During what was ostensibly a news update about Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) releasing results of a DNA test to prove that she does, in fact, have some Native-American ancestry, the hosts of Fox & Friends had a good laugh at her expense.
Fox News reporter Carly Shimkus said Warren was “finally getting around to taking that DNA test” after “being criticized for her claims of Native American ancestry.” If the results of the test are true, she added, the senator would be anywhere from one 32nd Native American to one 512th Native American.
Of course, in public statements on the matter, Warren never claimed to be Native-American herself, only that her mother had told her she had some Native-American blood, a fact Fox News decided to omit. Nor did they mention Trump’s repeated promise to give $1 million to the charity of Warren’s choice if she could prove it—something he denied ever saying Monday morning.
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“Why doesn’t she do 23andMe and just end this?” co-host Brian Kilmeade asked, seeming to miss the point of the news segment entirely.
Shimkus pointed out that Warren went “a little bit more serious with it” than that.
The analysis was administered by Stanford University geneticist Carlos Bustamante, who happens to be an adviser to the commercial genetic testing services 23andMe and Ancestry.com. “The facts suggest that you absolutely have a Native-American ancestor in your pedigree,” he told Warren after reviewing the results.
“1/512th, so you’re saying there’s a chance,” Ainsley Earhardt added, simultaneously focusing on the outer edge of the estimate and butchering a quote from Dumb and Dumber.
“No matter what, I have a feeling President Trump’s nickname for her isn’t going anywhere,” Shimkus said, as Kilmeade let viewers know she was referring to “Pocahontas,” the racial slur that Trump has taken to calling his potential 2020 opponent at every opportunity.
Steve Doocy said that “could be right,” and it makes sense. If Trump called Warren “Pocahontas” before she proved she had Native-American ancestry, why would he stop now?
