so suspicious of the government that they refused to be enrolled at all, making all their descendants unenrollable as well. In 1988 the historian Kent Carter coined a half-joking term for the millions who claim Indian ancestry but who, for a variety of reasons, don’t sort neatly into today’s official boxes: people with mixed tribal heritage; people whose ancestors were denied recognition by early government agents or died before registration was complete; people whose tribes, in the face of the federal government’s attempts to extinguish them, didn’t maintain the cohesion that same government would later require for recognition. Carter called them the “outalucks.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/18/magazine/who-decides-who-counts-as-na...
15
While my DNA results show both East and West African ancestry, I was raised in a white culture in a family that held somewhat racist views. I cannot and will not claim to have lived any of the "black experience," though I want to find a way to honor my ancestors. I am drawn to our differences and raised our children to feel the same way. Can't we all simply respect each other and not rush to claim ANY racial group as our own?
6
It is ridiculous to equate Trump's attacks on Warren's supposed Indian heritage to birtherism. Legitimate questions about Warren's claims of Indian ancestry are not remotely the same thing as the racist-inspired campaign to falsely claim Obama was born overseas.
It is equally ridiculous to say that this puts Trump on the defensive. The opposite is true. Instead of shutting down his attacks, this will make them more effective. Rich Lowery says it best: 1/1024th will be "priceless material" for Trump.
Nominating Warren in the wake of his train wreck will all but guarantee Trump's reelection.
11
The hypocritically sanctimonious Right is doing to Elizabeth Warren what it did to Hillary Clinton, in Warren's case to blow what, at worst, is a minuscule résumé glitch and blow it so far out of proportion that, in a sane world, it would be laughable.
This is standard playbook boilerplate for the GOP. Leaving aside the legitimacy of the juvenile "nyah-nyah-nyah Pocahontas" charge against Senator Warren, Republican strategy is to portray a box checked on an application form as signifying a horrible human being who has committed an unforgivable act that defies even the most abject apology to the entire community of American minorities. Say what?
Such spittle-spewing is set against a Supreme Court justice credibly accused of the attempted rape of a teenage girl, a fraudulent president who lies whenever his lips move, a permanently corrupted Supreme Court, a presidential election stolen with the help of a foreign enemy, a federal cabinet so infected with corruption and incompetence that ordinary citizens can no longer keep track, and self-declared love affairs with the most brutal tyrants on the face of the Earth.
Against such a backdrop, Elizabeth Warren's alleged crimes would seem to want life behind bars where she would share a cell with Hillary Clinton who has been accused of doing exactly the same "crime" as the president himself and members of his immediate family have subsequently committed while occupying the White House.
The hypocrisy is breathtakingly sickening.
24
More power to Ms. Warren. She has my vote. May she flatten the racist creep who currently occupies the White House.
14
I would bet that over 95% of native-born Oklahoman's who are around Senator Warren's age have at least 1% Native American ancestry.
7
It never ceases to amaze me that Democrats cannot support each other in the face of trouble; they circle like vultures and try to help Republicans take down their own. No wonder they have a hard time winning against Trump and his ilk.
8
Given what this country has done to Native peoples over the past century , it’s amazing even a 1/64 ancestry has survived. Assimilation, forced communal property distribution (aka, checker boarding), forced educational destruction of culture, tribal ties, declassification of many smaller tribes- the shame here is on the Cherokee Nation for not recognizing even a small percentage of ‘survival blood’. They should welcome her and be proud to do it.
Her challenge going forward isn’t from the president, Republicans, but from those in her own Party. Trying to anoint VP Biden (just as they did Sen. Clinton), this will be used to further their own agenda.
Innocent people welcome, beg for investigations of false allegations. Sen Warren did her own. Unlike....some others. She proved her claim, and made the president a welsher. Liar, tax cheat, welsher- love those conservative family values.
14
I agree with someone who said, who cares. I don't really care about your ancestory. I do care if you lie or not and the president did make a wager so . . .
8
Ho hum! Does anyone real care what Warren's DNA is. Does some genetic material, no matter how recent or remote make them more .... empathetic ?? Does it matter? Not a jot. It should never have been raised in the first place and in doing so set herself for some bully's mockery. By answering Trump she is playing Trump's game and he must be having a good laugh about it. Worth more than $1million to Trump. Experts say that most people have around 2% Neanderthal DNA. Does it matter? Donald Trump has a lot of Celtic and German DNA. What good is that? Warren should stayed away from Trump's game / diversion and stuck with issues and selling Elizabeth Warren to the people. That's a hard enough task for her or any political candidate to achieve these days.
2
It is very misleading when quotes are taken totally out of context. Anyone who looks at Trump's $1 million taunt IN CONTEXT realizes he was speculating about what he would do IF in a presidential debate with Warren in 2020. That seems important for Jonathan Martin and the NYT to acknowledge.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/07/05/trump_offers_1_millio...
6
So Anders Carlson-Wee is castigated by his editors for writing a poem that supposedly usurps African-American pain, but Ms. Warren was busy ticking the Native American race box taking a position that might otherwise have been held by someone who is more than 1/1,024th Native American. Guess staying in your lane doesn't apply to the powerful white elite.
9
RE: “But he did say that.” No. He said “we will say” — at a future debate. Saying what you will say is different from saying it.
2
Ultimately, this is a mess of her own making. She first claimed Native descent after her department was criticized for its lack of diversity. While it may not have been a rung on her career ladder, it was to her advantage. Now she's considering a presidential run, it is again to her advantage to address the issue. What I don't see in articles on the issue is how she, at any time, used her positions of power to the advantage of Native Americans.
3
Elizabeth Warren is fortunate that her DNA test proved her family tradition is true. More often, white Americans who claim Native American ancestry find that DNA testing can't confirm it.
Now that DNA testing has become popular, many white Americans with pre-Colonial immigrant ancestors are learning they have unsuspected NA and/or African "admixture" (ancestors) dating back to the 1600s. DNA testing may show African admixture of 6 percent or more in people who believed themselves to be of 100 percent European ancestry.
African Americans who claim NA admixture are more likely to have DNA testing confirm their family tradition, perhaps because the "admixing" occurred in the 1700s or later.
2
Let me get this straight. Your article states that Ms. Warren "changed her ethnic identity from white to Native American as a law professor in the late 1980-s and early 1990s". Your article goes on to state that the DNA results indicate that Ms. Warren is between 1/64th and 1/1,024 Native American. What a joke! This means that she is most likely less than 1% Native American. Can any rational reasonable person possibly conclude that it was ok for Ms. Warren to identify herself as Native American (presumably to get some affirmative action type benefits)?
11
To validate and put this matter to rest, compare her DNA to one of her siblings and then do a DNA test on the sibling from another geneticist.
2
Warren's original remark about her Indian ancestry was in "cultural" and "familial" contexts and, unfortunately the GOP has played with her veracity ad nauseam for years.
What about Trump's false claim of being of Swedish ancestry? Why hasn't this been added to his piles of mistruths?
It's all politics, and sadly after almost two years of the Trump presidency, most Americans seem to have forgotten about what leadership should be about and what qualities make a good leader.
8
Why on earth should anyone care??? Donald Trump will mock anyone for anything - it means he sees them as a threat to him that he must diminish. It's a mark of honor and a certain amount of power to be mocked by Trump.
5
"Who cares?" says Donny. Well, he got something right - for a change. Irrespective of anyone's ancestry, Ms. Warren is so superior in character, intelligence, honor, integrity, and any other conceivable measurement of ethics and ability that she leaves the reprehensible occupant of our White House in a ditch somewhere in Queens.
9
Allow a false accusation to stand? Permit the accusation to continue? I really don't care if Ms Warren is a politician, doctor or a stay-at-home mom. She is to be admired for standing up for herself by exposing a lie. Regardless of whatever her future aspirations may be, she demonstrated more backbone than her male colleagues such as Lyin' Ted, Little Marco, et al.
Anyone who cheers the president when he overtly lies about her again in the future belongs in the basket of deplorables.
8
Amazing to me Elizabeth Warren's heritage is the conversation she wants to have three weeks before this important election. I have liked her politics, but in Iowa with tariffs, the worst abortion bill in the country, a Governor, a President, a Congress, and a Legislature intent on giving tax breaks to people who don't need them, a decade of the worst funding for education in modern times, etc. this seems a pretty tone deaf announcement. Might play in Massachusetts, but we have work to do TODAY to move these Republican rascals out of positions of leadership. Geesh.
6
The truth doesn't matter to the Trumpsters.
That said, I really like Ms. Warren as my Senator but I do not think she could win in a Presidential race. The absolute misogyny that exists in this country is palpable and she is the epitome--a smart, outspoken, "persistant", "arrogant" woman. It sickens me that the United States has sunk so low and that in making America "great" again, only wealthy white men will rise.
5
@MomT:
What truth is that? Warren is hardly Native American except in the fevered minds of liberals. As the WSJ said, if she is "Native American" then the term no longer has any meaning what so ever.
9
It only matters if she is Native American because of the insistance of the Democrats on Identity politics. If everyone thrawn upon Identity Politics no one would claim that they are a hyphenated-American.
That aside. Senator Warren is undoubtedly smart and capable. But anyone employed in US Academia that tells you that a Native-American-Woman got no special treatment because of their identity is simply lying to you. You only need to examine the Asian students v. Harvard lawsuit to see the tip of the iceberg. Favoritism in admissions and hiring practices is rampant.
So she is either deluding herself or lying. In that regard, she is just a mini-Trump.
7
What I am curious about is what the fancy schools were up to by showing her as having American Indian ancestry. Was it to make themselves feel better, or, is ther a monetary angle here? Were grants based on some sort of diversity statistics? If so, I smell a rat. Does anyone have any insight on this?
3
Let’s get out of the weeds with Warren and move on. She grew up a poor white girl not a Native American and not with the tremendous disadvantages Native American face. She never should have checked a box claiming Native American heritage.
NYT find us and focus on a candidate who is honest, compelling, intelligent, thoughtful and motivated to help the poor make American fair again, and who can truly snag the slippery weasel tormenting all of us.
5
She isn't recognized by any American Indian tribe, she should never have put it on her job bios or applications. She doesn't even know what Indian tribe her lineage is related to. Anyone with ancestry going back to American colonial times will likely have some small percent American Indian and/or African American. She completely makes a mockery of what it means to be a minority.
5
Jonathan, faking amnesia Trump lied on national tv again for the 5,100 times in 2 years,"I never promised to pay $1 million to Elizabeth Warren's charity if she produced a DNA test result which showed that she's a real native American and not a fake "Pocahontas" that he always said about her.
Now if he can survive the presidency past this year, Ms. Warren will ask Trump in 2020's presidential debate, "Where are my people's money that you promised at a July 5, 2018 rally at Great Falls in Montana ? And where are the $6.5 million dollars towards Veterans groups' charities that you promised before your Russia helped election in 2016 ?"
With above accusations that the Current Senator from Massachusetts will hurl against our illegitimate president, Trump either has to duck the question altogether or lie for the 10,000+ times that he never doubted Ms. Warren's ancestry just like he lied "I never ordered Mr. Comey to drop the investigation on Mike Flynn at our dinner in the White House."
So like I said before that all his lies again and again in his possible presidential debate with either Ms. Warren or Sen. Kamala Harris or Sen. Cory Booker or whoever clinches the nomination as the presidential candidate from the Democratic party in 2020 will not go past he American voters' ears.
They'll hear Trump saying the same words like we heard George W. Bush saying at a meeting in Michael Moore's movie, 'Fahrenheit 9/11', "Fooled you once, shame on me. Fooled you twice, shame on me too."
1
@ihatejoemcCarthy
"Where's my people's money", now that's funny. You need to be part of the group you are referring to in order to claim "my people".
If Warren, Harris and Booker are the best the Democrats can find to run against Trump, it will be 4 more years of Trump.
2
Just curious. If we go back enough generations are not we all related? For her to say she is Native American by claiming she is between 1/32 and 1/1024 Native American is a SHAM!
5
Getting one's DNA tested is fascinating and can foster a better-informed pride in one's heritage(s) - and hopefully lead to greater acceptance of others as the results often reveal that we have a more diverse heritage than we knew. However it is too bad that Ms Warren took the bait from trump and felt she had to publicly prove anything to him. His utterly uninformed blatherings about her (or anyone else's) heritage are as relevant to her worth as the quacking of a rabid duck, and would be better ignored.
By the way someone should more publicly point out to trump that "Indian" refers to people from India and environs while the original peoples of the Americas are Native Americans, and that Warren never claimed to be "an Indian."
In a situation like this I would not trust the results of Warren's DNA analysis unless it was done by more than one lab, the samples were submitted under false names with control samples from other people simultaneously submitted as being Warren's samples. If you're going to make a federal case out of this, then let's get serious. After all, does anybody really believe that the CEOs of the various DNA testing sites are not as politically motivated as are the heads of Facebook, Google, et al?
2
What a spin job! Being a possible descendant of Peruvian, Mexican or Columbian ancestors and not necessarily American Indians since there is little data to compare, may put her somewhere between 1/64th and 1/1024th Native American? She didn’t help herself or her cause. So much for identity politics if this is the standard for being a disadvantaged minority.
8
The most fascinating thing about this is it brings to light the antiquated blood quantum rules that were applied to only two groups of Americans, Black and Native Americans. In both instances the rules were used to control their economic rights.
In the case of Native Americans, blood quantum was used to deny tribal membership and power based on not having the right percentage of Native ancestry from a particular tribe or being mixed with African. So treaties between allied tribes which resulted in mixed Native ancestry disqualified even full blood Natives. Such rules did not apply to Natives mixed with European ancestry or "honorary" European members . This is how over the years reservations/tribal councils became European dominated and as a result control the land.
On the opposite end Black Americans had the one drop rule applied. This was used to deny Black Americans the right to move to or own desirable, fertile land or to take advantage of economic booms. It also allowed the illegal and often violent seizure of black owned property or businesses.
No one ever thought science would bring these ugly events back into the light.
5
I respect Senator Warren and would vote for her as President. However, her recent disclosure could work against Democrats by prompting more conservative voters to go to the polls. Timing is still everything. The disclosure of the DNA results at this time could have the same negative effect as James Comey's comments on the investigation of Hillary Clinton's e-mails - just weeks before the election.
3
Ms Warren's problem is that ancestry or descent is not the same as membership or culture, and in fact that she has no records of membership or culture means that her ancestors explicitly left membership/culture behind, and maybe they did save some parts of culture but maybe only the 'easy' ones and not the parts that reflect true membership. It's definitely an issue best left unraised. However, if you look at what she does, in addition to what she says, she has a very solid record on tribal issues so it's a lot easier to attribute her language on this to unawareness than ill intent, and she has been a true ally to tribal issues while she has been in office.
2
The headline is pretty funny. Trump is not on the defensive. He will be all over this. It is Warren who is on the defensive. Nobody cared what she was; now, we learn she is another politician with “a story”, albeit fanciful.
8
Mrs. Warren does not have to justify her decision to anyone. She has proven she is a percentage Native American. Instead of splitting hairs to determine if she meets someone else's standard, she should simply be proud her heart beats with the Valiant blood of an honorable people decimated by colonialism.
3
For once, I agree with Trump when he said: "Who cares?" Warren loses either way because she took the bait and sank to his level. The genetic results add more, not less, fuel to the fire. This was a tactical mistake.
8
Ethnic identity is not to be confused with DNA results.
My wife's DNA testing--legitimate not the mass marketed TV versions--showed her maternal DNA traveling out of Africa(as everyone's does) into the Middle East, then on to an area we currently center as Germany. There, her maternal DNA took two paths, one staying there, the other up and across Eur-Asia and across the Aleutian Land Bridge to "seed" human habitation in the North American and South American continents. Her test results? "Your closest genetic relatives are Northern Plains Native Americans." Is she "Native American?" Of course not.
My paternal DNA, after its African origin, spent a few thousand years in an area "to be later inhabited by Sephardic Jews," then onward to the north of the European continent. Official and family papers show a paternal ancestor migrating southward from Sweden in the 17th century, eventually settling in the southeast area of what in the State of Thuringia, eventually to become part of Germany. There, my great grandfather married the daughter of an Italian merchant traveling to Leipzig and staying overnight in our family's town. My father traveled in the 1920's to Canada, then undocumented to New York City. I describe myself as of German ancestry, but shared as an infant the long blonde Swedish curls my grandfather sported as a German military officer.
We are all, DNA-wise bottom line, African. All else is Thuringer sausage.
2
Do people really care if Elizabeth Warren is Native American or not. Probably not. If other Americans took a DNA test I am sure that there would be many who had Native American blood and probably a higher percentage would be found in them than in Elizabeth Warren.
My aunt from Mississippi was part Cherokee with very high cheekbones and was quite a beauty. She never used this to her advantage and was proud of her heritage but was very American. She thought it was amusing but never belittled her background. My deceased aunt would probably laugh at Elizabeth Warren's claims today because my aunt had more Cherokee blood than Ms. Warren did. My aunt never used it to get ahead in life. She did it all on her own and was quite a success in life. She was someone in which I was proud to say was a relative. She was a great lady.
2
The real question is whether she has genetic markers that also point to her Native ancestry. I not only have DNA proving my Native ancestry but also specific genetic markers only seen in indigenous populations. Both sides of my family also have maintained and intermixed Native American culture with our other inherited cultures. You don't have to live on a reservation to be Native American, especially since many true Native Americans have historically been denied tribal membership. That is the story that should be told.
Maybe all this will result in the tribes in North America finally taking DNA tests and proving their legitimacy. For decades they have been dominated by Europeans who claimed they are Native in "spirit" and maintain their version of the culture. Iron Eyes Cody and Grey Owl haven't been the only ones. If they can get away with it for decades then so can Elizabeth Warren. Or maybe it is time to stop the charade for all of them.
I also see that once again the media goes to and quotes the Cherokee nation as if they are the authority on Native Americans and the only Native Americans that ever graced the planet. The Cherokee Nation has its own issues and has been embroiled in numerous lawsuits over tribal membership.
6
The Cherokee and other tribes were slave owners. Black slaves went with them to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears. Over the years, the Cherokee expelled the descendants of their former slaves from the tribe if they didn’t have Cherokee bloodlines. Yet recent Cherokee leaders have been as little as 1/32 Cherokee. So these statements from the Cherokee Nation are full of it.
4
@Huh
Even black descendants with Cherokee have been expelled because they were not on the Dawes list. Although when the Dawes list was composed those with African and Native ancestry were barred.
Some Cherokee aren't even 1/32 Cherokee which is why they have ordered tribal members to stop taking the test. You are right, they are full of it. If her DNA results are real she may have more Native ancestry than most of them.
3
It is hard to think of anything more irrational than being proud of, or being ashamed of, something which is not a result of your own actions. Being born belonging to this or that ethnie is at the top of that sorry list, as are being tall, being red-haired or for that matter being American.
5
Defensive? Did you read the results? There wasn't even an American Indian comparable DNA sample match. It was Peruvian. And it was a micro fraction on 1%. As a person who truly has American Indian ancestry, I am insulted. She has denigrated my race with her naked political ploy and owes me and other true American Indians an apology. Full stop.
16
Warren, unfortunately, took the bait from the Trumpet. It was just another version of the "Obama birther insult". It had nothing to do with her antecedents, it was all about the WH grifter trading in predictable insults. And....she took the bait.
5
Any chance Warren could have waited until after the election? Why give GOP any more wood for the fire? Another narcissist!
7
The obvious counterattack against Trump is to investigate all his business deals and to accuse him of living off stolen money.
5
Trump and other conservatives use the name of a truly great Native American female leader, Pocahontas in a racist and sexist manner.
The simple fact is miscegenation laws were like, Walt Disney's portrayal of Native Americans, racist and way behind the facts on the ground---reality that is. Given the American government's campaign of ethnic cleansing---where tribes were forced to march a thousand plus miles to Oklahoma, is it any wonder why interracial descendants of Native Americans suppressed their cultural identification? In the 1800's how successful was the Army in rounding up all nomadic bands and forcing them onto a reservation? Obviously many think 100 percent.
While a variety of DNA tests can yield different results, Native American tribes shouldn't worry that such tests will compel the dismantling of blood quantum laws, With these laws, the "Great White Father" created this narrow minded racist paradigm that people like Trump readily reinforce. People like, Warren give voice to their ancestors, whereas Trump a first generation American on his mother's side, simply gives voice to his bad impulses.
4
Before Trump was POTUS, he was King-of-the-Birthers. His political base is rooted in racism.
5
If Dems can't create their own narrative, separate from idiotic Trumpian fictional storytelling, they won't win. This is a huge mistake on Warrens part. She has a thousand better messages to put out there. Sigh.
9
Who cares? This only shows how ridiculous American politics of race are. Now we are debating what percentage of what DNA gives you preferential treatment? And what if I have Neanderthal DNA? Since they are extinct, would it have given me a leg up in college admission or hiring? The use of racial criteria in anything should be banned, affirmative action scrapped, and Elizabeth Warren should run on her ideas rather than on a testing kit from ‘23 and me”.
7
I know that a lot of people want her to run, but I'm really not sure that she is someone who could be popular enough in the US right now to win. The only thing more tragic for this country than Hillary's loss to Trump in 2016 would be a repeat loss with another unpopular candidate. This is not the time to focus on getting a woman or a minority member elected. This is a time to focus on winning, period, whatever that takes.
6
She's toast. Disgraceful claims of minority identity to further her career. Unacceptable. The Cherokee Nation weeps.
18
We only get to check one box. It is alleged Senator Warren checked "Native American" at UPenn. if that is accurately reported, she checked the wrong box. She should have checked "Caucasian."
17
Senator Warren is a fraud on many issues let alone her absurdist heritage claims. She is but another leftist living below the bar stating, "Believe what I say, not what I do." How pathetic is the Democratic Party? It is filled with a collection of fugitives from the 60's desperately clinging to imagined power.
18
Warren is now a proven disgrace to anyone who can follow a recipe in a Native American cookbook!
The Roseanne treatment would not be severe enough for her.
14
I'm a liberal Democrat, but let's face it: Warren misused a claim of being Native American in order to advance her academic career. She knows, and we know, she would not have been offered a position at Harvard on her resume alone, not at that stage of her career. She distorted her identity in order to gain a minority hire. She never suffered the segregation or racism that Native American women faced during the same era when she was young in Oklahoma. She didn't survive the rez or wait in line for medical care from the Indian Health Service. By claiming to be Native American in order to get a job, she exploited the Native people and stepped on their history of suffering in order to raise herself up. It was manipulative and wrong and she should apologize to Native Americans before expecting an apology from this fake president or anyone else.
23
This Josie Duffy Rice and the current leadership of the Cherokee Nation have zero credibility. Elizabeth Warren has nothing to apologize for and never claimed to be a tribal member. She’s always said her native ancestry was distant and part of family history. Their statements reduce them to Trump level credibility and reflect that they’re really his puppets. Sad.
7
Elizabeth Warren has left plenty of Youtube fodder where she claimed to be an American Indian even now -- the first American Indian Senator from Massachusetts.
Yet she has never culturally been an American Indian. Claiming a blood quantum based on a DNA test is offensive to those who are.
Donald Trump does not offend American Indians by calling Elizabeth Warren "Pocahontas". It highlights the fact that her claims to be an American Indian Cherokee are just as much a fairy tale as the Disney movie.
13
At least Elizabeth Warren's claim of being Native American has 1/1000 validity compared to Trumps claim of being a self made man
7
Native Americans are recognized by there tribal affiliation and membership. If she is not a recognized member of a tribe she is not recognized as native American. To have ancestors of natives as far as I've seen almost 90% of America either has African American or native American ancestry I've also read many claim native ancestry while denying the other. I am 1/8 native American I am a member of a federally recognized tribe. I am proud of my ancestry and in that from generation to generation they will enroll for tribal citizenship. As a native I really don't care who is or says what they are many tell me.there Cherokee or black foot to be honest native culture has been decimated and changed by America's conquest to get rid of us. If she is truly proud why does she not speak of our story why does she not speak on the extermination and genocide that has occurred to this she called noble people. Why is it when claimed native ancestry is beautiful and nobile while native truth is we have been denied human decency the right to truly self govern the right to exist as we did in the old times. Our faith has been polluted with forced Christian values most tribes are now Christian having lost there way along the red road. Truth be told the glamour of natives does not exist we are a proud for nothing people we have nothing and are and have been second class citizens since the formation of this country. Wonder if Warren would still claim if she truly new the horror of history.
51
So the historical racism of tribal membership should be ignored?
Those who descended from the confederacy of various Native Americans joining together to protect our rights or joining African slaves to fight for freedom from the horrors you described were BANNED from tribal membership. It was a federally sanctioned ban as punishment for fighting the horrors you describe. Many of us continued Native cultural practices despite such a ban.
Also by no stretch of the imagination does 90% of the American population have Native or African ancestry. Not only is that a historical and mathematical impossibility but it doesn't exist. Less than 10% of the American population has Native American ancestry and the population that actually has the most Native admixture is the Black American population.
5
In the war against Trump defending yourself is a tiny step, almost useless by itself. Only full on attack can work. So here goes:
Trump won't submit to DNA testing because he knows it would reveal an off-the-chart percentage of Neanderthal heritage.
3
She just lost any credibility she may have had as a true champion of the people. Now, she'd never be elected POTUS.
11
We have reached peak foolishness. Her test indicates she has a range of very slightly more to far, far less Native American ancestry than the average Caucasian American. She then has the audacity to call Trump out on his bet, confirming that she does — still, apparently — consider herself an “Indian.” Talk about brazen. And still no explanation for having self-identified as Native American multiple times throughout her career — whether it helped her or not.
She could, and should, have simply said — years ago — that she was sorry and made an error in judgement that, upon reflection, she should have been more prudent about. Many of us have these stories, and in decades past it was often common to play them up. Instead she doubles down on a blatant fiction that apparently she must think the media will simply be biased enough to go along with, which is more or less what’s happened.
This silly action concurrently reveals an appalling lack of both integrity and judgement in one fell swoop, and could well go down in history as the moment she self-torpedoed her career.
16
Many families have such stories. I know mine did. DNA tests disproved it, as sincere as the belief was (ancestors owned a trading post in Kansas). But even though my grandfather had the skin, hair characteristics, and facial profile of a descendant of a First Nations person, we never used it in any capacity, especially professional.
Senator Warren would have been better served to pull this out during her debate with Mr. Trump. Right now, she’s feeding the troll. Did she not learn from Mr. Obama’s birther issue?
7
Elizabeth Warren publicly referred to herself as "Cherokee." In other words, she told an outright lie.
17
The average white american is 1/512th part native american according to the NYTimes https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/25/science/23andme-genetic-ethnicity-stu...
8
The President should make good on his pledge, and be as honest as the Senator was on some her own descriptions of her ancestry, fractionally: pay the charity of her choice $976.56, 1/1024 of $1,000,000.
These two gasbags could then call it even and get on with the nation's business and stop the petty arguing.
7
If Ms. Warren did what Trump asked, I agree entirely that he should make the $1 million contribution to her favorite charity.
But did she?
Here's what Trump actually said, according to the NYT:
"I will give you a million dollars to your favorite charity, paid for by Trump, if you take the test and it shows you’re an Indian."
One certainly can complain that Trump used "Indian," but if he'd said "Native American" instead, it doesn't appear that Warren has shown she's one. Reasonable minds can differ on this, I suppose, but most people don't consider 1/64, or possibly 1/1,024, to be enough "Native American" blood to call oneself a "Native American."
Trump didn't say Warren had to show that she had a very small percentage of Native American blood; he said she had to show the she is a Native American.
If she'd shown that, Trump should contribute the $1 million. But she hasn't -- quite the contrary, in fact. Simple as that.
13
How do you stop a bully without sinking to the level of the bully? That is a conundrum not only for Senator Warren but for every politician and private citizen who threatens or even criticizes the biggest bully in America. Senator Warren and others he has bullied need allies who will give it back to Trump, allies who are not constrained by decorum and dignity. Bullies are experts at finding the vulnerabilities in others and merciless in exploiting them. But bullies also have insecurities. Allies of Democrats need to find the source of Trump's insecurities and craft some targeted "buzz words" that will throw him off balance and put him on the defensive. It shouldn't be too hard.
5
Warren's Native American ancestry is so remote as to be meaningless, as a matter of blood or as a matter of cultuture. So it is hard to believe that she identified herself as Native American other than to obtain some career benefit, My Spanish great grandmother arrived in the US from Cuba. She was naturalized around 1880. I believe it would be dishonest to characterize myself as Hispanic for any purpose.
13
Warren's grandmother valued her Indian ancestry. Warren honored her and other older relatives many years ago by claiming that ancestry on an internal census form. She was in no way a public figure at that time--it was a personal gesture. She never claimed minority status on any sort of application.
Fast forward: her GOP opponent dredges up this very old fact, falsely accuses her of using it to her advantage, and ridicules her family history. Trump uses it as a racial slur. He calls her a liar. She proves that her family lore is accurate, and calls him out on his phony 'offer.' End of story? Just one last question: why did voters think this Republican slander mattered in the first place?
6
Most Americans care about jobs, keeping up with their monthly bills, health care, raising their families in a safe environment and many other things that affect their daily lives. Most Americans don't care if Senator Warren has American Indian ancestry; it in no way improves their lives. Democrats, are you listening?
4
Mr. Martin's story fails Journalism 101. A one-minute search showed fatal flaws in the Senator's press release: She's not Native American. The genetic data used in her DNA comparison came from an estimated 37 samples of the 1000 Genome Project that were from Latin America, notably Peru and Mexico, not from Native Americans. Indigenous Americans for their own reasons generally do not provide DNA samples. Mr. Martin dismisses in one line the resounding criticism of Ms. Warren's claim by Native American tribal leaders and scholars from Oklahoma to Alberta.
11
"Speaking to reporters in Georgia, where he was inspecting hurricane damage, Mr. Trump said he would only keep his $1 million pledge 'if I can test her personally.’"
Funny. I had pretty much the same reaction back in January when the White House physician said that Trump had received a perfect score on that cognitive test to see if he had any mental issues that would prevent him from functioning in office.
7
I'd be willing to bet that Trump never gave more than $ 10 to a charity, posiibly no more than that, in total, in his whole. Now how much he claimed on his taxes is another thing altogether. I wouldn't be surprised if he claimed HUGE amounts of giving, for tax purposes.
2
We all need to stop with classifying anyone by what alleged race they are or claim to be. We do not get to choose our race, gender, or sexual orientation - these are traits we are arbitrarily born with, and nothing to be proud of or ashamed by. It is what we accomplish by our words and actions that we should be proud of or ashamed by. Whether or not Warren is of Native American ancestry is frankly irrelevant.
66
@John Q. Public
It's one thing to be proud of your heritage. It's another to use it to gain advantage over others and preferential treatment.
2
@John Q. Public yes, it is irrelevant, except for the fact that Elizabeth Warren took advantage of being so far from even being able to call herself Native American. She played on that during her time at Harvard. So like Blumenthal and Vietnam #sleazy
1
@John Q. Public
Unfortunately, her ancestry appears to be entirely relevant to Trump and the others on the right who continue to mock her with the "Pocahontas" label. And it also appears to be entirely relevant to media people like this author who continue to flog the issue as being important. It would all have blown over long ago as a tempest in a teapot if the media didn't insist on gleefully reporting every Trump taunt and daring Warren to respond. So now she has responded, and proved the truth of what she said, and the same media is decrying HER for "making an issue out of it".
3
Commenter Tom Beeler writes:
"I was also born in Norman, Oklahoma, and family legend had it that we were part Cherokee: in fact, my elder sister was convinced and took a DNA test to prove it..."
Just curious: Have you (or your sister) ever referred to yourself as a "Native American?" Though I seriously doubt (or at least hope) that Harvard Law School assigned much weight -- if any -- to Ms. Warren's minority status when it hired her, my understanding is that she referred to herself as a "minority" during the 1980s and 1990s. That doesn't strike me as accurate. My understanding is that very many Americans, especially Oklahomans, can show that they have some small percentage of Native American blood (in most cases, more than Ms. Warren's 1/1,024, though probably less than her 1/64). But I doubt many of the predominantly European-background Americans who can show that refer to themselves as members of a minority group.
5
Well, that's the question, isn't it? What, exactly, did she claim?
A commenter writes:
"She claimed Native American ancestry, not Native American heritage."
If that's all she claimed, then she's correct -- 1/64 to 1/1,024 is "ancestry" -- small, to be sure, but "ancestry" nonetheless.
But my understanding is that Ms. Warren claimed more than that. Reportedly, she claimed in the 1980s and 1990s to be a member of a "minority" group (Native Americans).
Did Elizabeth Warren really claim she was a member of a minority group, or did her opponents just make that up?
I must confess that I don't have a clue what she claimed -- slap the cuffs on me if I deserve them, but I wasn't paying attention to Elizabeth Warren in the 1980s and 1990s. Or did she claim only to have a small percentage of Native American blood from 6-10 generations back (i.e. 1/64 to 1/1,024), as this DNA test found?
To be thorough, there's a third possibility: She claimed to be a member of a minority group, but honestly believed that 1/64 to 1/1,024 is sufficient to claim membership in that group. I wouldn't consider that to be sufficient, and I doubt many (if anY) others would, but maybe she did (in which case she apparently changed her mind later, since she no longer claims "minority" status).
6
I suspect most readers disagree with this commenter:
"It would have been more wise to have just let this one go, rather than obsfucate and misdirect."
Ms. Warren really didn't have a choice. This issue would have dogged her until she resolved it one way or the other.
One can argue (as Ms. Warren does) that she's proven her "minority" claim to be accurate, by pointing to an independent DNA test that shows she has somewhere between 1/1,024 and 1/64 Native American blood. But others might fairly argue that such low percentages show just the opposite: that she's not a Native American. Very few Americans would call themselves a member of a "minority" group with such a small percentage of that minority group's blood in them.
Would you?
5
Go Lizzie. For President.
But seriously, let this one go. 6 generations ago, and you get to check a box that gives you preferential treatment to get into university?
9
She didnt use it to get into any university, or get any job. The school she worked for used her heritage to show diversity, "after" she was hired, not as a reason for hiring her. Blame rhe school.
5
Consider the boxes checked to advance Trump's career.
1
“Having some memory problems, @realDonaldTrump?” she wrote on Twitter. “Should we call for a doctor?”
Stand up to the bully he is...good on you madam.
And if there ever was any real test done on his upstairs...think it would only prove that it's mostly...full of the same that comes out when he speaks..
10
Donald: Put your money where your mouth is.
Do we need a tax on falsehoods and lies?
7
Has nobody heard of the Métis? They are mixed blood Indian and white. The Métis believe that one drop of Indian blood makes you Métis and you and your offspring are Métis forever. This is what Warren is. Case closed. Look it up Cherokee’s and Trumpites.
13
Pity that a DNA test can’t determine whether your father was a Klansman, but fortunately, we know the answer to that.
6
Who cares. Let's debate something more important.
7
Elizabeth Warren: Speaketh with forked tongue.
Donald Trump....speaketh with only with dollar signs.
2
My suspicion is that far-white folks and Trumpists are all over this, screeching, because what it really shows is just how hilariously stupid their notions of racial and biological purity really are.
6
Ok. So yes, I’m grateful to Elizabeth Warren for all she is doing and contributing to the discourse on any number of issues. Am glad for her intellect and academic background, and hope she can grind trump and mcconnell into dust with the grist of their lies and greed for traction.
But why oh why can’t we please be talking someone sincere and direct like Patty Murray into running for president? Haven’t we learned our lesson when it comes to law school-educated self-aggrandizing holierthanthou pols trying unsuccessfully to woo middle class, rural, or midwestern voters?
8
Is Sen. Warren claiming Native American citizenship, affiliation or lineage with these DNA test results?
Is she using these results to address the claims against her by the President?
Why, given this recently released information by Sen. Warren, is SHE the one being attacked and chastised?
I wondered what this could be?
11
She claimed Native American ancestry, not Native American heritage. She certainly never claimed membership in a Federally recognized tribe. Nearly all of us are of mixed ethnic origins, yet the usual "race" forms require that you classify yourself in one of 5 or 6 ways. The forms themselves are preposterous and support the completely broken conception of race that arose from 200 years of guilty consciences trying to justify slavery and genocide. We are just now at the point where DNA studies are beginning to show how feeble and wrong headed our antiquated fanciful ideas of race and ancestry really are. Checking the "Native American" box might arguably have been a bit naive on Warren's part, but checking "Caucasian" would have been just a different kind of delusion, though one that no one would have questioned.
11
It is human to exploit loopholes to advance their careers, but this discussion does point to one American value: we care about the truth, and do not like liars. Warren might have done something she is not be proud of, but Trump has fared much worse for all his sins.
5
Josh,
If we don't like liars, then why do we love Trump so much? Or is it only women we call liars?
4
Problem is - she can't win.
8
Trump's "Pocahontas" taunt about Warren isn't like his "birther" taunts about Obama's citizenship. That was a lie and everyone knew it. But it's true that Warren did indeed check the box for native-American ancestry when she applied to teach at Harvard. Only her motive for doing so is debatable -- Trump would say she was trying to improve her chances by claiming minority status, she would claim that she was trying to honor he ancestry.
Also, I wonder how MUCH native-American ancestry she has. I'm 40% Italian and 35% or so English/Irish, but I took a genetic test that showed I'm 0.05% Scandinavian. Does that mean I could get away with "honoring my Viking heritage?"
At any rate, this is not what matters, because I'm anti Warren for a more fundamental reasons. This election will probably determine who fills the seats of the two elderly liberals on the Supreme Court. The Democratic party does not need another devisive, geriatric, blonde female as its candidate. Didn't work out so well last time, did it?
11
What, by the way, is Trumps DNA heritage? Besides of course the grandmother who lived in a mud hut in Northern Scotland? He demands proof from others, but gives none himself.
3
Apparently, there's no evidence that she's Cherokee which was her original claim.
15
This one is simple: He publicly made a bet just over three months ago. She took it. She won. He lost. He welshed.
He welshed on his bet immediately when informed. No pause, no questions about the nature of the test or the results. "Who cares?" "I didn't say that". It took barely 10 seconds for him to renege.
Later, after having lost the bet he made, he changes the conditions of fulfilling his bet to something impossible, in that time-worn, pathetic tactic that all welshers use. And in so changing the bet, he inadvertently admits that he DID make the bet. So he's a knowing liar AND a welsher. In less than 10 seconds.
I have no doubt that his memory of his bet would be precise were she to have ignored it. He would taunt her with the fact that she didn't take the bet as some kind of admission that she didn't have Indian ancestry. And he would do it long before he met her in any presidential debate. He'd probably play the video clip of him making the bet himself.
Trump is a bully. As long as you retreat from a bully, they will come after you. Enough people stand up to them, and they back down. Trump's admitted greatest fear is appearing weak. He made a bet. He lost. He welshed. That is weak. Strong people don't renege on their own words. His rallies tout promises made and promises kept. Three months ago he made a loud, public, specific promise as a taunting challenge. And he welshed.
Apologies to all those with Welsh ancestry.
10
One drop should count no matter the race.
4
Of course she's being criticized! There are still many people in this country who fear intelligent women. If she were a man they'd all be singing huzzahs!
10
She's just another politician; they are all the same regardless of their genetic heritage.
6
Even the Cherokee are now insulted by Warren's claims. There's no clear evidence of a Cherokee connection in the DNA test and that was her original claim.
Harvard should realize what how badly it's reputation is being tarnished by all the liberals scandals that have erupted from there.
16
Just like he reneged on his promise to donate money, his own money, to veterans, DJT is now essentially reneging on his promise to donate money to Senator Warren's charity of choice. This is yet another example of what a despicable human being he is. (Yet, Evangelicals consider him to be one of theirs.) Shame on him and shame on those who continue to overlook his mounting faults and failures.
9
I'm thinking she should have just let it drop. With that teeny tiny bit of native American in her heritage, she's just opened herself up to more mocking.
21
One more thing to feel proud of herself.
What does Trump have? That he was the biggest mistake ever in the history of the US, that he was chosen to become a "President" to the United States only by ignorance...
...and that he's a person who has deceived others, by unjustifiably claiming accomplishments and qualities that he lacks, and is a fraudster and a swindler who has stolen the country millions of $$$ in taxes by tricks and lies.
6
i voted for trump, but if warren runs in 2020, i will vote for her based upon my interaction with her when she was my professor
7
My grandfather was born and raised on a reservation and grew up speaking the native language there. Everyone assumed my family had substantial Indian/Native blood. My recent DNA test revealed 0%. Could be for a number of complicated reasons, even that someone along the line was not fathered by the person they thought they were. That scenario happens all the time, actually.
That aside, why doesn’t Warren just say what is very likely true—that like every young person, she was exploring identity and felt most called to the Cherokee? Anyone with a heart living in eastern Oklahoma would feel the pull at some point. It’s a beautiful area, with Indian presence and haunting history everywhere.
6
Much like i once stayed at the Marriott in Hawaii and now claim to have Polynesian ancestry. It’s delusional.
7
Senator Warren should not have responded to Trump on this matter. Even if Warren had found out that she was 100% Native American (which she most certainly did NOT find), Trump would still call her Pocohantas and get his mock and jeer at her.
One thing is for sure though. Trump is far less of a self-made millionaire (even a self-made man) than Warren is a Native American.
10
According to 23and me, I am 99.2% Ashlenazic, and 0.1% East Asian or Native American- same as Elizabeth Warren's upper limit. If 0.1% makes her Native American, I guess I am Chinese.
10
Ugh just apologize. Don’t double down. Native Americans are currently living in sometimes very difficult situations, and Warren isn’t one of those people, and she doesn’t seem to have a part in the culture and traditions. So it was weird to claim it. So Trump aside, that’s why it makes liberals uncomfortable. They’re the ones she needs to persuade. So apologize. No one wants to see her argue on Trump’s terms— that’s so not the point. She clearly doesn’t get it.
19
NYT failed to mention blood quantum requirements for tribal enrollment in this story. Some Native American tribes have very liberal rules allowing membership out to 1/16th or 6.25%. But for most federal benefit programs it is usually limited to 1/4 or 25%. Do Elizabeth Warren test results show 25%, 6.25% or much less? Based on the information she provided it is far less. It is not right for her to claim Native American status when she has such a small percentage of such ancestry. She should apologize to Native Americans and the nation for this misrepresentation.
16
She never claimed anything remotely like tribal membership or "Native American status", whatever that might be. She claimed (admittedly based naively on oral family history) Native American ancestry, which she has. There is no connection between ancestry and tribal affiliation, at least not one codified in law.
11
The assumption too many Democrats make is that the President is serious about anything he says. He makes and changes the rules of the game as he goes. Don’t fall into his trap... better to lead him into yours.
12
The so called " crying Indian", Iron Eyes Cody was an Italian immigrant without a drop of Native ancestry. In North America for decades many Europeans have lied about having Native ancestry or had very little. Yet many used such lies to gain tribal membership, control of tribal land and to get what they perceived as "special treatment" for Native Americans.
South of the border indigenous people have taken DNA tests, but tribes in North America refuse to take DNA tests. That's because many are loaded with people like Elizabeth Warren. The real irony is that they were allowed by federal law to deny tribal membership to many like myself and my Native ancestors. Those who have Native ancestry from various tribes and/or mixed with African slaves were and continue to be denied.
You can be 100% Native American and still not be allowed to
join a federally recognized tribe if your ancestry is a mixture of various tribes. Yet a person like Elizabeth Warren can get "honorary membership" just like Iron Eyes Cody thanks to many tribal councils dominated by those of European ancestry.
When these laws were enacted it was never imagined that science would be able to expose who is truly Native American and who are usurpers. Maybe the Warren saga will cause a new look at this issue, including a look at who really controls tribal councils and reservations. Many are not Native people which is why they won't take the test.
7
This is a distraction. This is only a distraction. This is a distraction of the public BROAD-casting system. This is only a distraction.
2
I would be concerned in highlighting a single Native America ancestor from so far back in our Nation's history regarding the circumstances of how that Native America blood entered the bloodline and whether that reflected well on one's ancestors (from the perspective of how Native Americans were treated by conquerors). It is unclear to me from the articles (I haven't watched her video) if Sen. Warren documents honorable circumstances. It seems to me that nobody can resist following Trump down rabbit holes (taking his bait), and I don't think he is some sort of genius tactician; it says more about his foils than him.
6
best way to deal with Trump, is just to ignore him, just ask for the evidence,instead of he claim and you go hunting everywhere for evidence to counter, and after much of that effort and prove he is totally wrong, he will just ignore and move onto some new bogus claim ,that is how he play everyone and waste everyone energy . ask for evidence, he has never been able to produce, fake news , on the other hand, are flowing out from his ears.
you cannot reason with anyone who doesn't want to know the truth, don't even try to change Trump or his supporters , anything Trump said is to advance his interest,that can go left, right, up or down from time to time, don't waste your time, don't argue with him,learn from Mueller and focus on the mid term.
2
Warren said her family's oral history included Native American heritage. She was criticized for making this claim based on family "myth." Ok, so she takes the DNA test. It's true. Now she's criticized for how she's integrated this heritage into her self-description and self-image. It's always something. Is the problem really about taking down an ambitious aka "uppity" woman? Because the critics are never satisfied. And never will be.
14
I would not call Warren “uppity” but egotistical might be more appropriate if she really thinks we care about her unwarranted ancestry claim.
5
10th generation American and not even 1% native? More likely that Mohammad Ali and the Marx Brothers would find Mayflower bloodlines.
Ridiculous for Harvard Warren to claim native ancestry! A classic lowbrow politician.
14
She has less native american in her than Mel Brooks, yet cynically sought to use it for personal credibility profit. I wonder what real native americans think about being used thus.
Serves her right that it blows up in her face; and I'm a democrat. She made it about racial background that she doesn't even have, less than a half percent...my Ukrainian Cossack grandmother had as much, but she wasn't interested in selling it.
Hillary could have pulled it off, but this lady is no Hillary.
13
When my daughter was applying for admission to competitive colleges, we learned that the brother of a friend listed himself as Native American in order to gain an advantage. This was news to us. His parents were wealthy doctors who gave him every advantage and put considerable energy into helping him get into the best possible college.
Sure, they may have a small amount of Cherokee blood, as many of us do (or claim to) in Tennessee. But I don't think that colleges have kids like this in mind when they seek Native American applicants or give them preferential treatment (if they do).
So I understand the concern that someone is gaining an advantage they do not deserve when they claim native ancestry. This is not what Elizabeth Warren did. She did not receive benefits from declaring her native ancestry.
The fact that we're even talking about this is a triumph for Trump. It's another brilliant deflection. It's tragic that someone as accomplished and caring as Warren should have to deal with this and that this newspaper is treating Trump's attacks seriously. There has got to be a better way to report on this. We should not be letting Trump dictate the conversation. That is not working so well.
12
One might wish that by this time, progressives would have learned not to shoot their own over trivial noncompliance with some ideal.
12
We did. We call him Bill Clinton.
3
At this point no one cares if she is 100% or 1% Native American. Why she's so desperate to prove her claim. I swear our politicians (Rep or Dems) are acting like babies and cats and dogs.
12
Frankly, tribal leaders should take this as an opportunity to get something positive done for their people.
2
It is amazing to me that the NYTimes publishes this story and doesn't highlight the fact that the test in fact reveals that Ms Warren has no more claim to native American heritage than any white American.
1%, from between 6 and 10 generations ago, would be a laughable joke if the Times and other mainstream publications weren't touting it as if it supports her claims.
"Current DNA tests do not even distinguish whether a person’s ancestors were indigenous to North or South America," Cherokee Nation Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. said in a press release. "Using a DNA test to lay claim to any connection to the Cherokee Nation or any tribal nation, even vaguely, is inappropriate and wrong. It makes a mockery out of DNA tests and its legitimate uses while also dishonoring legitimate tribal governments and their citizens, whose ancestors are well documented and whose heritage is proven. Senator Warren is undermining tribal interests with her continued claims of tribal heritage."
31
Yeah, and oddly you missed that Hoskin also had a few choice words for Trump on all this. Golly, why is that?
5
The real issue here is the complete absurdity of the
'reality' we all find ourselves in. Having to address or acknowledge him in any way lends a legitimacy to him that is maddening.
How on earth did he ascend to ANYTHING in life? How is he anything more in life than that kind of guy we all know and try to avoid, the guy in the park or in the neighborhood, or in the bar, who goes on and on and on.
We basically have a racist version of Cliff Clavin in the White House and end up having to go down to his level over and over and over.
10
Remember however that Trump had a huge TV fanbase unfortunately
"The site also includes documents that Ms. Warren says make clear her heritage 'had no role whatsoever' in her advancement during her academic rise as a Harvard law professor."
Oh, come on.
First, the NYTimes needs to verify this and not just let her skate on a self-serving assertion.
Second, those of you old enough to remember the '80s, know just how ultra-cool it was to be all or part Native American, and how universities were falling over themselves to hire minorities because they hadn't bothered to do so for most of their century-long existences.
So the thought that grabbing the mantel of Native American would get her tenure/hired/published never entered her mind.
Uh-huh.
28
Many people share DNA with native Americans. For Warren to tout her small amount of DNA as constituting a native American heritage is nothing but political smoke and an insult to native Americans everywhere. I am surprised and disappointed that she would spend her political capital in such an irresponsible manner. And I am even sorrier that she would drag the native American people into her sham claims.
31
“Speaking to reporters in Georgia, where he was inspecting hurricane damage, Mr. Trump said he would only keep his $1 million pledge “if I can test her personally,’’ then added: “That will not be something that I enjoy doing.”“
Well, that test would require that she spit at him, something that many Americans might enjoy doing.
17
Senator Warren should bet a million going to trumps favorite charity if he would release his taxes.
9
Unfortunately for her and for the country, Sen. Warren lacks the killer instinct, and it is all too visible, whereas Trump has nothing but, and is all too visible. He brings a gun and a mob, she brings a knife and a legal brief. That's what it all comes down to. She could have just said little until the wind dies, and focused on where she has light years ahead of him...legal logic pointing up his behaviors and the consequent effects of them upon others...of which there are legion...instead, she plays right into his usual game of accusing her of what he actually is, a phony. Makes no matter that he is the biggest predatory PT Barnum of the age and she made a naive slip up when young...I do wish she had just quietly let it go.
6
Two things come to mind reading this article. Firstly, trump can lie about everything under the sun but Warren has to clean up her act? And second, there are no true Americans that are "native." Native americans also originated from Africa like the rest of modern man. So, what's the point except "native American" culture?
13
This whole discussion seems absurd, but as the article points out, there seems to be no conspiracy theory too absurd to appeal to Trump supporters. So it seems that Warren did the only thing she could do here. I think the next step is to respond to every belittling comment he makes with a telling nickname of her own. I would suggest something along the lines of "Daddy's 400 million dollar boy."
7
I'd vote for Elizabeth Warren, but let's be honest: everything about this is embarrassing.
25
No body cares at this point if she is 50% or 1% Native American. Why she so adamant to prove her ancestry to the world because of Trump? Our politicians need to grow up and not act like children.
11
Are we going to make a big fight out of this, now? So tired of it.
6
Not sure what it means to be 1/1000 Native American?
Does that qualify one to be president?
Does that put you ahead of the other contenders and qualify you to call yourself Native American at Harvard?
Really?
Sounds terribly racist to me.
22
For maybe the first time, I agree with Trump. Who cares? That said, he owes a million bucks.
18
Now Sen. Warren can say the facts are all out there and voters can consider them together with the rest of her record. This could be here standard answer when people insist on bringing up the topic.
7
I am feeling very pessimistic about Warren's ability to defeat Trump in a presidential race. I saw the clip of him where he was mocking "Pochahontas" and although I am horrified by the man and what he is doing to our country, I had to admit that he is a good entertainer. I think he would have it all over her in a debate. She is good, but she relies on canned sentences; I fear that he would be much more flexible than she is on a debate stage. Additionally, I don't want to lose her from the Senate. She is fantastic in the Senate.
11
Yes, at this point I would recommend she stay in the Senate. It only takes a few minutes on Twitter to find out how Native Americzns feel about DNA. If she can't do that, forget 2020.
The Cherokee Nation should be proud that a U.S. senator would connect herself and her family with Cherokees, even 6 to 10 generations ago. When Donald Trump calls her "Pocahontas" he is not paying a tribute to any Native American tribe. He considers it an insult. Don't you get that? On the other end of the Trail of Tears here in Georgia, my husband and scores of other citizens of purely European and some mixed Cherokee ancestry worked tirelessly, hands-on, to restore a cabin built by a Cherokee chieftain and my daughter video recorded the restoration work, all of this at great expense, to tell the Cherokee story and show the pride we have in our Native American heritage in this area, the original home of the Cherokees. Now, I wonder if their efforts were appreciated. I call on leaders of the Cherokee Nation to issue another statement, one that thanks Senator Warren for standing against the bigotry of Donald Trump.
18
@abigail49, at this point, there is no clear linkage to the Cherokee Nation from her test results or documented family history. Her 1/64th to 1/1024th DNA percentage is linked solely to Native American, which could be any one of dozens of different tribes. As the Cherokee Nation statement itself made clear in responding to and criticizing Ms. Warren, it could even be ancestry from Central America or South America.
This is not to deny whatever story had been passed down within her family but just what the science is showing.
8
@GRH The Cherokee Nation, while noting the inadequacy of the DNA results, could have made her an honorary member of their nation if for nothing else but to curry favor with a woman who could be the next president and in a position to do them and all our "certified" native citizens great good. It would at least have been the politically smart thing to take neither side of this silly political argument started by her Senate opponent and carried on by Donald Trump.
The point is Senator Warren listed her ethnicity as Native American at Penn and Harvard. Is that really true? Is diversity on the faculty satisfied by such a remote connection? The point is insincerity. But then that is a Warren hallmark.
33
@Daphne: Evidence of Warren’s insincerity please. Otherwise your comment is just a slur, and no one wants to have that reputation.
3
Whooa. Sen Warren absolutely and purposely brought this story upon herself. She released the report knowing full well the coverage it would receive. If the response is negative, that’s a miscalculation on her part. Not the media’s problem.
35
Do we know where is our native Americans originally coming from? Asia? Africa? Certainly they came before Columbus. We have a beautiful native Americans museum in DC but not too many visitors. The African American Culture and history Museum is full of visitors everyday. Why? No one interested in our native Americans history. According our cowboy movies we killed many native Americans during the early years of American history. How many native Americans still in America? Senator Warren's DNA test certainly going to catch a lot attentions about our native American histories. Good for her. Skin color really matters in America.
3
The million dollars from Trump will be in the same envelope as his promised pot-audit tax return. These are more likely to join the category "locker room talk".
9
I bet lots of us have Native American in our ancestry. That's another reason to be offended at anyone calling us Pocohontas, like we're a big joke. Like it's not possible for people to fall in love with non-white people? Like we are some kind of Disney cartoon? Don the Con would sell his own brother for a nickel, and he did. The man is just plain mean, no excuses.
14
What a joke! Elizabeth is the greatest ally for the Republicans with this 0.000x% “proof” She just shot herself in the foot.
26
Here's and idea, Elizabeth:
Challenge Trump to a DNA test. Suggest "they" say there's proof that Fred Trump was not your biological father and that is why he sent you to boarding school.
9
Trump is the guy who calls a sitting US Senator "Pocahantas" as a racial slur. He has offered ZERO consideration or respect to the indigenous community.
The rest of this is noise.
This is the usual Trump barking "Let's you and him fight".
Trump outed as a liar and a guy who doesnt make good on his word. What's new.
22
Imagine a white person claimed to black on a college application because he was 1/1024 black. There would be (rightful) outrage. This is the same exact situation.
40
@Jake
You completely missed the point of this exercise Jake.
Warren has a strategy behind this that has nothing to do with college applications.
On another note, Harvard doesn't use ancestry at all - zero, zilch, nada.
5
I did not realize Senator Warren asked for any financial benefit as a consequence of her ancestry. Where did you here that.
I
t does appear one of her charities will benefit will the money Trump has pledged.
5
@Jules Harvard touted Warren as a professor of color but ok
1
I'm on a quest to prove Mayflower descendancy. I have almost all of my papers (I just lack a few birth certificates four generations from me, and I know where they are). This ancestry goes back 13 or so generations.
I would imagine that these papers, or proofs, are exceedingly difficult to obtain if one is researching Native American ancestry. Generally, you need wills, birth, marriage, and death certificates, and property records.
I applaud Senator Warren and her efforts to prove her ancestry. If DNA testing works, great!
If I can celebrate my Mayflower ancestry with one Pilgrim, surely Senator Warren's DNA should count for establishing her ancestry.
11
He owes a million bucks to her favorite charity, and she should never let him forget it. Gentlemen honor their bets, and those who dont are deadbeats. He is a man not of his word, and should get his face rubbed in it at every opportunity. If pointing out what his level is is stooping to his level, then we have made it to an alternate universe.
21
@sdavidc9
He only owes her one 1000‘s of 1 million. I would be about $1000 for her Native American ancestry .
I hope he gives her this money and the rest of the million to the Cherokee nation who objected strongly to this fraudulent claim.
5
Mr Trump. Be a man and cough up the million dollars. It goes to a good cause. Or, are you afraid to keep your word and put your money where your mouth is?
19
If she wants to honor her Native American heritage, then let her. She’s proud to be part Native American, even if she is not a member of a tribe. Being human means we are connected to people. And understanding the power of those connections is a wonderful thing. It helps us to remember history. I didn’t live in NYC in the early 1900’s, but my grandpa did. I never saw the inside of his childhood apartment, but every time I pass the street he grew up on I see the carts and smell the animals and feel the cobblestone streets. It humbles me every time.
16
Oh good lord. If anything demonstrates that Elizabeth warren would be cut to shreds by Trump in ‘20, it is the brittleness behind this decision. She is a humorless pedant going up against a careening bully. We’ve all seen the results of that in junior high school.
Democrats, do not let another bad candidate invite you into the wilderness again!
39
After reading about this escalation (downward spiral?) between the two...I wonder if the only way to battle Trump is to have everyone in politics and the general public who’ve been attacked by him to lunge “truth barbs”” (tweets, etc.) at him until his head spins. I would love to watch Fox Entertainment News become a giant ball of string.....
1
If we were dealing with children here we would yell “ time out”.
The notion that Elizabeth Warren is somehow out of line is almost comical. Do people not realize what she’s dealing with here? She’s responding to a snake oil salesman and a serial liar. He’s like a puppy who keeps staining the rug. You need to keep it simple so he’ll understand. If Ms. Warren spent $49.95 for one of those shopping channel DNA tests, good for her. It’s an appropriate response to his infantile behaviour.
10
Being "between 1/64th and 1/1,024th" is in effect not being. Neither, as another reader pointed out, is there any possibility that Ms. Warren suffered because of her so-called "heritage." All around pathetic performances by both a Senator and a President. Geez...maybe I ought to run...!
22
@Jay, UM, most Europeans have a small percentage of Neanderthal in them. That is real and it says something about our history.
1
Well, as expected, the Cherokee Nation has spoken. They are not happy! AND, Trump should make good on his promise of $1 million for Warren's charity. Fair is fair.
9
Bravo Elizabeth Warren, you have proven beyond all reasonable doubt indigenous Americans were indeed part of your heritage.
Now the only important question is: will Trump pony up $1 million, or will he stiff the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, and be confirmed as a liar and cheat?
No hiding behind this one, Mr. President - pay up.
12
This is such a non story. Stop letting the Republicans drive the narrative. Focus on her policy proposals instead
11
@Angry. Nope. Sen Warren purposely made this a story by pursuing and then publicly releasing her DNA study. Don’t like the story? Blame it Sen Warren, not the press.
7
How I wish the dispute over Warren's ancestry could be seen for the absurdity it is and just be ignored. How I wish we weren't marching down another rabbit hole. Oh how I wish this didn't matter.
But it does matter, although I'm not sure exactly why or how. I simply know in my gut that somewhere down the road, this controversy will make a big difference. It shouldn't, but it will in this weird epoch of American politics.
5
Zero shot of getting anywhere in 2020 without addressing what became a laughable problem. Unfortunately for her, what she received was a negative result. The question then became how to spin it and here we are.
Virtually every caucasion would be several hundred percent more accurate in claiming neanderthal status on a race question than Elizabeth Warren is Native American. That comments are cheering this as some sort of victory or vindication is equally laughable as her, now well earned, nickname.
24
@David
You can't have more than 100% accuracy, David. Maybe in your Trump universe of alternative facts but not in the real world where most people live.
But I'm guessing your Neanderthal status is 100% unassailable and current.
2
Trump's statement that he would "test her personally" but "not enjoy it" just turns my stomach. Of course, it makes absolutely no sense, but nonetheless succeeds mightily as a vague but truly creepy threat.
15
Gotta say, I really don't care if Elizabeth Warren has any Native American blood in her. I do like the content of her character, however.
222
@John B, she lied about being a minority to advance her career. Yup, sounds like a high character individual to me.
3
I hope to God I don't have to vote for this person. she's incredibly dishonest and she still hasn't reconciled with her past. what she needs to do is apologize to the Native Americans. Trump (while a disgusting human) was absolute right about her. can anyone else run!!!!
28
@gdf: Sadly dishonesty has been recalibrated since Trump. She has certainly embroidered the truth, and it would be good if she could make her peace. You make it sound as though there are others. I am not aware of anything though. Why such negativity?
Bottom line is Trump owes a million dollars of his own money to a charity. Of course, being Trump, he will never, ever, pay. He does this all the time. In case you have be living under a rock, or just watch FOX news, (same thing, really), you know that Donald Trump is the biggest liar this country has ever seen.
18
Ms. Warren could have been 99% Native American and it wouldn't matter to Trump. Nothing he says goes under accountability as it just gets filed under Truth isn't Truth." And DNA results can have surprising results. When my wife submitted samples to two popular DNA search companies the results from both were just about identical. What surprised her were unexpected results indicating Greek, Italian, and American Indian DNA. You can argue with science but it's a one-sided argument.
6
In the 70's my father (who I could use all the characters I am allowed to disparage) claimed that we were part Micmac. Back then, it was cool to be part Native American. I never believed him because he had red hair and blue eyes and so did his father who was supposed to be the great grandson of my purported Native American great-great grandmother. I have since received my own DNA results and, no surprise, there was no Native American DNA to be found. I did however discover that my DNA shows that I have some French genes. 10% in fact. This was a surprise to me but I don't think I will rely on it to gain entrance into the local Franco-American Club.
7
Without that 1/1024 great grandparent of hers, Elizabeth Warren would not exist. Each and every grandparent contributed proportionally to who she has become. Her very existence depends on that grandparent’s DNA as much as her mother’s and father’s. This all sounds like a pretty solid Back to the Future reboot.
6
Oftentimes, taking the most sensible, middle road ironically opens us up to the most criticism. The "middle" in the Venn Diagram of "pleasing all the people all the time" just becomes precariously narrow.
Elizabeth Warren consistently speaks sensibly, but has also delivered an unrelenting strafing to Mr. Trump. Her courage has drawn all this present fire.
However, Liz Warren is decidedly the [only] adult in the room. I offer her my unwavering support.
23
Senator Warren had a Native American ancestor. That’s a fact. You know what’s not fact? Trump’s claims about himself: He’s a self-made man. He started out with “just” a $1M loan. His inaugural crowd was the biggest ever. Nobody respects women more than he. He’ll release his tax returns if he wins. He’ll divest himself of his business interests. He has a healthcare plan that will provide outstanding coverage for everyone at less cost.
I could easily go on and use up my 1500 character allotment without breaking a sweat. Fact is, there’s more truth in what she said than in nearly anything he has said.
53
So does Warren now qualify for a 1/1,024th share of casino payouts?
I doubt if any tribal government would recognize a claim of this minuscule percentage.
21
The issue was not whether she could join a tribe but if her family history,which she has shared, is accurate; it appears that it is.
11
@Brewster Millions
No it wouldn’t, and it is irrelevant because she has no intention of trying to claim it.
4
@Brewster - I think you missed the point. She has not benefited from and does not plan to benefit from it. Would you like someone to make such insinuations about you?
2
As a DNA casework analyst I am curious how Trump would purpose to "test her personally." Does he believe that because he is a stable genius he knows more than the geneticist who did the testing of Warren?
19
I find all of this focus on DNA testing troubling for a number of reasons - not just Senator Warren's experience but also all of the recent advertising on TV, radio and the internet to discover who you are via a test.
Can it be fun to delve into family history? Of course.
Do the racial/ethnic genetic markers you carry determine who you are, what sort of national dance you should learn, what type of music you should enjoy, whether you love and respect nature or not?
If you believe some of the advertising and some of the comments here the answer is yes.
But if you believe the answer is yes and you believe that racial/ethnic genetics help determine the above and perhaps more, even at a de minimis level, then you have to accept the possibility that intelligence, creativity, empathy might be racially determined.
And if you believe that then clearly the description "racist" applies.
Is it wrong to delve into family history or, out of curiosity, have your DNA tested? Of course not.
But to equate who you are with the results of the test seems to me wrong. And to equate who someone else is by their racial/ethnic genetic markers is just as wrong.
Likewise, to admire and respect a particular culture and to wish to emulate the best features of that culture doesn't require that you have a single drop of that ethnic/racial groups blood flowing through your veins.
10
Not much point in criticizing Pres. Trump for saying, "I didn't say that."
He'll just say that he didn't say that he didn't say it.
21
LOL, true.
5
I've been reading a lot in the last 12 hours about how Sen. Warren's revealing of her DNA test is misfiring. I have watched her since she appeared as a talking head on PBS many years ago. I know this for a fact - she is very, very smart and thinks on her feet as fast as any smart person can. She did the DNA thing because she is primed to go into attack mode. I, for one, cannot wait.
28
Elizabeth Warren is one of the most serious potential 2020 candidates. These results, along with the blockbuster report published by the Boston Globe over the summer, prove definitely that she both has Native American ancestry and did not in any way gain advantages in the job market because of that.
It is better that she is settling this debate before the presidential election gets into full swing, and it serves as a distraction from her qualifications and ideas. She will no longer need to double talk or speculate, she can now easily and quickly refer to these reports when this issue inevitably arises, and instead can focus on the problems facing this country.
20
If Sen. Warren wants to be a serious political player, she should have left well enough alone. She was suckered into taking Trump’s bait and now looks somewhat silly, with Native American heritage six or seven generations in the past, something that probably millions of Americans can claim.
I am appalled by Trump’s sociopathic behavior, but his targets should try and keep their cool (and their dignity) by ignoring Trump - you cannot beat Trump at his nasty behavior.
20
@Claus Gehner Well said! George Bernard Shaw “ I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it”.
8
Here we go again. No mention of Hillary's emails? Have you verified Obama's birth certificate?
Seriously, questioning Warren's credibility in light of who sits in the oval office is journalistic malpractice. Please find something serious to write about Sen Warren.
15
Senator Bob Menendez should undergo some sort of medical test to ascertain if there are any honest bones in his body.
23
That would be an unnecessary and expensive test - since we all know the answer. Nary a one.
7
Entering into this back and forth with Trump is like wrestling with a pig. No way to win, both will get very muddy and the pig (Trump) enjoys it.
10
Hoping, no praying, that Warren is the democrat nominee in 2020. If that happens then the Democratic Party can fold it's tent forever.
16
Nobody on the LEFT--believes that Warren's behavior is even remotely comparable to the bigot in chief.
She did her best to show everyone the facts of her family culture. Many if not most seem to be Republican and they seem to be aok with Elizabeth.
The only one who should be ashamed is Trump. I suspect his bragging, self-praising, mockery of greatness is the only proof of this we can surmise.
5
$100 bucks says
If Warren runs, the media, led by cable news, will spend more time on "Her DNA" then on any other topic
just like "Her Emails" was the biggest news story of 2016
heck, I'll even go 2 to 1
18
@ezra abrams How were her high school years?
What a waste of money - to have taken the effort to publicly confront Trump, who cares little for the truth, just to getting the air time, only validates him, and demeans her.
Hilariously, and predictably, Trump denies saying he'd donate any money to her favorite charity. And now he's co-opted the news cycle again, claiming he'd want to test her personally, though it's not something he'd enjoy doing.
What would be effective is the play Trump at his own game - perhaps finding a label that fits? Two faced Trump - catchy. Why do democrats have to be so high minded all of the time? Dems should take advantage of fighting dirty, but actually using the truth, from the unvarnished, and unedited words of Republicans. When they go low, go lower, but with truth - because the truth of the right is really that bad.
Did Warren really think the Trump base would care? sheesh ..
7
@Robert Stacy Just remember what George Bernard Shaw said: “ I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it”.
Whether Senator Warren is 1/64 or 1/1024 Native American is entirely irrelevant. Mr. Trump impugned her honesty over the question of whether she had even a drop of Native American blood. Well, she does. And, as Senator Warren points out, she is not applying for membership in a federally recognized tribe. She only released this information to rehabilitate her honor after attack by the Liar-in-Chief.
What remains to be seen is whether Trump will make good on HIS promise to write that check for $1 million to the charity of Senator Warren's choice. She has named the charity. What are the odds that the check will ever be cut?
26
@Elizabeth. So it’s the one drop of blood Standard?
1
Why should anyone care if one of her ancestors was Amerindian? Or if all of them were? What matters are her policy views.
5
How anyone can defend Warren on this fraudulent claim of non-white identity is beyond me. Loved how the Cherokee nation called her out.
47
She never said she wasn’t white. She only said she was proud of her Native America ancestors, which she just proved.
3
@Chris
Did you even read the article.
Trump has been denigrating her family's story that someone "back when" in their Oklahoma family was Cherokee. She had a DNA test and it turned out positive for an ancestor.
Trump should pay up since he now thinks as per 60 Minutes that "he is not a baby" Prove it Donald and Pay up to the Ingenous Women fund.
3
@Chris You have entirely missed the point.
1
Although it shouldn't be an issue, it is, and it is made somewhat more silly with this latest information. Looks like it will be either our beloved Joe Biden, master of middle-class justice Bernie Sanders, or an as yet unheralded, younger firebrand. Please let it be anyone other than Trump in 2020.
5
To those of you saying 1/1024 is a joke: it is the average result expect (wide variation is possible) when someone has 1 indigenous ancestor 10 generations back. The DNA test has in fact backed up her claims. Trump is way out of line to dismiss anyone's family lore; Warrens story was clearly fact and accurately passed down.
Now where's the 1 million Trump?
29
Isn’t that the point? She claims she’s Native American when one ancestor out of 1024 is Native American
7
I like Ms. Warren. She will be a interesting candidate if she runs. But I think she should move away from her genetic heritage. The more she talks about it, the more she plays a game Trump created. Talk about real issues and discuss the ideas you have for solving them. I don’t care about her DNA but I do want to know how she will govern.
7
Hard to believe the criticism of “only one ancestor 6-10 generations back.” Um, that’s how it goes. Unless her other forebears also married people with Native American blood, the percentage gets diluted over time. She has every right to claim that Native American ancestor, just as a Daughter (or Son) of the American Revolution, Mayflower descendant or any other lineage society does.
34
Elizabeth Warren is being wise enough to not make the same mistake Hilary Clinton made with the emails and just let the issue fester. Warren will take the heat now so that it will become old news. From a tactical and strategic point of view she is doing the smart thing. Having said that, she should be ashamed of herself for making her racial identity claims in the first place.
8
@Herbert Berkowitz Warren is much more clever than many have given her credit for. He bated Trump and he was too dumb to figure it out. Now that Warren has provided evidence that she indeed does have NA DNA in her lineage, Trump has demonstrated his lieing foolish self once again. Trump doesn’t have a million dollars to donate to any charity. Once again Trump says he will donate to charities but as we found out during the 2016 election cycle he never contributes to charities.
2
Search "Trump golf hole-in-one $1M" and see what you get. This guy is so pathetic that it is not even funny now.
11
The reason he cannot keep his word on giving 1M to her favorite charities if she can prove her Native American heritage , is only because that he doesn't have the 1M , his whole life is a scam, this is also why you will never see the tax return , he is the straw man for someone probably from Russia , doesn't own anything , only managing fees and money laundering.
Sad picture.
12
I just read Trump said he wants to administer the DNA test for proof. This after mocking "me too" and having to be "gentle". The man is disgusting.
18
"Six to ten generations ago". Let's take the midpoint -- eight generations ago! (She actually claimed it was her grandmother.) So she's one quarter of one percent Indian!
Need I say more? OK, I shall. The average American has more Indian blood in him or her than this.
Or may I wonder about "cultural appropriation"?
When Trump is a fool, we all say so. May we please be permitted to say that Warren is a fool? Of course, it's her policies -- open borders, metoo, free college, etc that we need to examine, and then decide if her policies are foolish.
31
@red sox 9. She does not advocate open borders.
3
She said it was her great- great grandmother, according to her mother.
4
@red sox 9 You have to wonder, "what was she thinking?". She's getting ripped by both sides for this stunt.
5
The last thing we need this week is Trump spouting off at rallys about this. This is a shameful display.
5
Trump makes tasteless absurd lying statement: I am shocked truly shocked.
2
I've always had a problem with Warren.Her self absorbency has seemed pronounced to me and today it went into high gear.This is no time to be talking about her DNA findings..this time should be spent on the mid terms and nothing else.So let's finish off this story in one news cycle and get back to the more pressing matters at hand.This is trivial nonsense and a waste of time that we can't afford.
22
Senator Warren is no more self-absorbed than any other politician and less so than many male ones. Please, no double standards.
15
@Patriot....Wouldn't Senator Warren's very powerful voice be better used to help Heidkamp keep republicans from washing Native Americans from voting rolls[their usual way of winning elections]and helping Heidi to keep her North Dakota seat.This seems a far more important role for someone with remote yet proud links to Native Americans at this juncture in this most important election.Show your loyalty to your ancestors by going after the GOP in North Dakota.
@susan mccall
Actually Warren didn't choose this fight. Her GOP opponent created it last election. She is running for reelection and responding to a nasty personal attack. It's a sadly necessary part of a dirty business.
2
Our democrat "progressives" aspiring to the presidency seem to have a very high threshold of embarrassment. One claims to be American Indian based on a .09% genetic similarity to American Indians, the other rather dramatically declares himself to be Spartacus.
Trump would roll over these two like they weren't even there.
28
My 23 and Me DNA ancestry analysis has me with trace, 0.1% to 0.2% ancestry from all kinds of places that seem unlikely, unless an Italian got lost and found himself in Lithuania, or a Somali was taken there as a captive. As someone with a mathematical background, I wonder how many of these "findings" represent actual accurate results, or are they just noise created by limitations in the current state of the science.
14
@RM In reality, anything below 2% or 3% is a total guess. Like having three pieces of a huge jigsaw puzzle and trying to guess what part of an image they might represent. "This could be part of a flower -- or else maybe a dog, or a boat."
Further, these tests are most accurate in identifying European ancestry, since the vast majority of the reference DNA samples they have are from Europeans. They are the least accurate in identifying indigenous American ancestry and cannot even distinguish between North American and South American Indians, much less individual tribes. By contrast some of these tests, eg "Living DNA" can distinguish between genes from Ulster and Western and Southern Ireland.
6
As a person who is at least 1/4 Swedish, I resent that Donald Trump claimed to have Swedish ethnicity, when he is really German. How is it that he has not been taken to task for that lie?
He also pledged to pay the $1 million if EW proved she had ANY Native American blood, I heard him say it. She has proved it.He says he won’t pay. What a cheapskate liar he is. You Trumpsters can complain all you want, but those are the facts. You are in love with a cheap money grubbing law breaking tax-evading woman-groping liar. How pitiful.
24
Like Senator Warren, I have relied on family lore to identify as "African-American," as my great grandmother has passed down stories that we were directly related to Lucy (Australopithecus), which I thought was our last name as a child. Since I believed myself to be directly related to an African ancestor, I have identified as African-American since childhood.
20
Funny! This explains why the census is a mess!
5
Is that headline a joke? This puts Warren on the defensive. Lowry is exactly right: she's creating punch lines for Trump. She should have deep-sixed those test results. The Pocohontas taunts were better than Ms. 1\1024th.
17
My paternal grandmother, from Lithuania, always said we had ancestors who were from the Mongol hoard that invaded the area centuries ago. We have some distant cousins who look distinctly Asian, so it seemed likely.
I was curious if DNA would confirm Asian ancestry, and if so, how much. A couple of years ago I took a 23 and Me test, and they update the ancestry results as their algorithms become more detailed. The test confirmed that my ancestry was approximately 2/3 Eastern European, but about 20% east Asian.
Gee, I guess if I were applying to Harvard today, I would have to suppress that Asian ancestry information to improve my chances of admission.
15
Trump owes her charity $1,000,000.00.
25
See David French in today's National Review online. (It's free.) Do you not find it strange that Warren is promoting these data?
6
@Richard Koenig No, I don’t find it strange Warren is producing evidence to we the public. Trump is too dumb to see what she did there. Trump shoots his mouth off all over the world. Trump is dangerous. Trump is a liar. Warren produced evidence of her NA DNA. Trump doesn’t have $1 million to donate to a charity.
4
With all of the lies Trump spews daily, he is hardly one to talk about anyone who tells a lie. What is pathetic is no one seems to call him on his lies. Why is the news media so afraid of him?
18
susan,
The Washington Post has been keeping track of Trump's lies (it would be much easier to keep a tally of when he tells truth.)
7
She should let the whole thing drop. Trying to make Trump answerable on this point is like trying to rebut a third grader who says that your mother eats kitty litter.
10
LOL! Best thing I’ve heard all day.
2
How did you know?
Trump should donate $1M divided by Warren's proportion of Native American ancestry, 1024. That comes to $976.56.
Fair is fair.
17
@Paul No, you are incorrect. Trump said a million to a charity Warren names. Warren got tested and the tests shows she has NA DNA in her lineage. It doesn’t matter how much. It’s a yes or no. The answer is yes. The Sons and Daughters of the Mayflower claim ancestry to those who left the shores of England and sailed here in the 1600’s. Should we tell those people to cease and desist their Mayflower claims? After all there is about 12+ generations from the Mayflower people to those claiming lineage to those who stepped off the Mayflower onto the shorelines of the Western Atlantic.
3
The important issue is not Senator Warrens ancestry, but her presidential electability. With this statement she is announcing her 2020 candidacy. So..........
Is she smart, honest and in the right place on the issues? Seemingly yes. Ok but she is relatable to the majority of voters? Likeable? Able to win? Not a chance. She comes off as a stiff bore and given that Americans vote on likability not brains, she will take the Democrats to the same place Hilary Clinton did. Democrats better find a candidate with some charisma.
20
@Eric Blair: Same for Bernie Sanders, who is if anything, an even stiffer bore. Front-runner in popularity for Democratic nominee is Joe Biden for now.
5
@Anna. Plenty of us think Bernie Sanders is great.
1
Eric Blair,
After the nightmare of a president we have now, I want a boring person in the White House.
A calm, honest, intelligent qualified bore (not a boor) who knows what they're doing.
6
.0024% Native American, which they have stretched the definition of to include South American.
If everyone with that level of minority ancestry started checking the minority box in every application where would we be?
13
@Ken: Check your math. It's 01-1.6%.
1
@Anna Thanks! What a difference that makes. Not. She's no more Indian than any of the rest of us.
1
@Ken
She NEVER used this on an application. Don't make stuff up.
Good grief!
"Speaking to reporters in Georgia, where he was inspecting hurricane damage, Mr. Trump said he would only keep his $1 million pledge “if I can test her personally,’’ then added: “That will not be something that I enjoy doing.”
Now Donald Trump has exposed himself as being willing to physically assault the body of a U S Senator. He just gets worse and worse.
Well played Elizabeth Warren.
18
As if Trump, or even his minions, have the smarts to “do the test himself.”
It would probably come back validated if passed along to NIH with no strings attached; it would come back “no” if handed off to any group that supports him. Sheesh!!!
He should just pay the $1M and let it go, but of course he would never live up to his promises.
5
If Warren's DNA claim of Native American ancestry puts Trump on the defensive he's a winner at whatever he attempts. This has become comical, the Dems are grasping, grasping, grasping at anything to bash Trump...is this the best they've got? Lizzie just blew any chance of the Dem Nomination in 2020, her own party is getting weary of her.
21
Senator Warren can now say with certainty “President Trump can stop calling me Pocahontas, even though I’m proud of my Native American heritage. He’s just jealous - OUR casinos make money!"
15
Incredible! This is supposed to show Warren is a Native American? She is just like Trump say something outrageous or claim a privilege and then desperately try to justify your words and deeds. Warren might be the only Democrat Trump could beat in 2020
12
Elizabeth, just stop. You are embarrassing yourself.
Putting out a report that says you have a single native ancestor 6 to 10 generations ago, and acting like it's a vindication of her past claims at minority status, says more about her stubbornness or pride than anything.
37
Unfortunately, Elizabeth Warren has torpedoed her presidential run way before even announcing it! What a bunch of utter nonsense... and to what end? Ego, ego, ego!
11
The commenter who said "don't feed the troll" is the best. Start anew with Trump's tax returns. can somebody at IRS, please leak the documents!
9
Heap Bad Medicine.
10
And the Daughters of the American Revolution and Mayflower descendants…stop claiming your ancestry means anything…ever…It’s way too low on the conservative DNA scale.
Trump started this nonsense…and he will continue with it.
12
@Glennmr. Considering how hacking of information posted online continues to be an issue, I am amazed that so many Americans have provided DNA to 23andme et al.
1
Well, under the pretense given here, I have a black man in my ancestry from the late 1800s that makes me more black than Warren is Indian. Yet I would never be so arrogant as to suggest I am a black man.
19
This is so reminiscent of former president Obama’s birth certificate. Legal documents or genetic test results aren’t true until our Dear Leader says they’re true
8
I hope this was'nt done as a prelude to running in 2020. It will be like pouring coal to Newcastle. She is too polarizing. I have enough trouble out here in Redville speaking to issues without these personalities drowning out the common sense. Amy Klobachar or Heidi Heitcamp yes.
6
oops bad talk text," to polarizing"
Didn't Trump erroneously claim to be Swedish?
Also, why did his family change their name from Drumpf to Trump? Were they trying to hide something?
If he's going to attack people's heritage he should also be scrutinized.
24
The lengths politicians will go to pander is pretty amazing and now they have the science and data to prove it.
4
So, bottom line, she used her 1/1,024th Native American ancestry to highlight her non-whiteness and get preferential treatment. Yeah, that should help.
More evidence that conservative Republicans didn’t elect Trump. Liberal Democrats did.
23
Could you explain exactly how she got "preferential treatment "? Genuine question (I don't believe anything trump says as he is a proven liar, but presumably you have the evidence to support your claim).
12
@Chris
"Get preferential treatment" is COMPLETELY untrue, denied by EVERYONE associated with her appointments to professorships.Don't make stuff up!
2
@Religionistherootofallevil
Let’s see. If you’re more or less 1/1023rd white, why would you list Native American as your ethnicity? This doesn’t even pass the laugh test. Wake up and smell the racial appropriation.
The Head of Cherokee Nation has weighted in and the results do not look good for Warren. They do not view the results as valid. Here is a direct quote:
"a DNA test is useless to determine tribal citizenship”
16
@Dan
She hasn’t asked form tribal citizenship. She released it to prove a point to Trump, which this test has now proven. Trump is now lying and reneging on his pledge to pay $1 million.
21
@Dan
Of course it is but she never aimed for tribal citizenship!!! Please actually read the article.
5
@Dan
Good God. DNA is not for tribal membership when you are getting an Ancestry test.
5
In the past, Mr. Trump has had foes prove heritage, birth place, etc. In return, they should ask him to prove he’s truly a billionaire - show us those tax returns!
10
She should name that charity carefully and immediately, so people can see exactly who Trump is hurting by reneging on his promise. His backtracking and selfishness could become the topic of a powerful ad.
6
@Eileen Hays: It's a charity serving Native American women.
4
Trump's point was never that she had 0% Indian blood. His point was that she identified herself as "Native American" to Harvard to get a leg up in the admissions process, despite not speaking any Indian language or practicing its traditions or know anything about it. She abused real Native American heritage by labeling herself as an Indian.
17
@Jay Lincoln
Not true. He said recently “I have more Native American blood than she does, and I have none”. So she is right and he is wrong. He needs to apologize to her, and pay up to the charity. He lost the bet. This is about his lying and cheating and not having a million dollars , not about her..she earned everything she got, he had his handed to him by daddy.
20
And Trump was wrong. He didn’t know the facts and neither do you.
7
@Jay Lincoln
Your claim is false.
1
Trump demands Obama’s birth certificate; he provides it, and “a very good source” (anonymous?!) says it’s fake, so that was a waste of Obama’s time. Now Warren takes Trump up on his dare to provide DNA evidence for a million bucks to charity; he dismisses it and decides he won’t welch only if he personally does it, (surprise- he doesn’t accept it!), another waste of time. Lucy keeps goading Charlie Brown into trying to kick the ball and he falls for it. Lucy- er, Trump- is having a ball, he loves making people jump through hoops. Humiliating people is oxygen to him; that, and non-stop adulation. People need to stop obliging him. Maybe it’s hard to internalize knowing snarky Eddie Haskell is in the Oval Office.
7
Seems Cherokee nation not exactly happy with her claim.
18
@John: Says who? You? Where is your proof?
1
Read the statement that went out today.
6
This whole affair seems to suggest that beyond Elizabeth Warren's recent DNA testing results, Donald Trump seems to have a pretty strong genetic thread of sheer and utterly shameless mendacity running through his DNA...Can you say tax returns? I challenge the president to take a DNA test that shows that he's not a tax dodging lying hypocrite...I too will donate a million dollars to my favorite charity if he reveals his tax returns, and I'll pay it out when Donald shells out the million bucks he promised to donate to Ms. Warren's favorite charity. SAD.
4
You are now in deep water. Are you suggesting she meets blood quantum laws? Or, that somehow, somewhere, she has some relative(s) that qualify for a certain designation. Has she used any of these identifiers to advance herself and her political career? It would have been more wise to have just let this one go, rather than obsfucate and misdirect.
93
@Jack Potter You write comments, but don't read the news. She was a white person for Yale, but you know those pesky facts don't fit your misogynist lens do they?
3
It bothered me that Trump insulted Senator Warren due to her heritage.
I'd like to do DNA tests on Trump's kids. "Half Milkman" would be a satisfying result.
8
has she never read george lakoff?
apparently not.
doing this dna test is not helpful and just reinforces his narrative and plays into his hands
5
It is a well known fact in Canada that early settlers mixed with First Nations people as they absolutely needed their friendship and guidance to survive and thrive in this rugged territory -- which included learning their language, adopting their customs and getting married. Many Canadians are direct descendants of these populations (including the Métis people). My guess is that the same conditions prevailed South of our border and I would not be surprised if many a fur trader explorer and/or early settler benefited from such alliances with the people of the land.
5
Let's talk about the truth, shall we? If you haven't yet seen this video, it's a must. If you've seen it, you know it's worth seeing again.
https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000006154922/fascism-leaders-am...
1
The article is incomplete without reference to the Trump rally video in which he offers to give $1 million to Elizabeth Warren's favorite charity "paid for by Trump if you take the test and shows that you are an Indian." It is a disservice to the readership to end the article with Trump obviously lying about it saying "I didn't say that. You better read it again." If an article is supposed to provide information, it should provide complete information. The video of the Trump rally in which he says these words is publicly available and should have been mentioned.
10
That test proves she is native american? What, are we going back to the “one drop of blood” days?
I have long admired Elizabeth Warren from long-term home-state familiarity with her. I think that was an unbelievably stupid move and, for me, it bodes ill for the fight ahead. Don't make Trump the target; that is an un-winnable fight. He will find a way to seize all of the air in the room, the media attention, etc. Fight on the issues. Issues, issues and more issues: health care; protecting the environment; climate change; income inequity; education; improving our national infrastructure. Lowering herself to Trump's level and entering the idiocy of Twitter wars is not the way forward. Be better, Elizabeth; fight smarter.
11
"6-10 generations back" means her heritage could run from 1/64th to 1/1024th; in % terms this would be 1.5% to 0.09%. This means she could well have MORE than the average 0.18% native american ancestry. Folks who use only the lowest figures and not the RANGE are engaging in dishonest math.
9
Jeez Lizzie......ya couldn't have delayedthis important announcement for 24 more days?
or thanksgiving time?
Your voice on health care
on taxes
might make a difference in Nov 2018.
5
I just wish this president would stop bullying people, the example being set if truly frightening.
3
Hahahaha
"... strong evidence... 6-10 generations ago”
In other words, maybe, just maybe, 200 years ago there was a single person of Native American ancestry in her family, therefore, she can check off the box "Native American" on any form and it's "technically" not a lie.
23
@Johannes de Silentio
no scientific truth
genetic truth
2
@Johannes de Silentio: Not just maybe, but with 99.9% certainty. And if it had been a black person, sen. Warren could identify as Black under the "one drop" rule.
7
@Johannes de Silentio Let’s do a comparison. We have the descendants of the Mayflower people claiming they are more American than everyone else. The present day “Mayflower” people’s ancestry is 12+ generations ago. The present day “Mayflower” people need to shut down their Sons and Daughters of the Mayflower society. Right?
How about simple truth: Warren's claim to Native American ancestry was puffed up by her from family lore and was almost certainly not tied to this .01% single ancestor thing, and she should simply own it. Trump on the other handwas vile and mean spirited and borderline racist in his over the top mockery, and he needs to be made to own that. A pox on both of them.
12
Warren’s main problem isn’t her heritage. It’s her integrity. Reference her (lack of) behavior in the 2016 primaries, and her sycophantic embrace of Hillary after the primaries. There are better potential democratic candidates, men and women, than her, or Harris, Sanders and “Spartacus”. Democrats better wake up. Trump was elected to disrupt the old order and won. People aren’t going to want to restore it. Get somebody with new ideas.
13
I would think that most Americans have some Native American DNA. It really means nothing.
12
10 million people have tested at Ancestry. The vast majority show NO traces of Native American.
1
Any bets on how long it will take Trump to come up with another incendiary comment regarding Warren and how long it will take for his audience to jubilantly cry out... "Lock her up!"
5
If Mr. Trump has any sense of honor, he will write a check for $1 million for the charity Sen. Warren selects, as he promised. We'll see. But there is one more thing Mr. Trump should do, and that is to take a medical test to show his degree of mental stability and whether he is intellectually and temperamentally qualified to hold the office of the Presidency.
12
@Josep Rota
Rather see his tax forms
8
When Elizabeth Warren listed herself in the Association of American Law Schools "desk book," she listed herself as a Native American - not as white, or Caucasian, or European-American, or anything else. The clear implication was that her Native American heritage was substantial, not trivial, and that implication was false.
When Scott Brown accused Warren of falsely claiming "minority" status to advance her career, she didn't acknowledge that calling herself a Native American was misleading. Now Warren produces a DNA test that shows her DNA is probably less than one-half of a percent Native American, and she seems to think that this proves her right.
When Democrats go to pick a nominee in 2020, we can't afford to pick a candidate who muddles up problems instead of dealing with them decisively and effectively. We can't afford to pick a candidate who creates unnecessary distractions from Trump's corruption, dishonesty, incompetence, and disrespect for democratic norms and international alliances.
Speaking of distractions, why is Warren doing this now? Why is she shifting the discussion from the midterms three weeks from now to her potential presidential candidacy two years from now?
politicsbyeccehomo.wordpress.com
36
So if the DNA results senator Warren is touting are to be believed, she is 0.097% native American. If we are to accept her reasoning then anyone with $976 in the bank can legitimately claim to be a millionaire.
12
@tim k: 0.1 to 1.6% depending on how many generations back. If it had been a black ancestor, she would have been considered African American under the "one drop" rule.
3
@tim k 0.1 to 1.6% depending on how many generations back. If it had been a black ancestor, she would have been considered African American under the "one drop" rule.
1
According to Wikipedia "from 1986 to 1995 Warren had listed herself as a racial minority in the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Directory of Law Teachers. Harvard Law School had identified Warren as a "woman of color" in response to criticisms about a lack of faculty diversity"
Sorry, but having a Native ancestor 6-10 generations ago does not make one a woman of color or racial minority in my book. Otherwise probably 95% of white people could not call themselves "people of color" and "racial minorities" because most will have one or more non-white relative if you go that far back.
27
Tara Pines,
It's being reported that Elizabeth Warren's claim had absolutely no bearing on her admission to Harvard.
It's also certain that Donald Trump's daddy helped get him into college.
He also got a lot more than, "a small loan of a million dollars", from the old man.
14
@Tara Pines: if you want to go back 10 generations....might as well call EVERYONE "black".
We are ALL originally Africans who walked out of East Africa millennia ago.
Senator Warren’s great-great-great grandfather, was apparently a member of the Tennessee Militia who rounded up Cherokees from their family homes in the Southeastern United States and herded them into government-built stockades in what was then called Ross’s Landing (now Chattanooga), Tennessee–the point of origin for the horrific Trail of Tears, which began in January, 1837.
Oh the irony.
14
POTUS doesn't have the $M to pay up. Fully leveraged.
13
I wish she hasn't done that!
This is clearly a responds to the liar-in-chief's attack on her ancestry. She should have held off until she runs in 2020 and only release it when the liar-in-chief attacks her on that subject again to make him eat crow. On the other hand since trump has no shame maybe that won't bother him at all.
2
Let’s all not forget that the Trump’s changed their name to cover up their German roots. He's a man whose family was ashamed of their ancestry. With his enthusiasm for fascists perhaps he will change it back? He’s a school yard bully, Warren needs to come back with an equally obnoxious retort.
6
All this hubbub is deja vu, all over again.
Remember when Donald Trump and his millions of supporters screamed for President Obama’s birth certificate and Obama called them on their sorry bluff and produced it?
Also, do you remember the response from Trump GOP Nation, ignoring the evidence by calling President Obama the “Kenyan President” and other racist slurs.
So, now, despite the evidence, we see a heaping of racist slurs towards Elizabeth Warren from Trump GOP Nation that are just as vile.
Let’s hope the the rest of us - which also includes you mass media outlets - move past this idiocy and ignore the unhinged outrage from the right and concentrate on what Elizabeth Warren has to say about those “minor” issues like health care, the economy, national defense and the like.
7
No surprise, Trump is despicable. But it's a bit silly that so many people are basically saying "Ha! Told you so!" like this is some great victory and Trump just got humiliated. Yeah, congrats, Liz. You might be 1% Native American. You sure showed him. Can we move on now? I'm more curious about those tax returns, for starters.
10
Having graduated from Harvard Law School, I can assure you that HLS would not have hired Ms. Warren because she had Native American blood. I doubt they paid any attention to that at all.
I don't know whether Ms. Warren ever claimed to be a "minority" hire and thus entitled to higher pay or other benefits. But the basic HLS hiring decision would have been made without any regard to her Native American heritage.
6
How is Harvard law any different than the rest of Harvard, where race most certainly (and indisputably) is taken into account?
13
I find it impossible to believe that this didn't have any effect on her career.
I would simply ask how many Rutgers law school grads became professors at Harvard law. I'll bet few if any besides Warren. In fact, most faculty at all law schools are grads of a few elite schools and Rutgers isn't one of them.
But Harvard law must have smacked its lips getting a job application from a female Native American. I doubt it receives many of those.
28
Apparently, this "strong evidence" is based on Warren being at most 1/64th, or about 1.5%, Native American. I am Asian and my 23andMe shows that I am 3% Native American. I wonder if I would have gotten into Harvard if I claimed Native American heritage. And it does not appear Native Americans get assigned low personal ratings like Asians.
26
Carlos Bustamante is an excellent scientist.
2
Call it what it is, identity politics which is the mainstay of the Trump political strategy. He wants to use race, religion, sex, sexual orientation and class as his method of divide and conquer. Mrs. Warren did not need to prove herself but in doing so she exposes again how much of a hypocrite Trump is.
2
Could one of this forum's progressives explain to me why or how having a native American ancestor 10 generations ago qualifies one to be an American president? Or why we should judge an individual based on the aggregate of his ancestors' body chemistry? I would add that obsessing over one's (or another's) race might make one a racist, but that should be obvious.
12
@Ed L. Ed, Warren wasn’t presenting her lineage as a qualifier for being president. You have missed the point of her bothering to do the DNA test.
Elizabeth Warren, looking forward, as you campaign, focus all of your attention on uniting the American citizens. Be fair to the middle class, help the poor class, require the rich class to participate fairly. But mainly, talk to all of us, ignore the bullying, and remind us that we are one people, and the elected officials serve all of us, not just the ones who voted them in.
She us how much we have in common. she us where each group has its good points, and where each needs justice. Be fair, be gentle, never be nasty. Behave with dignity and decorum. Take time to restore your soul, don't leave the house with your heart raging and your mind unsettled.
Be truthful, be fair, be kind, be informed.
1
She is clearly not Native American and the story about her mother is a complete lie. No tribe accepts anybody less than 1/8 Native American and she is probably not Native American at all or at best 1/1000. The DNA test was for South American ancestry.
19
Good grief. All the woman said was that she had Native American “roots” because she was speaking to and trying to connect with an audience of tribal members. She also said, “You won’t find my family members on any rolls, and I’m not enrolled in a tribe. And I want to make something clear. I respect that distinction. I understand that tribal membership is determined by tribes — and only by tribes.”
That was reported back in February.
9
Simultaneously with the release of DNA by Senator Warren is an article this week in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) discussing Race, Ethnicity and Ancestry Data: National Human Genomic Research Institute (NIH).
Amongst other points, 2 are noteworthy:
1) "A recent analysis found significant heterogeneity among US (genetic testing) clinical laboratories in the way race, ethnicity, and ancestry were ascertained; specifically, no 2 laboratories used the same descriptive categories to designate a group or population." (this is C. Bustamante himself)
2) "Imprecise use of race and ethnicity data as population descriptors in genomics research has the potential to miscommunicate the complex relationships among an individual's social identity, ancestry, socioeconomic status, and health while also perpetuating misguided notions that discrete genetic groups exist."
The bottom line: different genetic labs develop their data base by using people who self identify their race, ethnicity and ancestry. There are no known discrete genetic groups.
When the test comes back someone is 1/1000th of a particular group, using a different genetic lab may return a different result. All this is within the margin of error of the test and reflect the testing laboratory's population genetic's base.
Then again, many American Indian tribes use 1/4 Indian as criteria for tribal participation and benefits.
10
Nevertheless the Cherokee in her persisted.
"I'm a hardcore liberal, but I'm getting really tired of Elizabeth Warren," Katharine Horowitz commented. No mention of any tire from hearing the lady name-called Pocahontas in scornful, dismissive troll contempt?
This commenter must be very happy that the Consumer Financial Protection Agency has been dismantled, as she must have been getting very tired from the rest and the peacefulness rendered by being protected against the hordes of locust capitalists preying on her health and her assets, or from hearing about the good sense and the advantages of protection and regulation. Better hear nothing and get plundered by the MAGA plan of Making Assault and Grabber Greed Ascendant?
How tiring to hear a proposal to give students the same great deal that banks get from the government that we elect, and allow them to borrow at 0.75 interest. More fairness and opportunity and love for our young is so cumbersome!
How taxing to hear that nobody in this country got rich on his own, but we get so much richer from the art of the social deal and the efforts and the wisdom toward mutual advancement, the creativity and the grace and the generosity we display to each other.
Always the Presidential candidate whose picture sells the most coffee mugs is swept straight into the White House. I want a coffee mug with the lovely and persistent face of Elizabeth imbuing her warmth toward me, and the text: the content of this mug is consumer protected.
8
This was not done for Trump or his troll army. I'm pretty sure she knows this won't shut them up. They'll just find something else to troll her over.
It was done to appeal to open-minded independent voters. She would make a good president. Sadly, there are a lot of men (and some women) who won't vote for a women simply because she is a woman. Sure they will make excuses that it's something else, but it's not. We live in a racist and mysogynistic nation that looks in the mirror and sees neither.
3
Responding to Trump’s juvenile taunts with reason, logic and evidence is a fool’s errand. Better to answer him with the thing that infuriates him the most: ignoring him.
4
if MS Warren is the Democratic hopeful. bless the Democrats. they failed to learn from 2014.
The Independent Voter, that is me, wants new blood. New ideas. New pie poll le and a rehash of old ideas as the Democrats so lovely chose in 2014.
if the Ds want to usurp the Rs, give us new ideas and new faces to attract us to the polls.
PLEASE.
2
Let's cut to the chase. Warren made a claim of not only Indian ancestry but also listed herself as a native American, contributed to a native American cookbook and ballyhooed that her family talked about their native American heritage. She made it a political issue in order to give her some advantage.
She's no more American Indian than I am, possibly less, and certainly less than my wife -- who is either 1/4 or 1/8 Cherokee. But no one who has lived their life as a privileged white person, who has not suffered the problems that true native Americans have, who haven't had ancestors who were the targets of genocide by white Americans (Grant, Sherman and Sheridan in the lead) -- HAS NO RIGHT to claim any native American ancestry.
Good grief. If I had my DNA tested and it showed I had perhaps 1/1024 Chinese ancestry would I suddenly start adapting Chinese culture? And make claims that I was part Chinese? Only if I was hoping for time at a mental health facility.
I thought Warren was loony on this issue before -- now she's completely around the bend.
24
@Ralphie
Quoting your posts.
Earlier post:
“My wife's grandmother was either full or half Cherokee and lived on a reservation in Oklahoma. So my wife is either 1/8 or 1/16 Indian.”
and the one above:
She's no more American Indian than I am, possibly less, and certainly less than my wife -- who is either 1/4 or 1/8 Cherokee.”
Your wife became more Native American between from one post to the next?…that is not how DNA works.
3
@Glennmr -- I was drinking firewater in between posts and reading about how to hunt buffalo. She's 1/8. Clarified that with her after she got home from riding ponies across the plains.
My family lore harkens back to Irish kings. More recently an Irish farming family I remember being told that. I have a recorded history of my German side that goes back to 1746 and through both the Revolutionary and Civil Wars.
I am considering testing my DNA for health issues. I've lost 4 siblings and one nephew to Cancer. Two at 67, one at 58 and two at age 30. My parents had cancers as well as others. Diabetes and heart disease show up. Also PCOS. My kids have diabetes, ADHD, breast cancer, prostrate alcohol sensitivity and PCOS on the other side. That's all I know so far about predisposition to health problems.
What matters most.
EW is still much more eminently qualifed to lead the US than Trump, our draft dodging, hypocritical, tax evading con man — the divisive Reality TV, Golf Resort, SNL and WWE host ever would be. A man who put the fake in the word flake.
What matters most? Right now it's the Trump tax returns dna that matters. Follow the Trump money back a few decades.
4
Cherokee Nation Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. said in a press release today: "Senator Warren is undermining tribal interests with her continued claims of tribal heritage. Sovereign tribal nations set their own legal requirements for citizenship, and while DNA tests can be used to determine lineage, such as paternity to an individual, it is not evidence for tribal affiliation. ... Using a DNA test to lay claim to any connection to the Cherokee Nation or any tribal nation, even vaguely, is inappropriate and wrong. It makes a mockery out of DNA tests and its legitimate uses while also dishonoring legitimate tribal governments and their citizens, whose ancestors are well documented and whose heritage is proven."
11
The irony of it all is that Elizabeth Warren is from Oklahoma, a territory originally set aside by the Federal Government for the exclusive relocation of the five so called civilized tribes who had ceded land to the Anglo/Europeans. While many White folks from Oklahoma like to claim distant Native American ancestry, their family memory seems to fade as to how their 19th century White ancestors participated in the land rush of 1889 and legally squatted, and seized, those same lands allocated to the relocated Native Americans by the United States.
6
The elitist Animal Farm socialist approach to this genetic test is comical. Instead of sending off a sample to Ancestry.com, Senator Warren had a specific test done by a Stanford University lab. What is good for the general public is simply not good enough for the MA Senator. "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
Why did she not use a public service that would have equal technology and thousands of more genetic linkage samples? There would be more samples, more data, and more linkages with the "little people" out there she supposedly cares about. It would be REALLY interesting to know if the DNA testing can even link people 6-10 generations removed. (In my family, 3rd cousins were linked anonymously via Ancestry testing.)
How are her Oklahoma roots consistent with any Cherokee linkage if the 6-10 generations date range places it before the main Cherokee influx into Oklahoma in the Trail of Tears marches in the 1830's? Warren's birth year is 1949, so conservatively putting each generation at only 20 years, that is 1949 - 120 = 1829 for 6 generations. 10 generations reaches back to 1749! The Oklahoma connection is likely a red herring, the Native American connection probably reaches back to an older East Coast pregnancy.
Should anyone with a range of 1/2x2x2x2x2x2 = 1/64 (6 generations - 1.5%) to 1/2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2 = 1/1024 (10 generations - 0.097%) DNA content count themselves as that ethnicity? Seems a stretch to me.
22
Trump was lying when he said he would donate a million dollars.
Trump was lying again when he said he never said that.
Trump lies, it's what he does.
11
@Jules
Maybe he just doesn't actually have a million dollars? :)
3
Imagine Warren gives the following speech:
Well folks, the National Indigenous Women's Resource Center is a nonprofit that works to prevent violence against Native women and their children -- it's a great charity and it could put 1 M$ to great use.
Mr. Trump now owes them 1 M$, and his response is "who cares?" I do. Do you?
Our Groper -in-Chief is trying to claim "Locker Room talk" again, about what he said on tape. But the problem here for Mr. Trump is that this isn't about anything other than what he said on tape. and whether a good charity can collect.
I think they should sue Mr. Trump; it's a slam dunk case. But they may be hesitant to do that, fearing that they'll lose contributions from Mr. Trump's supporters.
So here's the deal -- please contribute to the NIWRC, and if you want the organization to not sue Mr. Trump write "no sue" on your check.
They can then decide whether they should. They have plenty of time.
I hope the rest of you will contribute too ... thank you."
I think that would be effective ... and hilarious.
2
my issue is not that she does or does not have some native american DNA flowing through her, it is that the absolutely minuscule amount implies that all of the lauding of her for being Native American and the first woman of color at Harvard is absolutely fraudulent. What kind of mental gymnastics do we need to do to think this type of falsity is acceptable?
16
@Daniel K
Where in the world did you get the idea that she claimed to be the first woman of color at Harvard??????
The mind reels, the ignorance in these comments.
3
I despise calling them Indians a misnomer perpetuated by Columbus and the colonists of the America namely Spain, France, the Dutch and the British Empire. They are Native Americans. Do we extend this argument in 2050 when Mexican-American of Mayan heritage born in this country runs for president? Mr. Obama is a precedent. Donald with his family and his supporters will be minority. Argument will be moot. Madam Elizabeth Warren is a trailblazer. You have my high five.
1
Of course, the conservative slant will now change to an attack that Warren is not Native American enough and possibly boast about their own, higher percentage of Native American heritage.
So, what is the genetic generational cutoff to claim ancestry conservative types?
1
@Glennmr -- well, I'm waiting to hear one reasonably full-blooded Native American support Trump ... just waiting. Betcha he can't.
He found Omarosa and Kanye ...
1
So she's about one-thousandth Native American, lol. I did a DNA test that shows I'm 1% Latino, even though my great grandparents on my father side were first generation immigrants from the Ukraine, and on my mother's side second-generation offspring of immigrants from Hungary and Poland. Can I claim Latino status and get preferences?
12
Perhaps. It’s not your fault that you didn’t know it and that your parents didn’t know or dismissed it.
@Michigander Far more likely it's just a statistical error.
I'd vote for her. Sad that she felt she had to do this in the first place. Sad that Trump badgered her on this for so long. And sad that there was ever a spot to put that on a college admission form in the first place.
3
I'm voting for Senator Warren for president whatever her ancestry--because ancestry in terms of race or ethnicity does not determine how well or poorly a person does anything! What we need asap is an exceedingly intelligent and compassionate president to replace Trump the Terrible.
4
The actual mechanism is that Trump is a plain old sociopath.
Everyone else is supposed to defend, explain, convince and Trump gets to obfuscate, lie, and demand answers while evading answers and taxes.
I like what that young woman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from NYC did when she got told by some pundit that she needed to debate him and he would contribute to a charity if he won.
She looked at him like he had 3 heads and said she didnt take orders from the likes of him. It's a new generation.
6
I really don’t care what Warren claims to be in her family tree.
A person doesn’t document family folk lore conversations into your official employment records or to any HR department for that matter...it’s deception, plain and simple.
14
That is egregious falsehood. A person who claims identity based on that level of inheritance is a con artist.
I have heard it's becoming common for second raters to claim minority identities to gain preference in jobs and college admissions.
So here's an example. Trump had her number.
18
@Analyst
Um, she didn’t claim that identity based on a test from which she just received the result! She claimed it based on what her mother told her. Did you require documentation before you believed what your parents told you about your ancestry?
7
Ms. Warren’s % Native American heritage is lower than the average European American.
13
Dr. John,
Please provide a citation to back up your comment. Thanks.
3
Trump will never apologize for insulting Senator Warren.
2
Maybe in addition to releasing his tax returns, Trump can also share HIS genetic heritage, which undoubtedly also has few droplets of the brown DNA he so disparages. We are all American melting pots. Now that would be interesting!
The Cherokee Nation is not happy with Senator Warren
The Cherokee Nation responded to the results of Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren's DNA test on Monday, arguing that “a DNA test is useless to determine tribal citizenship.” The response comes after the Democratic senator revealed that, based on tests, she has Native-American ancestry “in the range of 6-10 generations ago.”
"Current DNA tests do not even distinguish whether a person’s ancestors were indigenous to North or South America," Cherokee Nation Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. said in a press release.
"Sovereign tribal nations set their own legal requirements for citizenship, and while DNA tests can be used to determine lineage, such as paternity to an individual, it is not evidence for tribal affiliation," Hoskins continued. "Using a DNA test to lay claim to any connection to the Cherokee Nation or any tribal nation, even vaguely, is inappropriate and wrong. It makes a mockery out of DNA tests and its legitimate uses while also dishonoring legitimate tribal governments and their citizens, whose ancestors are well documented and whose heritage is proven. Senator Warren is undermining tribal interests with her continued claims of tribal heritage."
9
Keeping it real, this is just playing into Trump's hand. She should have just laughed it off. He does this type of this to make people get mad enough to make an outraged response, and he succeeded.
This reminds me of the week when the NYT tried to prove that Trump didn't have the most people ever at his inauguration. It made the NYT look silly, and it made the Trump voters laugh.
Trump would say something like "I had the most supporters at my inauguration ever, ever in the history of inaugurations, times infinity plus 1!" and the NYT would earnestly try to prove that, no he didn't have that, with pictures and experts and and quite a bit of outrage, and Trump supporters would just find that hilarious, and Trump next day made a more outrageous (if possible) claim, the NYT would fall for it, and really, NYT lost that one.
She should just shrug. She can't win this. Shrug, so what, is her best response. Notice, that's how he responded to her.
6
Our family discovered that we have Native American DNA.....4%, but we have no idea what tribe. It comes from my maternal Grandmother and I couldn't be more proud. I look Irish but my entire dental and jaw anatomy is Native American right down to the triple rooted molars and shovel incisors and of course the cheekbones.
Trump, you owe a charity 1 million.
6
6-10 generations is a long time ago. Plenty of Americans who can trace their family trees back to the 18th C or before, when it gets lost in a misty haze, probably have Native ancestry. I checked mine too; no luck. Maybe Senator Warren was more thorough.
1
As much as I admire Elizabeth Warren and support her on most positions and appreciate her fierce tenacity in going after Trump and his shameful enablers I feel that it would be suicidal for the Democrats to field her as a Presidential candidate in 2020. As Dems learned from the 2016 debacle there are, sadly, still far too many voters outside the metropolitan bubble who are not ready for a strong woman President. Warren would be Hillary redux. The Republican propaganda machine would ridicule and demonize her just as they did Hillary and Nancy Pelosi. We need to WIN elections and that means a candidate that will be palatable to the largest number of voters across the country and Warren would be far more effective in her role as Senator than she would be as a losing Presidential candidate. I wish this wasn't true but you have to deal with the current political reality.
8
My dream ticket: Biden and Warren enter the 2020 primaries as a team. And campaign as a team. With Biden for president and Warren for VP. Biden makes it clear that he will be a one term president (the age thing) and Warren will run for president in 2024.
4
@Don Wiss That’s also the Republicans dream team
3
This country is way, way, way too fixated on race and pedigree. Enough already. Continuing to perpetuate the notion that elements of your success in life is driven by your lineage may be helpful to some, but what do you think it does to so many others? Think about it. I judge all I meet by the content of their character, not by where their parents/grandparents came from...how arbitrary.
7
Agreed. Yet for today’s progressives, identity is everything. Not surprising that a potential candidate for office would carefully guard that identity with vigor.
2
Time for Trump should put up or shut up. Where's the million for the DNA test, Donald?
9
This million dollar challenge reminds me of an old saying...put up or shut up.
3
This is a whole lotta ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ for me.
2
Imagine living in a world where "Senator takes DNA test so President of United States will stop using racist joke" isn't even the biggest headline.
15
Some native American DNA 6-10 generations ago? Give me a break! This does not make Elizabeth Warren "Native American" as she claimed numerous times as her career advanced. Remember, Harvard listed her as a "minority" faculty member for years. Do the math -- 10 generations removed makes her about 1/1000 Native American. When does 1/1000 of a bloodline qualify anyone as a minority?
Contrary to the NYT's lede, far from vindicating Warren, the DNA test proves she lied.
28
@CSD
What are your thoughts about the many "fine" people who claim Mayflower or American Revolution heritage?
1
@CSD
My paternal ancestry had roots in Scotland, and indeed I share a surname with one of the minor nobles in Macbeth. Does this mean that I am qualified to be the King of Scotland someday? 23andMe says yes. Whoohoo! I'm getting fitted for a kilt and a crown!
3
@CSD -- Lying, really? Harvard has said over and over again that it was not a factor in hiring her -- you are spreading the lie that the President of the United States pushes and one he pushed on President Obama. The attacks on Warren because she's proud that she has some Native American Blood is pathetic by Trump and his supporters. Oh, I guess a woman and a Black man couldn't possibly get into Harvard unless there was some cheating. And this from Mr. Trump, perhaps the biggest cheater and liar we have ever been so unfortunate to have as a so-called President.
4
I suppose if Trump can ridicule Warren by calling her Pocahontas for her native American claims, she can call him Hitler for his German heritage.
Still, if I were Warren and saw an opportunity to help out my favorite charity, I'd spring for a $100 DNA test too.
4
“Who cares, who cares?” he said, “I didn’t say that. You better read it again.”
Apparently Trump cares. He actually sued Bill Maher seeking the $5 million that Maher said he would give to charity if Trump could prove he was not the son of an orangutan.
15
My interest in Senator Warren and her future political career have to do with her political philosophy and her work in the Senate. I could care less about who has what ancestry, including someone's ancestry 6-10 generations ago. Enough with the identity politics, the red herrings, and Trump's idiotic bluster, too.
6
Did Trump offer Warren a million dollars if she could prove she had Indian blood?
4
@Michael Sherrell
Technically, he said he'd pay if she could prove she was an "Indian." That's leaves a lot of wiggle room. Not that it matters. Trump has more than proven that he is a liar and a cheat and a fraud and that he can away with it.
1
Warren's DNA report did not measure actual Native American DNA. The report actually measured Colombian, Mexican and Peruvian DNA. Of which Warren *may* have a tiny, tiny fraction - possibly.
"To make up for the dearth of Native American DNA, Bustamante used samples from Mexico, Peru, and Colombia to stand in for Native American."
14
@areader
I'm afraid you did not understand what you read.
1
@areader
So she could be Mexican or a Latin American.
2
@areader
Don't count on that being embraced by the left. Wouldn't want too many facts getting in the way.
oh well...
6
I'd like to use this chance to plug Laila Lalami's enlightening book "The Moor's Account" about the interactions between native tribes and a group of Spanish conquistadors along the Gulf Coast. The Spanish end up stripped of their horses and steel and have to beg for food from Gulf tribes. It's clear in that account that tribal membership is based on what you contribute to the tribe. It's only when the Spanish develop skills they can contribute to a tribe that they are allowed in as members.
1
@Patricia
Interesting you mention that. Having contribute to belong to something is as old as human history. But apparently that's not the case these days. You just have to claim you are something to demand something, no quid pro quo.
3
congratulations when I was young, and I'm only 95. People I knew took great pleasure in the idea of melting pot I'm sorry that you felt it necessary to go through the rigmarole. After all, million dollars is not checked feed. John Kuhlman
4
It would be different if Trump had said he would give Elizabeth the $1 million dollars, but he didn't. He said he would give it to a charity.
The point to be understood about Trump reneging on his deal is that his broken promise hurts the people who are served by the worthy charity that should have gotten the money, but won't.
Remember that in 2012 Trump said he'd give $5 million to charity for proof of Obama's birth in the U.S., mentioning inner city children in Chicago, the American Cancer Society, and AIDS research as possible recipients. In 2014, Trump himself actually said that he had raised the offer in 2012 to $50 million at the last minute.
That's $51 million promised but not given as promised. That's a lot of people in need who could have been helped but were hurt by a very dishonest man.
Promises Made. Promises Broken.
How can people of good faith possible support that kind of person?
13
Whether or not Sen. Warren had a Cherokee ancestor 6-10 generations ago is not relevant. What matters its that she tried to gain an advantage in academic hiring or promotion by gaming Affirmative Action. And remember, hiring is a zero-sum game. If she was hired, someone else wasn't.
In academics today, being able to play the "diversity" card is all important when it comes to being offered a faculty position; it's also highly important in promotion decisions. Sen. Warren knew this, and ticked the box on the diversity forms. Should having a native American ancestor 6 to 10 generations count towards being "diverse"? Common sense would suggest not, but then common sense has nothing to do with modern affirmative action.
Democrats should be careful whom they nominate in the next presidential contest. Remember, Hillary Clinton lost the election.
Republicans, too, should be careful.
24
@Alex
Please read the article again. It clearly states:
"She previously disclosed academic records indicating she did not use her ancestry to win preferential treatment as a law professor, released 10 years of tax returns and has sought to cultivate ties with the country’s Native American tribes."
3
@Alex There is zero proof Warren ever used her ancestry for special treatment. In fact, it's been reported that she identified as white on every application, including law school. She informed her employer of her ancestry AFTER she was hired. Harvard and the AALS touted it as proof of their diversity, to their benefit, not Warren's.
3
@Alex I think you mean that Hillary won the election but lost the presidency.
1
If I remember correctly, the people who considered Warren for the positions in question all said that her native American background had nothing to do with their decision. In fact, I think the head of the committee didn't even know about the possibility that Warren was part Native American
8
If Warren has to take a DNA test to end the controversy over her heritage, shouldn't Trump have to release his tax returns to end the controversy over whether he paid taxes or is indeed as rich as he claims. Turnabout is fair play.
16
So a test that its makers says is accurate shows about 1/1000 of her heritage being Native American really means anything? Sure it does!!! And she is a wealthy entitled resident of a wealthy state, so who should care about this. The president offered if she proved she was an "Indian" which she has not.
18
The figure of one in a thousand referred to the error rate of the DNA test, not the percentage of Warren's Native American ancestry. Another article put that number at 1/32.
7
And I suppose that Donald Trump is the humble self-made denizen of a poverty stricken state.
2
Maybe Trump can get the Russians to pay the $1million he promised Sen. Warren's favorite charity if she proved her heritage via DNA.
7
Where is Donald Trump's million-dollar donation to Elizabeth Warren's charity of choice?
13
Naturally Tump denies ever making the $1M bet. In Trumplandia Video evidence and thousands of witnesses aren't good enough, neither is DNA testing.
VOTE
28
Yep, voting for Trump. No room to have people in office who try to victimize themselves to get people to vote for them. Her claims are pathetic and I'm more Indian than she is, along with a very large percentage of the population.
2
Lesson learned:
Never try to reason with a person who is a psychopath or has a borderline personality disorder.
It will just make you crazy.
22
@CJ13 -- but you can sue them, and this one is a slam dunk.
This is silly, he's still going to mock her.
20
She played right into his trap!
5
If Warren's single ancestor in the 1700s is insignificant, then the DAR - I'm looking at you Laura Bush, Roslyn Carter, Liddy Dole, Grace Hopper, Grandma Moses, Eleanor Roosevelt, Phyllis Schafly, and Margaret Chase Smith - got some 'splainin' to do...
26
My understanding is that Trump was born in Germany - I want to see his birth certificate........and his tax returns!
27
Steven,
And while we're at it, let's see his grades from Wharton.
1
@Steven
Yes I think Trump should be required to prove that his birth certificate is not fraudulent.
1
If Warren can claim to be American Indian based on being .01% Indian, then the majority of white Americans can claim to be black.
19
@jaco
She NEVER claimed to be Native American.
2
Source please.
@jaco
It's almost certainly true that many white Americans have that much black DNA or more.
1
Can we get past this grade school play ground stuff? I don't care about your genes, color, race, ethnicity, origin or anything else that you had no control over. Stop answering to that guy. Tell us what you're going to do about: the environment, immigration, race relations, the deficit, education, etc. wear a burlap sack over your whole body, we don't care, we need solutions and answers and a plan and I don't care who or where it comes from.
12
Warren called Trump's bluff. Trump owes her $1 million for her favorite charity. Both New York Times and WaPo should call him a Cheat if he does not pay up. Both newspapers can call him a "liar" if he also denies saying it. Great Falls, MT rally is on youtube for all to see and hear.
8
@-APR Do you really think that Trump got to be a "billionaire" by paying off his losing bets?
So, she is much less Native American to qualify for any tribe and not even close to the BIA level required to check the box on college or job applications. Not even close to the 1/32nd she has stated over the years.
I am not giving Trump cover. I think he is a clown.
I am calling her out for abusing the system anad lying about it so much that people believe her.
29
@mike ko -- go check the facts. Warren never said she was American Indian for college or job applications.
http://archive.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2012/05/31/e...
1
@Lee Harrison
But she did claim she was Cherokee for whatever reasons and changed her designation from white to native american and her employer used this virtue signal that they had a native american on staff.
2
Tax returns? I'll give a million dollars to your favorite charity, Donnie, if you produce your tax returns from the last 25 years. Oh...my mistake! You don't have a charity!
22
Charity is not in Donald’s dictionary ( which he has never read ) and if it was it would be spelled wrong anyway.
1
I think we should challenge popular-vote loser Trump to test his DNA. We as a country deserve to know if he's actually human. With some people it's hard to tell.
10
I think the pathway forward has to be increasing voter turnout, rather than convincing people who are still on the fence between a megalomaniac pedophile dictator-wannabe and a reasonable person that the reasonable person should win. How to do that I don’t know, but we absolutely must take the House in 2018 to prevent further Republican gerrymandering.
7
Bravo, Senator Warren. You did your homework well. Trump, the Troll, will not shut up, but it will make a great 30 second advertising spot in 2020.
6
The test could have shown that she was a direct decendant of a member of a recognized tribe.....but to the fools who back trump, his idiocy and lies are more important than facts.
When I hear trumpist say "Gee, I believe...." or "I think...." I understand than no amount of provable fact is going to sway their views; they continue to place "belief" over verifiable fact.
7
Cherokee and Choctaw are in my blood line. My great grandfather on my father’ mother’s side was Choctaw and German. He lived on the reservation where he owed a Post Office and grocery store. The Cherokee was on my father’ fathers side who was a farmer. They all came from Oklahoma, including my father, before moving to Michigan in the 1920s/30s to work in the auto factories (Fisher Body, Pontiac Motors and later on for Ford ). Now with DNA proof, together with Sen. Warren’s linage that is linked to Oklahoma, and the Cherokee tribe, Warren’s history it seems is correct. Trump used racial slurs and spread lies about Native Americans and a sitting US Senator.
Unlike most families it was Trump and his family who lied to everyone for years that they were Swedish. They lied because the elder Trump, Friedrich Drumpf, came to USA in 1885 as a 16 yr old German draft dodging, “illegal alien” who was poor, penniless, unwashed and who couldn’t speak a word of english but would later became a saloon/hotel/brothel owner. Friedrich was a pimp! (see THE TRUMPS Three Generations That Built an Empire By Gwenda Blair 2000. Bloomberg News 2016).
I’m sure the shame and not-so-proud truth, and the unexplainable mystery-wealth made by Grandpa Drumpf prostitution ring was too much for any decent German family to handle, so they lied. Warren should drive this whitewash history of Trump’s home and then demand an apology from Trump to us Cherokees, Germans, the American people and Senator Warren.
13
@sendan
Bravo!!!!! Well put!!!!
4
well of course the Times doesn't bother to do the math. If she has an Indian ancestor 6 generations ago -- assuming that ancestor was 100% Indian and no European or other blood, she'd be 1/64 Indian. If it was 10 generations ago -- she'd be 1/1024 Indian.
WOW. Maybe Senator Warren doesn't know how to do math either.
This means she's at best, slightly above the avg European american which has .18 Indian, at worst she has less than avg. If you split the difference and say the ancestor popped up about 8 generations ago -- then she's 1/256 Indian. In short, trace amts of American Indian. And that's assuming the Indian wasn't part something else. There were lots of Whites "adopted" by Indian tribes. Quanah Parker, the great Comanche chief - was half white.
My wife's grandmother was either full or half Cherokee and lived on a reservation in Oklahoma. So my wife is either 1/8 or 1/16 Indian. Has a lot more claim to it than Warren but has never used it.
What a joke.
28
"My wife's grandmother was either full or half Cherokee and lived on a reservation in Oklahoma. So my wife is either 1/8 or 1/16 Indian. Has a lot more claim to it than Warren but has never used it. "
Actually, DNA doesn't work like short division. When egg meets sperm, the DNA in the resulting embryo is NOT evenly proportioned between mom and dad.
So nobody can really calculate that they are 1/2, 1/16 or 1/8 anything based on the family tree. Those nice even numbers are just pure fiction.
A DNA test is the only way to tell you what percentage of the ethnic breakdown of your parents survived in the embryo that became you, after the sperm met the egg.
It is physically possible that your wife could be 0% Indian in her DNA, in spite of her mother's ancestry. It just depends on which genes made it into the embryo and which did not.
4
@Ralphie
I am one half German, but I have never used it. I haven't had my DNA checked, though.
@Ralphie -- remember Trump suing Maher (and then withdrawing), Reuters reported it:
"Donald Trump is withdrawing his lawsuit against television host and comedian Bill Maher seeking $5 million that Maher said he would give to charity, in a seemingly facetious offer, if Trump could prove he was not the son of an orangutan.
The lawsuit stems from comments Maher made during an appearance on NBC’s “The Tonight Show” in January in which he said an orangutan’s fur was the only thing in nature that matches the shade of Trump’s trademark hair.
Records in Los Angeles Superior Court show the real estate mogul requested the lawsuit be dismissed without prejudice on Friday, eight weeks after he filed it. His spokesman, Michael Cohen, said Trump plans to file an amended lawsuit sometime in the future."
So where's the amended lawsuit? Pretty sure Cohen won't be doing that now!
Bye the bye ... Maher satirically suggested "Hair Club for Men" as the charity too.
But the hilarious thing is that this lawsuit and Cohen's statement it would be refiled might help suing Trump for the 1 m$ now.
The DNA test will preemptively negate any insinuations by Trump that Warren was lying, but it will not stop his taunts of "Pocahontas" and other verbal missiles of ridicule that are his specialty and the delight of his followers who could not care less what the truth is.
Trump's phony birther campaign, again a play to white supremacists, when revealed to be a fraud did nothing to diminish his support.
To prevail, Warren must not allow her campaign to always be in reaction to Trump's ludicrous bombast, instread she must direct the national narrative on her terms, not his.
As Trump's attack dog, Rudy Giuliani declares in defense of Trump, "The truth isn't the truth!"
4
Trump should at the least--since video footage shows him clearly making that claim and proving he's once again lying to the American public--make a $1 million donation to the Warren 2020 Campaign.
4
1/500 or 1/1000 is such a small percentage as to be irrelevant. Put another way, 499/500 or 999/1000 is NOT Native American!
9
South Park did a hilariously related story line (but not about Senator Warren). You can find a video clip if you search "south park DNA and me"
Its well worth it for the laugh
5
What a silly argument. Apparently Elizabeth Warren subscribes to the notion that even one drop of Native American blood makes you a Native American. I'd be surprised if anyone who can trace their family history in America back ten or more generations wouldn't find some evidence of racial intermingling. What is the point of her spurious claim other than a blatant appeal to the identity politics that is taken as gospel in the modern Democratic Party?
15
I don’t think 1/64th to 1/1024th qualifies as a “drop”.
2
Trump's many lies need to be exposed. Every one, every time. I hope other Dems follow her example.
5
@Marianne Roken I'm still waiting for the names of those investigators Trump sent to Hawaii who made all those amazing discoveries about Obama's birth.
2
And I do hope Warren will do something, after she becomes the president, to help the remaining native people of this country.
6
Looks like the "Bully in Chief" won. When a respected politician such as Elizabeth Warren succumbs to the antics of "hit them below the belt" Trump, it's time to reevaluate our strength as a Democratic Party. Ms Warren is too evolved to fall for Trump's silly and imbecile maneuver. I wish she hadn't because it makes not one bit of difference for those who will be voting Democratic in November.
9
DNA test can become a new benchmark for all future Presidential candidates, in addition to their tax returns and health reports. If they upload their DNA data to GEDmatch.com, everyone of us can analyze their DNA, compare with our own, and decide whom to vote!
I think Senator Warren is merely trying to prove that her mother is not a liar. It seems she has never claimed any educational or career benefits based on her ancestry.
7
Millions of high school seniors are currently applying for college.
Each of them should immediately take a DNA test to find even the tiniest traces of Native American, African American, and Hispanic heritage, and then apply for admission as a racial minority.
If questioned, they can now cite the Warren Standard as proof of the minority status of their choice.
Elizabeth Warren has unwittingly destroyed identity politics. Against all laws of statistics, everyone is now a minority.
27
The report stated she had 1/1024 th DNA that could be "native". The test doesn't indicate what she claims.
10
She only claimed ancestry, not membership in a tribe.
1
Well actually the test results show that she has less than or equal to the same amounts of Native American DNA that the average white American has. In short no more past ancestry than the majority of white Americans have.
20
So she thinks this is all about facts and documentation?
3
@Bob T -- and you think it should be about what? Lies and insults?
@Lee Harrison
Sarcasm, Lee.
Trump needs to be confronted directly with the video of his daring Warren to take a DNA test and his promise to donate $1 million to her favorite charity. If nothing else it shows his lack of judgment, a bad character flaw for the most powerful person on the planet. Unless he had negative results of a secret DNA test of Warren for Native American blood, his dare was incredibly shortsighted.
2
The charity should sue Trump and collect -- they can put that money to good purpose.
Seriously, this whole back and forth between Elizabeth Warren and Trump is nuts. Many people, including me, who have ancestors who lived in Oklahoma a few generations past,
may discover, through a DNA test, that they have a Native American match, which confirms family lore.
Interesting on a personal level, but making it a political issue is
ridiculous. Elizabeth Warren now just looks silly.
18
Why bother with releasing this? Did we learn nothing from Obama's release of his birth certificate? Obama should not have had to do that and even though he did Trump supporters still believe he's not a true American. You can throw all the facts you want at Trump and his supporters and they dismiss, look the other way, put their head in the sand, stand and scream "Fake News!" There is no convincing them of anything other than what they want to believe.
3
I was also born in Norman, Oklahoma, and family legend had it that we were part Cherokee: in fact, my elder sister was convinced and took a DNA test to prove it years ago before DNA tests were cheap or fashionable.
Our family was not alone in assuming there was Indian blood/intermarriage or rape somewhere back there among our forefathers. Those families also dispersed West during the Dust Bowl.
Don't forget that Oklahoma was a created Indian territory before the U.S. reneged and opened it to white settlement and a land rush began.
163
The people on this comment board saying "don't feed the trolls" are very sadly mistaken. Just ask John Kerry, who was "Swift-boated" out of the presidency. Ask Barack Obama, who wisely released his birth certificate in April 2011, well in advance of his 2012 reelection campaign (and a few days before the bin Laden raid).
The point is not to convince Trump, who still at least dog-whistles about Kenya, nor his MAGA-heads. The point is to remove Warren's heritage as a political issue among independents. Six to ten generations back is not exactly full-blood, but the strength of the evidence is all Warren needs to deflate the issue, and make people who keep harping on it seem ridiculous.
And going right after Trump's $1 million pledge was genius -- puts him on his heels. Finally, a Democrat who knows how to play a little offense.
9
I think Elizabeth Warren should own her nickname of Pocahontas. After all, without their Native American guide Lewis and Clark might not have made it across the prairie to the West Coast. Students will look her up and enjoy some American history, a win win for all. Turn Trump's mocking back on him.
When Donald Trump mocks, it means he's afraid, the person got under his skin, his childish push back. Nothing will change his behavior but laughing it off will certainly annoy him so take the win and move on.
3
@Kathy I think it's always a mistake to accept the derisive language of the opponent. I think, for example, that Obama made a mistake by accepting the Republican term "Obamacare." To this day there are people who hate "Obamacare" but like the "Affordable Care Act."
3
@Kathy -- Lewis and Clarke were guided by a Shoshone woman named Sacajawea, who had probably never heard the name Pocahontas ever in her life, since Pocahontas was an Algonquin who lived on the East Coast two centuries before Sacajawea, who grew up in the Midwest.
So yes, students, look up your history. Especially before posting it online.
6
Facts, to those who don't want to believe them, are irrelevant. This just paves the way for the same people who didn't believe Obama was born in the US to not believe this either. I suppose it helps to have the truth written somewhere but it won't help sway the mob at the voting booth.
3
So let me see if I have this right, Warren claimed to be part Cherokee and Delaware Indian and listed herself as a minority in a directory of law professors for almost ten years and just now, she has decided to get a DNA test and that test shows she's part Indian?
So, since this allegation first surfaced in 2012, she took repeated frontal assaults from her opponent Scott Brown, the Boston Herald and later on, Trump, but just now got a DNA test done? What?? Because, what, before she wasn't going to dignify the assaults with a response? Okaaaaay. I'd like to see those test results and see just how Indian she really is. My guess, it was family legend and she didn't really know or care if it was true, but if positioning herself as a minority was helpful, then so be it. After the controversy emerged, she was reluctant to do the DNA test because she was afraid of what it would show. Well, lo and behold, at best, she's got trace Indian lineage. Let the beat of identity politics go on. I recently did my DNA. Turns out I'm 10% Iberian from like 400 years ago. Maybe I should claim to be Hispanic.
17
I hate to break it to you but if you are African. We are all African. All humans come from a small number haplogroup that originated in Africa.
@Steven. GREAT point. That would suggest we can get rid of affirmative action then.
1
Another “Ford “kind of test as proof of her pedigrees , eh? No, this kind of testing needs to be done with neutral witnesses and with more than one DNA test sample sent to several DNA sources!
4
Aren’t there some actual descendants of Thomas Jefferson who are at least 6-10 generations removed yet still make a BIG Deal about that connection?
I am guessing there are some descendants of the real Pocahontas who are proud of that connection.
What percentage is needed to claim affiliation with a famous person? With an ethnic group? Isn’t this all a bit silly?
10
@Elizabeth -- exactly. Ditto the DAR. Betcha most of the DAR ladies vote for Trump.
2
@Elizabeth
Pretty soon we're going to be hearing that she claimed to be related to Pocahantas.
To these people, the facts just do not matter.
Count the number of people on this thread who have asserted that Warren used her native ancestry to get admitted to school or to get a job or to obtain "benefits." The fact that this did not happen just doesn't matter.
Sad.
2
Even ignoring the orange man, the issue remains not whether but how much. And a reasonable way to measure is whether a shaman-like authority in a recognized tribe deems her sufficient to utter she is of Native American heritage.
2
If Elizabeth Warren's Native American ancestry is from 6-10 generations ago, that says quite a lot. For those "nativist" nationalists who support him, Trump is only second generation American born.
19
I had my DNA analyzed and surprise, I am 1% Native American. I am thrilled to be a descendant of honorable, courageous, noble people. And happy that Elizabeth Warren has proof of her heritage.
My ancestors came to this land in 1650, so, of course, one of them along the line must have married a person of Native American descent. They settled in Albany, NY. I had no idea. They came here to escape poverty and persecution in their original countries. Five of them fought in the Revolutionary War.
Imagine what they would think of a person like Trump today. And his endless lies and propaganda. He is a disgrace to anyone who values truth and justice.
267
New Amsterdam Dutch?
1
Second sentence. Stereotype. Not a good idea.
@vica
I have a feeling that we all suffer from family myths about our heritage.
1
For Trump was never about DNA or even Native American ancestry. It was about belittling and insulting a political opponent to the obvious delight of his base.
8
@Ken - or perhaps she needed to be called to the carpet for profiting from her claimed status of being a Native American.
4
This result is just to wave in Trumps face. The one drop rule definitely does not apply here and her connection to real Native American life and experiences is nonexistent. Also how did that DNA get there? May not be a happy story there. My ancestry lists 16% Irish but visually, structurally and culturally I have nothing to do with this not too distant ancestor(s) and am never considered European or white. Its real life experiences that count and she should put this DNA result back in the box of anecdotes and cede this issue to today’s Native American and the serious issues they face. Warren has so much to offer as a candidate and hope she puts this behind her now.
4
Aside of it all, please Senator Warren - do your work there. Do not run for President. It will only bring out more venom from that bunch that calls themselves conservative, christian and value voter.
We need young and inspiring politicians that reach the young. They are out there - but the Bernies, Eliza's and Joe's need to lead as wise strategists from behind, not out front.
3
They’re all too liberal. We’ll lose in 2020 if any of these people get the nomination. We need someone the swing voters will go for folks. I don’t care who it is, as long as Donald trump does not get another term!
6
Sorry, but I find this to be a cheap publicity stunt on the part of Warren. And I’m not the only one thinking this - several Native American advocacy groups have denounced the announcement. And the reason they give is the right one - it’s the epitome of white privilege to declare your solidarity with colored people on the basis of genetic ancestry, when being Native American is very little about genes and all about shared ancestry including a generations-long history of white expansion and oppression. Just because she did as a response to Trump’s mockery does not make it right.
12
@Ashutosh -- name them, I can't find them.
I can find one person writing a personal criticism: Margo (Kickingbird) DeLaune.
1
I like Senator Warren more and more. Did she have to do this? I think so.
To be sure, Mr. Trump will almost certainly continue referring to her with a racial slur, and his base will almost certainly continue to pay no attention to facts and reason.
Did she have to do this in order to prepare for the Democratic primaries? Well, that depends on who else runs in the primaries.
Senator Sanders, for instance, ran a brutal campaign that irreparably harmed the candidacy of Sec. Clinton. His supporters often resorted to misogyny. Warren would need to protect herself from that.
Can Warren pull in all of the Democrats and not just the progressive wing? That remains to be seen. I think she will have to convince all Democrats even during the primaries. It is increasingly clear what the Democrats must do. Can she go with it?
On the one hand, every candidate must appeal to their own local voters. On the other hand, they must run nationally on a platform of ethical government, health care, social security, public education, infrastructure jobs, etc.
3
@Robert
"Can Warren pull in all of the Democrats and not just the progressive wing?"
No.
5
@Robert
"Can Warren pull in all of the Democrats and not just the progressive wing?"
Yes she can.
I do not get why she rose to Trump's taunt. All this does is amplify the issue. I frankly don't care whether she has native ancestry or not. It seems to me she overstated the issue when she played that card in the first place. Rather than double down, she should just let it slide.
6
What is lost on the people who live here, and consider themselves "good Americans", that voted for, and still support Trump, and what he stands for, is that being "American" for them, means having a lineage that comes from countries that are in Europe. They are out of touch with the generations before them that sublimated their own ethnic and national identities, to be "better" Americans. Any reference to having a lineage that is not European is believed to be less "American". That is the issue. And their beliefs will not be altered by this. They're opinion of Warren, or any American who claims native heritage, or Latino heritage, or African heritage, remains the same; that they somehow less "American" than those that came here from caucuses. And this is right in the Trump wheelhouse. He was raised with this, and continues to manifest this belief, and his is where millions of his supporters feel right at home.
8
“Who cares, who cares?” he said, “I didn’t say that. You better read it again.”
Ah, and as soon as he's called on to live up to his word he backs out. There's a name for that, quite a few in fact: coward, liar, chicken, hypocrite, loud mouth, etc.
He's the one who made a big deal about her Native American heritage. She did not. She never ran on it or used it to take advantage of anything. For her it was a piece of interesting information because of her origins in Oklahoma. Trump had to trumpet it and call her names. He should have realized she'd call his bluff.
He is a scoundrel, a wastrel, and ought to mind his own business when it comes to other people's heritage. Of course this is the man who probably still thinks that Obama was born in Kenya so what can any of us expect? Not too much.
24
Is this really what senator Warren believes will get democrats to register and go to the polls? There’s plenty out there to energize the democratic base. But just three weeks before the election she chooses to suck up the energy with this? That’s bad politics if you ask me. If anything it will keep undecided voters undecided.
19
@San Might also make undecided voters realize that Trump is full of prunes. All hat no cattle. Pick your metaphor, but he's wrong, won't admit when he's wrong, wrong about the little stuff, wrong about the big stuff. Unfit to lead. Out of his depth.
3
@JP
The thing is anyone who hasn't figured out by NOW that Trump is full of prunes isn't going to suddenly get it as a result of this stunt.
Have to agree this was poorly timed, and poor politics.
Why do I as a likely Democratic Primary voter in 2020 care about the ancestry of the Reagan voter and long time Republican Warren?
It would be quite easy for Trump to run against her based on her long time support for Reagan and Republican policies--many of which harmed single mothers going to community college. Something Warren had been, but back in the 1970s.
Her support for Reagan turns off liberals, and makes her out as a republican-lite running for a Democratic Party nomination.
How did that work out in 2016?
5
@Yaj Warren is anything but Republican-lite. Have you checked out any of her policies? She is considered so far to the left by Wall Street that the timid President Obama was deterred from nominating her as the first Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which she actually conceived and made sure it came into existence. That worked out well because she was then elected a US Senator. She opposed and voted against the draconian Bankruptcy "Reform" Act which Hillary voted for. She is a true champion of working and middle class Americans. You may support someone else, that's your right, but she's anything but a Republican.
4
Good for Elizabeth Warren and her family! but Trump and The Swamp Residents don't care about the facts. The DNC should be taking Trump to task for his family heritage, he comes from a family of crooks!
17
Credit belongs to Trump for forcing Warren to take this test and forcing the media to not let it slide.
For too long Democrats have been given a pass on mendacity. This month we were treated to "Da Nang Dick" Blumenthal saying if Judge Kavanaugh lied it is enough to disqualify him when Blumenthal lied for years about his Vietnam service. Trump's mocking forces these issues to be addressed.
During the campaign we got to hear from Juanita Broderick who Bill Clinton allegedly raped. Keith Ellison and Cory Booker are also accused of domestic violence, where is all the outrage about them that we heard during the Kavanaugh hearings?
While you're accusing Trump of obstruction of justice, perhaps you need to reminded Hillary Clinton destroyed 30,000 emails AFTER she was served a subpoena. Tom Price was fired for conflict of interest when at least a dozen people in State Department worked for the State Department and the Clinton Foundation. It goes on and on.
Calling Warren "Pocahontas" is not racist, it's mocking Elizabeth Warren. Saying you're an American Indian when you're not is racist.
Is being 0.1% Native American is sufficient to call yourself such and sufficient for Harvard to say they had a Native American on the faculty? Society needs to answer these questions. If my kids are 1/1000 African American do we qualify for certain scholarships?
Trump deserves credit for forcing these issues to be addressed. Leaving it to the NYT means ignoring it.
8
@jkemp Except she did not know the % at the time, there were no such tests, she did not get any gain form her schools for the claim... She does have native heritage, sorry but science trumps your belief. You also need to go actually research what Blumenthal said about his service, he never claimed what Trump says he did. No battle claims, no Da Nang claims. And he cleared up the issue long before Trump ran for president. As for Clinton's emails, put down Trump's campaign script and do some research. Skip the rest of the whataboutism - your KGB is showing.
5
Mendacity is Trump's middle name.
4
@jkemp Spin Spin Spin Why is it that Trump supporters cannot accept the truth? Of course, Trump has no honor and will not donate his pledged $1 million to a cause of her choice, even though she proved that she has Native American ancestry. The name-calling has to stop. It is RACIST!
I had a DNA test done 4 years ago and, surprise, I am 1% Native American. I never knew. My ancestors have been here since 1650 and settled in Albany, NY. I love that one or more of them were of Native American heritage. Much better than having Nazi heritage...Fred.
9
It is absurd that President Trump prompts President Obama to release his birth certificate and Elizabeth Warren to release her DNA, while he does not release his tax returns.
This lying, stealing, racist President makes clear we need a law for full financial transparency and disclosure.
25
@Want the truth
You think he is ever going to sign said law
Trump: “And we will say, ‘I will give you a million dollars to your favorite charity, paid for by Trump, if you take the test and it shows you’re an Indian.’”
Let's ask Native Americans if they think that having less than 1% native DNA makes you an Indian. As far as I know, tribal benefits usually start at 1/8th to 1/4th. Most European Americans have ~1% and can therefore claim benefits at Harvard.
8
@Kai In practical terms, this means a great-great-great-great grandparent of hers was NA. Hardly insignificant. Many tribes count you in if you can provide lineal descent, a specific blood quantum is not a requirement. I say we call Skip Gates.
2
@Kai who cares about math? Apparently not Warren.
1
@Kai
Here is the exact quote:
“We will very gently take that kit, and we will slowly toss it, hoping it doesn't hit her and injure her arm, even though it only weighs probably 2 ounces," Trump said at the rally. "And we will say, 'I will give you a million dollars to your favorite charity, paid for by Trump, if you take the test and it shows you're an Indian.'"
"And let's see what she does, right? I have a feeling she will say 'no,' but we'll hold that for the debates!"
1
Trump's mental disorder flares up again.
From "Show us your birth certificate" to, "Show us your DNA."
But The real issue is Trump's tax returns. not these red herrings.
38
To paraphrase a statement from author Mary McCarthy years ago, every word ever uttered by Donald Trump, including "and" and "the" is a lie or exaggeration.
37
@Norman Courey MD sorry, doc, if you do the math you'd recognize that the exaggeration is from Warren. She's no more Indian than my cat.
7
Best thing I read today:
"Trump should write Warren a check for 1/1,024th of a million dollars".
18
Perfect. That would mean he would honor his broad, unambiguous, publicly announced commitment to pay to about the same extent he has honored other commitments in his life - like his marriages, his contractual obligations and his promises to repay his debts.
Not one of which he has ever faithfully executed as promised.
2
@Conroy Why not the entire million? Warren’s words were that she has Native American DNA in her lineage. Trump said prove it, so she did prove it. Trump needs to pay up the entire million to the charity Warren has named.
12
Or he could just keep his word....naw that ain’t happening.
1
Kudos to Warren for releasing her DNA. Now Donald can put HIS money where his mouth was. Pay up on his bet. But he won’t because he’s a stiff a deadbeat and reneges constantly. Outside of lying constantly as this guy ever done anything that he’s claimed. He be homeless if he was only not blessed with his DNA
11
Elizabeth Warren has just given the average Native American another racial slap. How dare she presume to share even a scintilla of their catastrophic experience post her ancestors arrival and take over.
14
No. She is proud of that part of her heritage. Like most Americans, she is a mix.
5
@Tony Francis
She didn't.
6
@Tony Francis She did no such thing. I'm part Italian. Does that mean I'm either linked to or bragging of Mussolini?
6
Sounds like her Indian ancestor lived around the time of George Washington. Perhaps a Mohican?
I wonder what the Indian tribes of Oklahoma think about here claim. They are the only ones who matter.
3
@Erik In fact her ancestor could have been born as early as 1700 or as late as 1800. In current US family histories, that's nothing to sneeze at. Also in fact, it means a lot to her and her family. I know relatives by marriage who have lost the thread of lineage with their local NA ancestors, for many years it as not noted or reported, as it was going to get you shunned, abused, or worse.
4
On 5 July 2018, at the Four Seasons Arena in Great Falls, Montana, you certainly did brag to the red-hatted MAGA's, Mr. President. Now, where's the one mil you promised?
Once again, Donald J. Trump proves to everyone that he AND his fan base are: "All hat, and no cattle."
40
Good show, Elizabeth Warren! Her heritage is personal to her and her family - but she was showing a larger truth here - and she did it in fine fashion. Mr. Trump's selective memory can be called to account - and he fell for it. Donate to her chosen charity, sir or in language you may understand - 'put up or shut up'. Welching -and lying - bad form, to say the least.
9
I don't care about Warren's DNA statements.
I care about Trump's tax statements.
12
I admire Sen. Warren's tenacity, but this stunt plays into the characterization of her as a loony liberal.
1) Warren stated that she checked the box indicating she was of Native American descent and minority status so she "could meet other people like me." She, nor her family claim to have remnants of Native American culture in their family. What did expect to share with anyone who were to contact her? Weird.
2) Warren sent five recipes to be published in a Native American cookbook which claims to have recipes handed down from families of 5 tribes. Warren signed them as Elizabeth Warren, Cherokee. The recipes also were apparently taken from a NYT's wire service, and were not ethnic in nature. Wacky.
3) The video shows Warren hanging out with her family. They are sitting around drinking beer with down home goodness and closeup of a handgun on a table. I believe that her family is authentic, but for her to go so far out of her way to show the pistol, and have them declare that they are Republican is a hoot. SIlly.
4) Noone ever really cared if she were part Native American. The dig is her trying to use it as something that mattered. This fits in perfectly with the image of elite leftist universities' attempts at political correctness through
diversity. I doubt she was trying for or granted preferential status. It was a lame attempt to be "cool" because of her "minority" status. Foolish.
Read about it on politifact.
11
And when will Trump release his tax returns?
30
Senator Warren,
There's still going to be regressive, undereducated, willfully-ignorant deplorables making some convoluted connection between how much you were compensated for the Harvard gig to the obscene cost of "tuition" someplace unrelated.
So, when you hear them, please remind them:
1) Harvard Law is graduate school, not undergraduate.
2) The msrp of attending Harvard Law has no bearing on the cost of attending other law schools, other graduate schools, Harvard College or any other undergraduate schools.
3) Harvard Law is a private corporation (wingnuts usually love and respect any corporation's independence to do whatever it wants, but not in this case) that can pay its employees whatever it wants. Compensation of a salaried employee by a corporation does not set or influence the price of tuition at their institution or set or influence the price at any other institutions. Tuition does not come in one window and then go out another in the form of a pay check. That's not how it works. That's how one would run a pyramid scheme. That's not how respected and centuries-old educational corporation is run.
What this boils down to is this: Some people simply cannot believe that someone who has done alright for themselves can care about others who are not as well off as they are. That is NOT true and you need to hammer home these points until they get it.
11
@matty
Senator Warren is a graduate of Rutgers Law School. Class of 1976 if I recall.
1
Only if Senator Warren can prove to Trump's satisfaction that she's really a man will the misonygist in chief begin treating her the respect she and the millions who elected her to high office, deserves. Not that respect from the likes of him, plus a nickel will ever be worth more than a nickel.
7
8 generations @25 years per DNA generation = 200 years.
DOB 6/22/1949 - 200 years = 1749.
Oklahoma?
i'm not saying yes and i'm not saying no.....
1
@Mark Why go back to her date of birth? Why not 1818? Or 6 generations would be 1868. In fact, a "generation" used to be 20 years, which potentially means 6 times 20 equals 80, which means 1898. Trail of Tears ended in 1839. Why take just the worst case scenario?
2
It is shameful for the President mock her for her roots. It is equally shameful that Warren would have used this sliver of her genealogy to score points in her academic, professional or political careers. Worse still are those who follow the President's lead and those who grant Warren identity points for this.
2
@SJG Well, you got 2 out of 3 right, and that's a passing grade but you might want a higher bar that that.
1
@SJG But she didn't.
1
So, is anyone shocked that Trump continues to lie?
8
Harris and Booker need to announce they're running together, as a team, with her as the Presidential candidate! Harris Booker 2012
2
This is among the best examples of Mark Twains brilliant quote, “When you argue with a fool, onlookers may not know the difference.”
As far as Ms.Warren’s minuscule Native heritage goes, liberals don’t care and conservatives are just looking for fodder for their Trump rally chants.
9
Warren had a chance in 2016. She allowed herself to be muscled off the stage by a legacy Candidate. Now, she is old news and a could have been. No one takes her seriously in 2020 no matter how much Indian heritage she can document.
6
In the end Trump winds up saying, "who cares?" Case in point about why it's a waste of time to substantively address Trump's straw man arguments. With Trumpland, it is absurdist turtles all the way down and there will be no resolution.
Trumpland's opinion of Warren's legitimacy as a leader will not be altered in the slightest by the authenticity of her claims to Native American heritage. His calls for Obama's birth certificate tell us all we need to know about that. Provide a certificate and Trumpists demand the "long-form" certificate. Provide that and they'll demand the "reeeeal long-form certificate." In both cases, it simply comes down to Trump having a personal grudge.
Trump's argument with kneeling football players? Straw man. It's not the "manner" of their protest, but the FACT of their protest. The idea that our draft-dodging, Gold Star family-counter-punching, POW-disparaging president is concerned about the flag or the military is just another absurdity.
Trump's "illegal immigration" arguments? Straw man. Imagine an impermeable barrier on the southern border and teleported every undocumented immigrant outside the country (never to return). Problem solved? Of course not!
The fact of the matter is that the Trumps and Steve Millers of the world have biases against certain demographics and don't want them immigrating, legally or otherwise. Hence the narrowing of legal means of entry.
HE is the true issue, not his legion of scarecrow distractions.
6
This is hilarious -- Trump trying to pretend he never said it.
It's a great opportunity too. The charity should sue Mr. Trump to collect. 1 M$ is real money that the National Indigenous Women's Resource Center could put to good use.
The lawsuit should be slam-dunk -- Trump's on videotape making the offer, and Warren's heritage need only be proved "by the preponderance of the evidence."
And then suppose it got to the point where the plaintiffs could start discovery?
Surely some lawyer will jump at this opportunity, pro bono?
9
a message to senator warren and, for that matter, every single democrat in politics: stop taking the bait and feeding into trump's insanity. he will win every time. promote ideas; encourage civility; advocate for social justice and a clean environment and an end to guns. but for the most part, ignore the man behind the curtain. he's despicable, criminal, immoral and beneath whatever dignity you may possess.
9
Trump and his GOP enablers are going to rue the day they decided to go all in on attacking women. A year ago I would have thought there would be no way Warren could win in 2020. Now, i have my money on her if she decides to run.
There are a lot more women in this country than there are Republicans Mr Trump.
5
It matters not, if mrs. Warren has indian native ancestry in politics to the nytimes as it endorsed last time a WASP female candidate for president over a white male candidate who had serious chance of winning.
Before that it endorsed AGAIN the same female candidate in 2008 against a BLACK male.
For the nytimes it does not matter if you're a minority, in politics.
That's why this campaign of political ridicolousness has started again with mrs. Warren colorful ancestry, this time.
Again as it started with mr.Sanders last time.
Some people just don't learn from their mistakes.
Every student applying for college this fall should take advantage of this new Elizabeth Warren .01% standard and claim affirmative action benefits.
7
@Lakeisha Jackson
You can't do fractions: 1/1024 is about 0.1%
Or more likely you just made it up?
Why is it that right-wingers can't get 4th-grade math right?
Or assume that everybody else is so stupid or lazy that it won't matter ... just make something up?
The issue was never that she has NO Indian ancestry. The issue is that she had used this aspect to somehow "sell" herself as a minority. And the fact that she now has proven her minority status as laughable, it only makes the situation even worse for her.
17
One of my ancestors fought in the American Revolution and was maimed for life. One great, great, great uncle was a twice Republican mayor made Postmaster by A. Lincoln who took a meeting with the president, by Lincoln's personal request, just before his assassination. I'm a patriot w/no amer. indian DNA.
2
I would vote for Elizabeth Warren every day and twice on Sunday, for any office she cared to hold. And although the DNA test clearly established that the family stories she grew up hearing are true, I doubt Trump and his Trumpsters will accept it. Science is not their thing. Global warming, DNA tests, ...nah! All a plot to make Trump look bad. Nevertheless, I do wish that Sen. Warren hadn't done this. It won't stop the juvenile name-calling & his base will continue to believe she's gamed the system to get where she is. Another aggrieved minority who's taken away some benefit that should have gone to a "real" (i.e., white, male) American. They are immune to facts. We who believe in facts, science, truth...all those old-fashioned things, we have to stop letting him set the agenda. There aren't enough hours in the day to refute all the lies President Pinocchio tells. So let's stop wasting our time on that and get to work electing a government that works for us.
5
Are we under the assumption that Trump can spell D-N-A, let allow understand its significance here? Methinks not.
9
Surely no one really thought he’d make a charitable donation! He doesn’t even pay taxes. He doesn’t give to anyone not named ( or married to a) Trump.
11
Elizabeth, I'm with you all the way. Have been for years. However, I'll give you two pieces of advice. Do not debate Donald Trump. You can't out yell or out name-call him. Logical arguments on issues will have no effect on him or his audience.
About the Native American issue. I personally don't care one little bit about it. I think it's a ploy to draw you into that ever raging culture war. Economist Dean Baker has called this "loser liberalism". Your strength lies in the economic issues: health care, taxes, trade, wages, financial regulation, etc. It's your only chance.
5
Most Tribal governments require a minimum of 1/16 native blood, and some require as much as 25% native blood to be considered a Tribal member. Senator Warren's tentative connection to (what appears to be one) a native ancestor, undefined as being 6-10 generations ago (1/32nd to 1/1024th), hardly qualifies her claim to be of Native descent. She certainly isn't considered Native by the Indigenous people. I have a higher percentage of Native blood, and I'm not considered native.
8
@Jon
You didn't watch the video, she clearly makes this point.
3
Are you kidding me?
1) who really cares?
2) anyone who looks that far back in their genetic heritage can find some type of marginalized group.
3) if the point is that she used the 1 out of 1024 direct ancestors contributing to her DNA 10 generations ago to claim that she is part of a marginalized group, then that's insulting to people who've actually faced discrimination.
7
@ML She wasn't trying to gain anything except possibly the understanding of her own heritage. Do you not care who your ancestors were in the 1750s?
3
The best way to publicly insult Trump is to encourage him to be himself. She did and he obliged.
He lies and doesn't keep his part of the bargain. Just a little reminder from Elizabeth Warren to Trumpists what they can expect from him
10
I don't believe Ms. Warren is claiming she is a Native American or looking for tribal membership. But going to these lengths to show a small percent of Native American blood (at 6 generations back less than 1.5% according to some calculations) is the type of frivolous tit-for-tat that continues to widen the rifts that have tattered our country.
Many folks have small amounts of Native American blood due to generations of mixed marriages. This is why tribes set a minimum, often one quarter Native blood, in order to grant membership.
So if Ms. Warren isn't claiming to be Native American (even though she seems to have in the past), what purpose is there to prove her dilute Native American genes? It would seem she is resurrecting an old Presidential snarkfest to garner headlines. And it paid off.
Consequently, I find Ms. Warren's orchestrated rebuttal to be insulting to Native Americans. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named used Pocahontas in a derogatory way, but is taking a DNA test to prove she has Native American blood for obvious political gain any less insulting?
4
A big optics problem with the Left nowadays seems to be this competitive grievance narrative through adopting marginalized identities in an attempt to legitimize one's authenticity... That's what made the Julia Salazar saga so fascinating a few weeks ago.... It's ultimately a losing and rather pathetic tactic for a politician to take... Warren may speak mountains of truth on policy, but this is a stain on her broader national electability, there's no doubt about that.
9
Having lived through the multiple assassinations of the 1960s I know the gut wrenching horror that comes with believing in a politician the way I believe in Senator Warren and then having him shot down. She scares people for a good reason. She represents the people above corporate interests (read BANKS) and she speaks truth to power in a way that ALL people educated or not can understand. I will run to the polls to vote for her, but I have only one piece of advice. Travel in a bullet-proof bubble.
4
I recently changed party affiliations in order to vote against Trump in 2020. However, if she is the Democratic candidate, I just won't cast a vote at all. Please find someone who can unify the country and is intelligent and statesman-like. (man OR woman)
4
@JG
Please, reconsider. This is the attitude that got us Trump - all of you who just weren't thrilled with Hillary.
Please, vote against Trump.
I saw a bumper sticker yesterday that said, "Any Functioning Adult 2020."
That's where we're at. This isn't really about Elizabeth Warren. We HAVE to be rid of Trump, for the sake of the planet.
1
To play the game like Trump, you first need to dye your hair orange. Really sad, that Elizabeth Warren is introducing herself as a presidential candidate by giving so much importance to something that is meaningless. If you dna test the entire population, I bet all of us will be related to one another somewhere in the distant past.
Where is her continued concern over the Kavanaugh confirmation. Where is her continued, loud fight for American women, for equality. What is her stance on immigration? Where is her plan to continue to keep the environment safe? Where is her plan to address rural America and their lack of opportunities? These are the real fights. This whole Native American aspect was a political ploy to discredit Trump. When will democrats realize it's not about attacking him, that only strengthens his base. It is about screaming out plans about what you will do about issues that affect Americans, especially the middle class who think very moderately indeed. This segment that will actually vote for a democrat who thinks outwardly for a better community and not a self centered woman who needs to somehow prove herself right.
Ms.Warren, I have tremendous respect for you as an individual and admiration for what you have done in the leadership of our country. As far as President goes, please avoid the mistake of a previous female senator and stay in the senate; don't run for President.
2
Warren did not use her Native American ancestry when applying for a position at Harvard. This has been debunked and settled.
Trump, however, is lying when he says he never said he would donate $1 million to charity if she could prove that ancestry. His promise of a donation is on tape. But he lies like that so effortlessly. That is a far more serious problem.
8
Having grown up in Oklahoma, I guarantee that American Indian ancestry is a common feature of the bulk of the population--even African American-Indians, known as Freedmen, whose ancestors married American Indians in starting in the 19th Century. Oklahomans take inordinate pride in this ancestry, and it is common to note it, not to gain some kind of financial advantage, but because it is a component of who one is, and a reason to be very proud. Brava to Warren for telling the truth.
Elizabeth Warren is one of our most admirable public servants. Her American success story is inspiring, and her work on behalf of all Americans is beyond reproach. I look forward to her presidential campaign. She has the smarts and the courage to give the lie to the GOP, which is serving no one these days but venal oligarchs and bigots.
Now, let's see Trump make good on his offer of a million dollars for charity. It is recorded for all to see and hear, but of course Trump will lie about it, as he lies about everything else.
10
According to Warren’s own DNA test, she has, at best, 1/64th Native American ancestry, but it could also be as low as 1/1,024. Percentage-wise, she can claim somewhere between 0.1 percent to 1.56 percent Native lineage.
The minimum requirement to claim membership in most Native American tribes ranges from 1/8 (12.5 percent) to 1/2 (50 percent). A few tribes have a minimum requirement of 1/16 (six percent).
8
@Diane
Sen. Warren never claimed she was attempting membership in a Native American tribe.
2
@kay o.
She did claim she was a native american in college for reasons that have now come back to haunt her.
2
I really wish Senator Warren hadn't take Trump's bait. For a Democrat beat Trump in 2020 they will have to keep voters, and the media, focused on bread and butter issues like healthcare, income inequality, racial and gender equality and sensible gun control. And since, on those issues, public opinion is not on the GOP's side, Trump will try to create as many distractions as possible to make the conversation about something else. I would have preferred if Senator Warren had simply said that that the American people have a lot of things they are worried about but my ancestry is not one of them.
3
Good for her! Our president should cough up the million. The argument that Elizabeth Warren “used” her heritage is ridiculous and is political propaganda. I imagine that a significant percentage of “white” Americans have Native American ancestry and we should follow Senator Warren’s example and celebrate our roots. Actual roots, not mythical roots based on some 21st century retro version of manifest destiny.
1
a "generation" is generally considered to be approximately 30 years. that means her single amerindian ancestor lived sometime between 180 to 300 years ago. I think her claim to be of amerindian descent, while technically true, is a bit of a stretch and she is using it for political purposes. does having a single ancestor of a "minority" status 180-300 years ago qualify her to check the box and receive special treatment for her "minority" status? or of her children or grandchildren? when does does that minority status dilute down to the point where it really isn't relevant? or is this concept so politically incorrect that ms Warren and others of like mind will find the idea offensive?
6
If you knew anything about Senator Warren you would know that Native American ancestry is not her main qualification. Not even close. Warren is an incredibly smart, hard-working, dedicated champion of the working class.
10
So where is Trump's million dollars? He can deny saying it but he's on video saying it and only his disciples (the republican party) will believe him. He's trying to muddy the waters again and trying to make people wonder what the truth is. There's a simple test. If he's saying it, it's not true.
6
If Trump doesn't cough up the million dollar money for charity, can Warren sue him for some sort of breach of promise? It would be nice if she could.
5
@annberkeley -- she can't ... but the charity can.
6 - 10 generations ago? Not her grandfather, not her great-grandfather, not her great-great grandfather. It is at least her great-great-great grandfather and possibly 4 generations farther back than that.
I like Elizabeth Warren, but most of us have no idea who our great-great-great grandfather was. She should let this drop. She is not native American.
11
And still some Democrats think identity politics will win votes of unemployed or underemployed working class?
4
Warren never raised having Native American ancestry as reason to run or vote for her.
It was a Republican opponent who found it and hoped he turn it into a campaign issue. Talk about "identify politics".
It failed but the Republicans found wedge.
Trump, ever the opportunist, who has his own dark past on identity picked up on the them as he did with Obama birth certificate (hey, it worked once why not work it again?).
Warren tired of defending her family honor (seems like something that Trump would understand) takes a test and finds that it is at least plausible given the family history that there is some Native American heritage.
Now the right wing spin machine (as the repeated talking points from the comments) twists it from Warren wanting to demonstrate that her family wasn't lying to her and that racism displayed by Trump & Co is ugly to that she is claiming special status and qualifications to run due to her long past bits of Native American ancestry.
Meanwhile Trump supporters care less that Trump and family knowingly lied, even in his book the Art of the Deal, about being Swedish rather than German because it was better for business. Knowingly lied. When he knew the truth. Just as he lied about his affairs that he later admitted to. Just as he lied about so many things as documented.
5
I can't imagine a DNA mix I wouldn't vote for to unseat Donald Trump. But this stunt by Elizabeth Warren -- essentially doubling down on a dubious effort to expropriate another culture -- is really pretty disgraceful.
The Globe indicated that Warren was perhaps no more than 1-1,052nd Native American - and at most around one percent. My Ancestry test pegged me at 99 percent Northern European and 1 percent South Asian. That means I'm up to ten times as Pakistani as Warren is American Indian. But I'd hardly consider myself eligible for being listed as a minority member of any professional association.
It doesn't say much for her character that she seems resolved to continue to steal another group's cultural heritage.
7
@Philboyd writes, "It doesn't say much for her character that she seems resolved to continue to steal another group's cultural heritage."
And how, exactly, is she stealing any group's cultural heritage? Can you provide any support for that assessment....NO, no you can't.. Maybe you graduated from Trump University where such garbage is required for graduation.
VOTE OUT ALL REPUBLICANS
"
4
@rumpleSS
She attempted to appropriate another groups cultural heritage (native american) when she falsely claimed to be one.
Having 1/64 to 1/1024 DNA does not make her a native american.
2
It's better to tell him to stop the name calling and insults and talk about the issues. Responding at his level is a losing effort, putting you on the defensive immediately.
1
I adore Senator Warren, simple as that. As for the president, phooey.
7
Senator Warren knows perfectly well she held herself out as Native American on her application to Harvard. Further she empathized as Native American in her writings. That is how she came under fire for this issue. Trump has played it certainly, but the issue pre-dates Trump.
18
To some extent I hope it's Elizabeth instead of Sanders. The latter have offended too many cooperative interests, and in 2020 we can't take any risks.
Why does anyone care about this? Is anyone's vote actually dependent on whether she's really 1/32 Native American?
3
@Shawn
10 generations means it could be 1/1024 people ... 1/32 is enough of a stretch but 1/1024
Let's say that again one person out of 512 pairs of people who had children who, 10 generations later, made Sen. Warren. And that's what she claimed to gain advantages.
6
"Strong evidence" from 6-10 generations ago she may have an ancestor? What's that, from 1700? That allows you to claim to being a Native American? Sounds like a bad joke. Can the Dems get any worse?
26
@Mattbk
She didn't claim "to be" Native American. Rather, she stated that she had SOME Native lineage in her family tree. There's a big difference.
But of course, facts don't mean anything to partisan hacks.
5
@Mattbk: it is the Republicans -- Trump in particular, but not just Trump -- who have made a big deal out of this, and made all sorts of ignorant and racist accusation about how Warren was "using" this aspect of her background, implying that she was fraudulently using Affirmative Action programs.
And then there is Trump's despicable name calling: "Pocahantas."
This is very similar to the way the right wing "birther" movement attacked Obama.
Sorry, you don't get to criticize either Warren or the Democratic Party on this.
good for her for telling her story. We won't let these stories get diminished.
3
@Mattbk
By worse do you mean as worse as any given Republican? No, they'll never be that bad.
2
I have mixed feelings about this entire debacle.
Can we get that we are talking about blood purity? which is reminiscent of ????
1. Thank you Ms. Warren for sharing your family history, it is interesting finding out our ancestry mix and it sometimes helps us understand our nature and others more deeply Also please accept our universal apology for the ugly behavior pointed at you and others by the current Commander.(45)..
2. What is 45's __ % of disingenuousness?
consider his offer "to pay a million dollars to a charity of Ms. Warren's choice";
produce his taxes "when they are no longer under audit" ...
Will all be fulfilled as promised; I hope so!
It means a lot to USA citizens.
Conversely, will these promises remain unfulfilled?
"Is the question: Is Donald Trump, the person, a "welcher in promises, to people, places and charity"?
Need it be asked: "Does a self portrait hanging in my office count as charity"?
Why is "a self made millionaire" self destructing? Is it self will run riot?
Why?
Well that will remain a mystery that each of us get to sort out in our own time and space and history to gage,
2
So the senator released a very personal study to vindicate herself from riducule from a blowhard. When can we expect Donald T.rump to do the same and release his tax returns?
18
This headline should read "Elizabeth Warren Releases DNA Results on Almost Complete Lack of Native American Ancestry" Six to ten generations ago? This doesn't remotely jibe with the story she's been telling. It's like every human on the planet claiming to be African. If you go back far enough, everybody's got some indigenous ancestor.
14
Wherever did you get that idea? It matches her family’s stories perfectly - the ancestry is said to date back almost 150 years.
3
@nimitta She said her mother was so Native American that her parents had to elope to escape racism. Six to ten generations ago there was one indigenous ancestor, from somewhere in the entirety of the Americas, followed by nothing but Europeans. I think she believed her family history, but on finding out how remote the ancestry was, she should have backed off, not doubled down. The facts don't back up the oral history.
1
And the liar is (drum roll please)... Donald J. Trump for claiming he never said he'd give one million dollars to Warren's favorite charity if she demonstrated Native American Indian ancestry.
The Trump quote: "I will give you a million dollars, paid for by Trump, to your favorite charity if you take the test and it shows you're an Indian ... we'll see what she does. I have a feeling she will say no but we will hold it for the debates."
18
Still in charge of his own Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda.
4
OK Trump, you talked the talk, you were wrong yet again, now pay up, the video shows all.
11
What more do Democrats need to do to show we’re a different and far better breed than Republicans. Trump teases like a child, ridicules as if he’s worthy and fashions conspiracy theories out of nothing to disparage the likes of Obama and Warren, 2 people who have forgotten more about being good, smart and decent in the last 3 seconds than he’ll ever know for the remainder of his miserable existence, and he’s always proven WRONG!!!!!!
12
Lost in all this is Trumps flippant use of the term “Pocahontas” which is overtly and blatantly racist.
Why does Trump get a pass for EVERYTHING he says or does?
We really are in the upside down world.
Shame on the GOP
21
I am white (not as pale as Warren) and my DNA test showed hits from Africa and all kinds of surprising regions.
I suppose I can claim to be African now...
14
It seems she just proved that she is not more Native American than the average white American, and decidedly less so than the average black or hispanic American. Latinos are 18% native on average and not calling themselves Native Americans.
Reminds me of a famous soccer coatch here who submitted a hair laboratory analysis to prove that he is not a cocaine addict... and his own test did prove that he was in fact a cocaine addict.
13
Not all academics seem to share Bustamante's conclusions.
3
"Speaking to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House Monday morning, Mr. Trump denied his earlier pledge to make the charitable contribution if Ms. Warren proved her heritage.
“Who cares, who cares?” he said, “I didn’t say that. You better read it again.”"
Trump is a welcher? Who knew? I mean besides everyone? Talk to the small contractors who worked on his casino's.
When Trump opens his mouth, lies spew forth. And the deplorables love it because they lie too, 24/365.
For anyone who thinks Trump or his deplorable followers will ever, ever admit that they were wrong about Warren's heritage, think again. They will defend their lie to the end, because that's just who they are.
Elizabeth Warren is a "real" American who represents "real" American values. And that is so scary to Trump. He is frightened to death by real people, especially real women. But most of all, Trump is frightened by the Truth. And Senator Warren has the Truth on her side.
Here's hoping for a happy Halloween in 2020 when Trump gets the scare of his life.
And you can make this a great Halloween season by treating the country with your vote....
VOTE OUT ALL REPUBLICANS
12
Hold on a second.
Warren's hand picked geneticist claimed "There is "strong evidence" with an "error rate...less than one-in-a-thousand" that Warren has DNA markers indicating Native American ancestors "6-10 generations ago". As reported first by The Boston Globe and now by The New York, all this is in a document from Carlos Bustamante.
Fast forward to the Warren video featuring Bustamante discussing her DNA tests with her over a speaker phone in which "she is told she "absolutely" has Native American ancestry."
If The New York Times got its reporting right, Professor Bustamante is apparently contradicting himself.
"Strong evidence" is not "absolute" evidence. Absolute evidence does not have an error rate. There is no error. Evidence with even a rate of error of less than one-in-a-thousand is not "absolute" by any scientific standard.
For the sake of the pursuit of facts and truth, perhaps The Times could publish the results of the entire DNA test for Warren.
And, perhaps The Times could commission its own DNA test of Senator Warren's heritage and compare its conclusions with Dr. Bustamante's conclusions. That would be a step in applying the scientific standard of replication of results to this politico-drama.
19
@Albert Edmud
"Absolute" evidence is a standard whereby regressives measure something, and then change the criteria or belittle the facts.
1
It's depressing to see how few news outlets understand the concepts of future tense or hypotheticals. Trump never said he was betting Warren $1 million dollars, he was talking about a hypothetical bet he would make with Warren during a hypothetical debate. The relevant quote: “And we will say, ‘I will give you a million dollars to your favorite charity, paid for by Trump, if you take the test and it shows you’re an Indian.’” Of course Warren and too many news outlets cut out "we will say".
The way the NY Times and others are spinning this as a "vow" makes me glad I cancelled my subscription. Yet another example of dishonesty in reporting.
14
@Jeff
You make a fair point regarding the hypothetical nature of Trump's statement and manipulative editing.
You make a moot point on the implied question of whether Trump was ever going to honor such a bet (hypothetical, literal, casual or contractual). However many universes there may be, there is no combination of words that results in that universe's Donald J. Trump saying, "yeah, I lost the bet, so let me pay the $1M dollars."
1
I still don't really believe it.
I took a 23andMe DNA test. I have .1% Native American DNA and .6% African DNA. I'm sure we all have DNA from very distant ancestors that were NA or African back during the dawn of humanity yet I don't go around proclaiming Native ancestry or being part black. I'm not sure I trust Sen. Warren on this.
10
Am I remembering correctly...?
Didn't Trump's father tried to hide his German background?
Blue wave in 2018 and Senator Warren in 2020!
6
He didn’t believe Obama’s long form birth certificate and he won’t believe her DNA test either. After all, he didn’t believe the DNA test that exonerated the Central Park 5. Just one more set of inconvenient truths to the genius that belongs in a stable.
16
Now she should demand that Donald Trump takes an IQ test to prove he is not lower than one standard deviation below normal.
16
I hate that Sen. Warren had to do this. Same with Obama having to release his birth certificate. Both instances caused by one proven prevaricator. The people who are buying into these insults either don't understand or don't care that this kind of thing cheapens the United States, and consequently makes us weaker.
On the one hand, the president got another scalp. On the other hand, releasing the results of the DNA test has unleashed Sen. Warren. It is time to turn the tables and find out what on earth Russia has over the president. In the words of Richard Nixon, the American people need to know whether their president is a crook.
3
@Maxbien...Warren did not "had to do this". It was a political move on her part. Notice that she waited until she had a result that she and her handlers could spin from "strong" to "absolutely" before she released the "results" to The Globe. It would have been more impressive if she had announced that she was being tested before she submitted here DNA sample to Bustamante's lab.
4
@Maxbien It's amazing to me that Trump was able to bully Obama to release his birth certificate and Warren to take a DNA test but no amount of coercion has made him release his tax returns. His base seems okay with that proving they have no interest in truth or facts. Not a surprise but could they at least admit their hypocrisy?
1
@Kathy: if so….isn't it proof Trump is a master of this game,and making gullible Dems dance to his tune?
Why not call him on his bluff?
I could care less about this but “6-10 generations ago,” doesn't make anyone Native American
13
This is the worst news for Dems. Now, she will feel vindicated and will probably run. Sorry to say he will still call her Pocahontas and will still humiliate her. Plus she really lacks the stature to be president. Bad. Real bad.
8
If she gets the Democratic nomination her biggest obstacle will be her gender, unfortunately. She needs to avoid the mistake of her colleague, Senator Gillibrand who threw Al Franken under the bus. Men vote too, and most of us have regretfully made fools of ourselves over a woman some time in our lives. Just as men can't understand how women think, it seems they can't understand a man's devastation and humiliation when accused of sexual abuse. Being a jerk and being an abuser are not the same thing. Franken was a jerk, and Gillibrand's knee jerk reaction was cruel and self defeating.
8
@george pushing for a male colleague who has credible accusations of sexual assault against them to resign is not "throwing them under the bus." Politicians should have moral clarity, and Al Franken simply didn't exhibit that. It's important that we demand a certain standard of politicians, both men and women, and hold them to that standard, regardless of whether or not they vote how we want them to. That being said, there are certainly some remaining officials in office *hint hint* who have credible accusations of sexual misconduct levied against them, and who should also resign.
On a positive note, whether you agree with Warren's strategy or not, Trump tried the birther method on Obama. Barack Obama was twice elected President. You might consider this moment a good omen. Trump perpetually shoots the albatross. He never learns to morn. To reference Samuel Taylor Coleridge:
"Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung."
Trump is a cursed man.
7
Welching on a bet, how trumpian. Do trump ever pay anyone what he owes?
9
Senator Warren took an insult from the President, considered her presidential ambitions, saw an opportunity for lefty virtue-signaling, and...here we are. She, evidently, couldn't resist.
Senator Warren just trolled herself, and I thought she was smarter than that.
Sigh.
18
All ridiculous. Trump is playing her and Warren has fallen for the bait. There is no need to dignify his insults with any further response or analysis. The Trump crowd will not vote for her under any circumstance. Everyone else is either offended by Trump, believes Warren over Trump or does not care one way or another in terms of how they will vote in the next presidential election. Warren should stand or fall on her policies and on her own record of achievements.
5
Now will representative Kevin McCarthy’s brother do the same?
He never said anything he said...that is so orwellian
2
Lol....you have to be enormously naive, even for a Liberal, to believe any of this. The test was NOT conducted by any of the major DNA firms, but by an individual connected to Ancestry.com. And assuming he also shares the Left's Trump Derangement Syndrome, it is more than likely his 'analysis' would shade in Warren's favor...if you consider the minute possibility he found to be in her favor. The only acceptable test would be for her to submit her sample to any of the major firms and have her DNA tested as anyone else. But definitely NOT by an individual rendering her special boutique service.
9
@mark: he measured her against Latin American DNA….as he had no Native American DNA to use….all he "proved" is she has some minute LATIN AMERICAN ancestry (0.5%)….NOT Native American.
Per the much more accurate Boston Globe article, Sen. Warren is 1/1,024 Native American, so basically, 99.999% Caucasian.
She really proved her point.
22
@Jason A. The Globe reported that the results would show from 1/64 to 1/1,024 ancestry. Her family's belief was that her 3X great-grandmother was native, which would make Sen. Warren 1/64th Native American. Point proven.
President Warren and Vice President Winfrey. That will be the day, or so I once thought. Really its wide open now. Just because we have not yet had a woman President doesn't mean that it cant or wont happen. After Donald Trump got elected. I am starting to think about being President. Lets draft Kaitlin Jenner.
1
@Mark
Bruce Jenner? Are you sure Kim isn't running for president? Once Kanye spins out of control completely, she will have him committed and then overhaul her appearance, with some reductive surgery on her rear end, to look like a white soccer mom and she will be ready to hit the campaign trail.
This result shows she was lying. She is no more Natuve American than anyone.
14
I guess it is true. Senator Warren is in fact a descendant of Chief Wild Eagle on F Troop.
11
@BC
I guess by your calculus Trump and Colonel Klink are next of kind. Sounds right.
1
So, Elizabeth Warren is "possibly" 1/1024 (0.098%) Native American. Scientists say the average European-American is 0.18% Native American. That'd make Warren even less Native American than the average European-American.
According to the New York Times, the average white person in America has nearly double the amount of American Indian DNA as Elizabeth Warren, who claims to be Cherokee.
Can't argue with science.
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/25/science/23andme-genetic-ethnicity-stu...
13
If Warren was a Russian dictator or a Saudi king, Trump would be happy to take her at her word.
5
@JeffW
Or really any autocrat. Sad but true. Well pointed out, Jeff. I laughed AND cried.
2
Whoops. 6th generation is 1/64th "Native American," and 10th generation is 1/1024th Native American.....
Oh, and researchers did not have enough Native American blood samples to link to Native American blood so she may be Mexican, South American, or Central American.
This goes in the same news pile as the "98% certainty that HRC was going to be President during 2016".
13
Trump will just make up more lies and insults about Warren, and his base of cult followers will believe and cheer him. Pathological liars lie, that's what they do. Cultists follow the messiah, that's what they do.
Please, please, please vote this year. The future of your children and of future generations is a stake, please vote. If you care about them, if you have a conscience, VOTE 2018 !!!
So turns out Warren is 1/1024th Native American?
And that's a convincing rebuttal?
16
Rather than focusing on racism, her response to Trump should be: I'm honored to be called Pocahontas!
3
Elizabeth Warren has demeaned herself by entering into such a ridiculous spat with Trump
Would have been far more dignified and presidential to simply ignore him
4
I wouldn’t say she has ‘demeaned’ herself. She’s still incredibly smart, classy, hard-working and dedicated. But she definitely should have ignored him.
I say she take’s Duckworth’s cue and start referring to him as Cadet Bonespurs.
2
Trump and his gang are most definitely Proven Propaganda People, the Gang Of Pirates, irrefutably now.
1
My gosh I love you, Senator Warren. Please run in 2020.
2
Tax returns from Trump or Don the Con man.
5
“Who cares, who cares?” he said, “I didn’t say that. You better read it again.”
DNA tests would prove that trump is welsh
2
I don’t blame her for putting that out. He is a bully, and one must stand up to bullies. He stirs up the basest prejudices of his supporters, and spews hatred. His threats against the press may even have contributed to the death of The Washington Post reporter.
I can’t wait to vote!
2
Donald Trump is like Ebola. As distasteful as it is to deal with him, it’s impossible to ignore him. After taunting Elizabeth Warren for years about her Native American heritage and threatening to expose her as a fake with a DNA test, she has finally succumbed to taking a DNA test to prove her heritage. Now he says, “Who cares!” He did the same thing to Barack Obama, who finally had to produce his birth certificate.
Right now, the Donald Trump epidemic is far from over. And like Ebola, curing it seems like a long shot. But unless we employ every tactic available, it will engulf all of us. Apathy is not going to cure this lethal epidemic. For starters, vote in November!
6
Nah. She's no good. Too hysterical and reactionary. Who cares what Trump said about her.
3
Trump will soon have his crowds chanting 'Pocahontas' and 'lock her up' if he thinks Elisabeth Warren is a real threat as a candidate. Obama released his birth certificate but it made no difference to right wing opponents. He was still biracial, i.e. black. No matter the test, Warren's Native American ancestry will still be ridiculed and pronounced as fake.
Trump is extremely petty and vindictive. There are no limits to how low he'll go. Lying in service to his ambition and tender ego is like breathing. Like an amphibious swamp creature, lies ooze through his skin with ease. And his adoring crowds will eat it up because they seem as full of hate and bigotry as he is.
The best defense against Trump and Trumpism is a vigorous, fact filled offense. The goal is go after independent and undecided voters in the middle, not to sway the irredeemables who willingly drink Trump's kool-aid. An hour long speech could list provable lie after provable lie. Campaign ads can buttress such a speech with copious documents, video clips, and comedic spoofs.
Call Trump a liar and a fake businessman morning, noon and night. Call him a disappointment to his father who was repeatedly forced to bail him out of business failures. Thanks to The NY Times, it's all on record. And his family fortune is based on lies and tax fraud, money stolen from the American people.
End every speech and ad with a simple refrain, he oughta be in jail. Say it over and over.
3
This is all so silly...6 to 10 generations ago? And this means something? It reminds me of when my kids used to say "I did brush my teeth - smell my breath!" and even though you could smell toothpaste you knew the brush was only in their mouth for 5 seconds.
8
Yep. She's running.
1
Why a handpicked Stanford guy and not Ancestry.com or 23 and me? 6-10 generations is a bit farther than the relative she claimed anyway. She had infinite chutzpah to claim native american status to be a Harvard professor anyway; this is further proof that affirmative action is a joke, if this result is even true. What percent of her DNA is allegedly native American; my test says that I am Ashkanazi Jew 0.1%, but I don't tell people I'm Jewish.
10
"Mr. Trump denied his earlier pledge to make the charitable contribution if Ms. Warren proved her heritage." Quell surprise!!
He has spent much of his adult scamming and reneging on pledges. Most notorious, he scammed 200 poor undocumented Polish workers who worked on the 5th Avenue tower.
1
6-10 generations ago ..... strongly suggests? Geez. That's a long time ago with a "probability" attached. Wonder how many Americans have a tiny percentage Native American heritage if we go back that far?
5
Not that many if you consider that many Americans came here from Europe, Africa and Asia.
1
Has Politifact added the "1 million dollars political contribution to Elisabeth Warren if she takes a DNA test and it shows she has native american ancestry" lie to it's list yet.
It would be ironic if this turned out to be the 5000th documented Trump lie while in office.
1
What is wrong with the man who occupies the White House and is addressed as Mr. President? Base on his behavior - verbal and actions, he does not deserve the honor and respect we accord to anyone who has that title. We all know he is vindictive, conveniently forgetful, immature (when interviewed by 60 Minutes’ Lesley Stahl—“I’m the president and you’re not.”) and no moral compass amongst other negative characteristics.
So, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, best foot forward and let’s move on to kick out this entire administration and the Republican hypocrites (Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, shamelessly-yours Sen. Grassley and Sen. Tantrumy Lindsey Graham) that support this irresponsible and degrading Trump legacy.
I’m proud to be an AMERICAN.
I AM NOT PROUD OF OUR GOVT.
So she has done what Trump asked her to do and this will not change anything as far as Trump is concerned. He will still mock her as "Pocahontas" because he is a low life.
The most important thing she could do now is use this as leverage to get Trump to release his taxes and prove he's an honest person. (ha,ha,ha,ha,ha forever)
2
I have looked at Warren's website. I have watched some of the videos. I even looked at her application to Rutgers law school where Warren stated that her ethnic background was white and that she wasn't interested in any minority admission preference for minorities.
I'm disappointed. Where are her report cards for elementary school? Where is her high school record? Why hasn't she put up on her website a scan of every paper she wrote starting in high school? When did she have her first period? Did Warren ever drink alcohol to the extent that her memory was impaired? Did she ever drink alcohol when underage? Where are her high school yearbooks? Did she ever make up a song about Brett Kavanaugh? Where are any records where Warren got fined for overstaying at a parking meter?
Pocohantas has to come clean.
Based on decades of experience on the Internet, I find it necessary to say that the above is ironical and sarcastic.
6
Does she really want to go there and have the Indian tribes judge her for claiming Indian status with 1/32 to 1/512 (now corrected by the Boston Globe to 1/1024) as the contribution to her genes? As Scott Adams noted on Periscope this morning, her ad touting it was extremely tone deaf as she is standing in front of her family which is the whitest bunch you will ever find.
8
She didn’t claim ‘Indian status’ (whatever that means).
4
She has Native American blood 6-10 generations back Let's say it is 8 generations to average .That makes her way less then 1% Native American.She used her "heritage " to advance her carrier not to fight for Indian rights.Senator Saunders lost Massachusetts Democratic Primary by only 3% Hillary was endorsed by opportunistic Elizabeth Warren.I'm an Ashkenazy Jew and have 2% African blood.I tan great but to claim affirmative action benefits based on my DNA would be obscene.Warren is HRC redux we need a a candidate who can beat Trump.
8
What will it take for Republicans to renounce the falsity they kneel before?
1
So this is what politics has become... a genetic test
to validate who we are ???,..simply no.
6
That biography video she put out today was such cynical piece of inauthentic political consultant rubbish
Look - Elizabeth Warren is a liberal Harvard intellectual. She looks the part. She talks the part. She is the part.
Instead of owning who she is -- she makes a video portraying herself as s red state hardscrabble Oklahoma girl -- sitting on the front porch of her brother's lower middle class house, drinking beer from a plastic red keg cup. I love the close up of the family picture with the GUN resting right in front of the picture frame! Does ANYONE believe Elizabeth Warren is pro gun???
This reminds me of some other Mass politicians who were convinced by consultants to purple up their blue image - Michael Dukakis riding around in that tank and John Kerry with his orange and camaflage hunting costume.
You watch Michael Bloomberg. He's an authentic leader and an original and you won't be seeing him in a tank or walking around with a hunting rifle. He'll tell everyone exactly what he thinks about guns and climate change and immigration and everything else. He's incapable of being inauthentic.
BLOOMBERG 2020!
5
@Luciano...Mike may be inauthentic, but is he an inauthentic Democrat, Republican, Independent, Libertarian...?
@Luciano - You do realize that John Kerry once wore camouflage for a very good reason, yes? Apparently, a big to-do in the 1960s? We could ask Trump about it, but he wasn't there.
3
Real question is what percentage of "white" Americans have a Native American in their family tree 6 to 10 generations ago. Answer is, millions, and they don't run around claiming to be Native American on job applications. Clearly her NAM ancestry, if any, is negligible, and the charge of deception still sticks.
6
@Odin -- you are free to believe that ... but Trump still needs to pay up, because that's not what he said.
Furthermore she never said it on a job application, go and check.
Call Trump out! He lies, then lies to cover up those lies. Enough already, it's time to hold his behavior accountable. Trump doesn't respect honesty, and has no integrity; so why dance around the facts. Journalists, take the risk of being humiliated for the good of our country, as the longer Trump is able to mislead the public, the harder it will be to hold him accountable. Time is now!