Elizabeth Warren Explains How She Would Counter Trump's Insults

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said Monday that, if she were to receive the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020 and face off with President Donald Trump , she has no interest in participating in his tactic of name-calling. 

At a CNN town hall, Warren described her experience running against a long-term incumbent Republican in 2012, and how that campaign prepared her for this one.

“I’ve been around the block before,” she said. “Back in 2012, that Republican ran the same play. What I discovered was that people cared a whole lot more about their families than they do about some kind of name-calling.” 

Warren said that she decided to campaign for president not for fame and glory but because it’s her “life’s work.” 

Warren briefly spelled out her “twisted story” growing up in a paycheck-to-paycheck household, marriage at a young age, dropping out of college but said that achieving her lifelong dream of becoming a public school teacher through a commuter college program is the kind of opportunity that all Americans deserve. 

“I have lived my dream,” the former Harvard law professor said.

“That’s what I believe is the best of America. When we open more doors for more people. I want to live in an America that’s not just an opportunity for those born into privilege but all of us.”

“This is the case we’ve got to make against Donald Trump,” she said. 

Throughout his presidency, Trump has repeatedly referred to Warren as “Pocahontas ,” mocking her past claims of indigenous ancestry. He has also called her “goofy ” and said that it “wouldn’t be difficult at all ” to beat her in the election. 

“We’re not going to win by doing better name-calling,” Warren said Monday. “We’re going to get out and talk about our vision and how it affects families all across this country.”

“What’s at stake is not only our economic future, but it’s our democracy. And I am in this fight all the way. I think we make that case and the American people are with us.”