Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat who's in the mix of candidates for the 2020 presidential nomination, told a late-night TV audience that the country should "never elect a man like Donald Trump again."
Making her way on the national tour of states and talk shows, Warren appeared on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on Monday evening. When the host asked Warren whether she would accept money from political action committees (PACs), Warren said she vowed to not take any of their money and used President Donald Trump as the exclamation point to her declaration.
Colbert asked if Warren would attend fancy dinners or call upon wealthy donors to help finance her campaign, and Warren replied that she wouldn't listen to PACs, super PACs or lobbyists in the District of Columbia's inner loop.
"I think the problem is money has too much influence in Washington. And right now in the Democratic primary, we have a chance to walk the walk," Warren said. "I don't take corporate PAC money. Shoot, I don't take PAC money of any kind. I don't take Washington lobbyists money. I'm not out there sucking up to some guys who are putting together a super PAC to try to help me out. And I'm not spending my time calling wealthy donors."
Warren, who is competing in a crowded Democratic field, pledged to run a "grassroots" campaign by connecting with people instead of big money.
"What I'm doing is, I've gone to 12 states and Puerto Rico right now. I'm out there with people who actually, one at a time, want to try to rebuild democracy," Warren said. "And what that means is volunteering, it means putting in a contribution wherever you can and make this work, and it means starting face-to-face, person-to-person across this country to build the kind of grassroots foundation that's going to make a difference in 2020."
The senator said that she wanted to not only keep Trump from getting re-elected but to keep the White House away from someone like him again.
"More importantly, it's going to help us make real change, come 2021, so we never elect a man like Donald Trump again."
Warren's quick speech ended with a handshake from Colbert and applause from the studio audience.
Warren wasn't asked about her idea to eliminate the country's Electoral College or her apology for claiming Native American heritage. When asked about socialism, she said she believed in "open markets."
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Scott McDonald is a Newsweek deputy night editor based in Cape Coral, Florida. His focus is assigning and writing stories ... Read more
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
