Why does Trump get a pass, but not Elizabeth Warren?

By Joan Vennochi GLOBE COLUMNIST JANUARY 22, 2018

DURING THE “Saturday Night Live” skit “What even matters anymore?,” the answer to every outrage was — nah, it doesn’t matter, not if President Trump did it. But when it comes to Elizabeth Warren — yeah, everything matters.

Based on what she calls “family lore,” Warren said she believes she has Cherokee roots. No definitive evidence exists. This became a campaign issue when she first ran for Senate, in 2012. Trump picked up on it and regularly refers to her as “Pocahontas.” As Warren runs for reelection in Massachusetts and appears to be positioning herself for a possible presidential bid, her unproven ethnicity is turning into troubling political baggage, reports the Globe’s Annie Linskey.

Indignation on the right now has company on the left. Warren’s integrity is said to be on the line. Even political soul mates believe she must address this very serious topic — though it would be interesting to know how many of the offended have Iowa steak fries on their calendars and how many were also appalled by the behavior of Al Franken, another potential presidential candidate iced by fellow Democrats.

What’s wrong with this picture, besides everything? If this really torches Warren, why does Trump still get a pass on such a wide range of terrible, awful, not to mention immoral, behavior? On the personal front, there’s ample evidence of infidelity, sexual harassment, and worse committed by Trump. As a candidate, he was able to turn those issues against Hillary Clinton, not because of anything she did, but because of her husband’s behavior. Now that he’s president, it has been revealed that Trump allegedly had an affair with a porn star shortly after his third wife gave birth to their son. According to The Wall Street Journal, Trump’s personal lawyer paid the porn star $130,000 to buy her silence before the 2016 presidential election. Yet no one except the media reporting on it seems to care.

Trump’s lies are legendary. Just in his first year of office, he made 2140 false or misleading comments, according to a count by The Washington Post. Roy Moore was a bridge too far for Alabama voters. But Trump paid no political price with supporters, including evangelicals, for backing a Senate candidate accused of molesting teenagers. The president’s recent Oval Office comments on Haiti and African countries reminded the country yet again of his vulgar and racist world view. And his word means little; negotiating with him is like “negotiating with Jello,” as Senator Chuck Schumer put it.

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