On December 31, Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren launched her 2020 presidential exploratory committee. A prominent member of the Democratic party, it has long been speculated that Warren’s ambitions were greater than the Senate.
Warren has positioned herself as an advocate for women’s rights, universal healthcare and the working class. However, this is nothing more than a carefully cultivated facade. When faced with even the slightest scrutiny, it becomes apparent that Warren’s priorities are not with the American people but are instead focused solely on serving her own ambitions.
Since first being elected in 2011, Warren has gained a reputation of hypocrisy. Focused on promoting herself instead of the interests of Massachusetts, Warren took every opportunity to be an incendiary roadblock to progress.
In 2016, Warren voted against the 21st Century Cures Act, a bipartisan bill that would have provided over $12 million in funds for fighting the opioid epidemic in her home state. That same year, she proceeded to criticize the Trump administration for not doing enough to combat the opioid crisis.
In another flagrant display of hypocrisy, Warren vocally aligned herself with the #MeToo movement while simultaneously accepting a $10,000 donation from a self-confessed sexual assailant, and ignored calls by opponents to return the funds.
This is not the first time that Warren has turned her back on the women she claims to fight for: when asked in a CNN interview about the murder of an Iowa woman, Warren carelessly devalued the woman’s life, claiming that Americans should instead focus on “real problems” at the border. While this alone is insidious coming from a woman who calls herself a feminist warrior, someone who does not view an American death as “real problem” has no business being president.
Warren has proven repeatedly that she is willing to promote any stance that will win her national favor, even at the expense of her own long-term credibility.
During her first term as senator, Warren demonstrated that the health of Massachusetts was secondary to positioning herself as a 2020 contender. During her first six years in office, Warren focused her efforts on authoring two books, touring across the country holding book signings and speaking at campaign rallies across the country. Her constant travel to states like Wisconsin, Ohio, Iowa and California drove her opponent Geoff Diehl to create a “Where’s Warren?” campaign, which highlighted the Senator’s constant devotion to everyone but her own constituents.
Despite spending the majority of her time out of state, Warren refused to admit her presidential ambitions. In a blatant display of dishonesty and deceit, Warren claimed that her goals if re-elected would be to continue serving Massachusetts and that a 2020 bid was not on her mind.
When called to sign a pledge to serve the full term if re-elected, Warren refused, but was quoted several times stating clearly, “I am not running for president.” In a move that surprised no one, Warren did not even make it 60 days post re-election before breaking that promise.
Warren has proved repeatedly that she is willing to lie to the public if it serves her goals. In an effort to promote her own agenda, Warren has turned her back on women, her own party, and her home state. If she cannot be trusted to care for the constituents that first elected her, how is it possible that she would put the nation’s best interests first as president?
In addition to her hypocrisy, dishonesty and overall lack of credibility, Warren is also willing to put her own profit ahead of sticking to her stated principles. Warren has worked tirelessly to become a hallmark of corporate accountability, creating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and advocating for tough stances against Wall Street and other corporate entities.
At the same time, Warren has secretly invested millions of dollars in Wall Street corporations for her own financial gain. Her Senate financial disclosures show that she has invested over $2 million in the same kinds of corporations that she lambasts from the podium. While she has fired shots against giants such as Wells Fargo for what she calls “consumer abuse,” she has continually stayed silent when corporations that she has invested in are found to follow the same practices.
This financial dishonesty extends beyond her supposed hatred of Wall Street — the same financial disclosure failed to list the funding for the Washington, D.C., condominium that Warren purchased in 2013. Warren also fell under scrutiny when she used legislative loopholes to avoid disclosing the financing for her multi-million dollar primary home in Cambridge.
These quiet acts of deception are nothing more than a desperate attempt to hide her personal wealth while making backroom deals to grow it. After all, it is hard for Warren to seem like a credible advocate for the working class while simultaneously enjoying a net worth of up to $10 million.
Warren’s selfish attitude is catching up to her. Despite her recent re-election, the people of Massachusetts are beginning to realize that their Senator ignored them during her first term, and sees her second term as nothing more than a stepping stone to greater power.
A September 2018 poll showed that 58 percent of Massachusetts voters did not think that Warren should run for president. As time continues to expose the depth of Warren’s insincerity, those numbers will only continue to grow.
A senator who cannot win her own home state will have almost no feasible chance of winning the presidency. That is the best option when it comes to Warren, whose time in office has been punctuated with hidden agendas, platforms dictated by national appeal, and a history of ruthlessly pursuing any opportunity for personal gain, even at the expense of those who voted for her.
Rachel Tripp is a campaign consultant in Washington, D.C.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.
