Just to close the circle on yesterday’s story, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released the results of a DNA test to the Boston Globe, proving that she was telling the truth about her ancestry. She also shifted the burden back to Donald Trump, who’s spent months attacking her, accusing the senator of lying about having a Native American ancestor.
The president said he’d pay $1 million if Warren verified her claim with a DNA test, and yesterday, Trump balked when asked if he’d pay up.
Later in the day, the president was in Georgia for a briefing on the damage done by Hurricane Michael, and during a Q&A with reporters, Trump insisted that Warren “owes the country an apology.” He didn’t say why, and I haven’t the foggiest idea what he was talking about.
Moment later, the Republican added this gem.
Trump said later Monday he would only pay the $1 million “if I can test her personally. That will not be something I would enjoy doing, either.”
Perhaps the president is unclear about what a DNA test is. What, exactly, does he want to do “personally” that he would find unpleasant? Does Trump envision a process in which he draws blood from the senator and begins a detailed examination of genetic history?
Or is this some kind of attempt to question Stanford University’s Carlos Bustamante, a renowned scholar and expert in the field, who did the research on Warren?
Either way, the Associated Press reported overnight that the Democratic senator finds the president’s latest comments “creepy.”
She tweeted that the president makes “creepy physical threats” about women who scare him, including her.
“He’s trying to do what he always does to women who scare him: call us names, attack us personally, shrink us down to feel better about himself,” the Massachusetts Democrat responded on Twitter on Monday after Trump made the comment during an appearance in Georgia. “It may soothe his ego — but it won’t work.”
If recent history is any guide, the president will respond with some tweets of his own fairly soon. [Update: Right on cue, Trump tweeted on the subject this morning.]
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."