One day after Elizabeth Warren made her campaign trail debut alongside Hillary Clinton, the senator from Massachusetts proudly made her case for the presumptive Democratic nominee live via satellite on The View.
Moderator Whoopi Goldberg began by questioning Warren’s perpetual insistence that she has no interest in being president of the United States. Earlier in the month, Warren did not hesitate to say “Yes, I do” when MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow asked if she would be “capable” of stepping in the role if she “were ever called to do it.” Now, Goldberg wanted to know, is the VP slot an option for Warren?
“Yesterday was not about vice president,” Warren replied. “Yesterday was about having a chance to get out there with the woman who is going to be the next president of the United States.” When Goldberg surmised that Warren was not going to answer her question about running with Clinton, Warren laughed and said, “Yeah, that’s right.”
The questions did not exactly get easier from there, with co-host Paula Faris bringing up the decidedly harsh criticism in Warren's book The Two-Income Trap of Clinton’s vote against bankruptcy legislation she had previously supported. “Can you unequivocally say that she has never changed a view based on donations?” she asked.
“Look, she has said now that she regrets that vote and I appreciate that,” Warren said, shifting the focus to Clinton’s current campaign promises to be tough on Wall Street and keep banking regulations in place. Given Donald Trump’s “big wet kiss to Wall Street,” Warren said she feels more than comfortable backing Clinton.
Describing the former secretary of state as a “fighter” not unlike herself, Warren proceeded to make a stronger case for Clinton than we have seen from nearly any other member of Congress, most notably her still-rival Bernie Sanders. “She’s smart, she’s tough, she’s got a steady hand, and I think she’s got a good heart,” she said.
Warren seemed even more comfortable after Joy Behar pivoted the conversation to focus on her continued attacks against Donald Trump, asking if she thinks they have been effective in diminishing his already problematic stature with general election voters.
“The Republicans waited [until] way too late to go on the attack after Donald Trump,” Warren said. “My view on that is I’m not waiting,” she added, to applause from the studio audience. “Now is the time to go after him, you bet.”
As for Trump’s attacks on Warren for claiming Native American heritage, including referring to her as “Pocahontas,” the senator defended her record and said, “What this is really about is can they bully me into shutting up? Can they just be nasty enough and ugly enough and throw enough stuff in my direction that I’ll say, ‘Oh’ and just go back into the shadows.”
“The answer is nope, not happening,” Warren added.
Finally, Behar returned to the VP question by asking Warren if she believes the country is ready for an all-female ticket. “You know, right now, I’m just focused on getting one woman elected to the White House,” Warren said.
