Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Lindsey Graham Just Announced He'll Take a DNA Test In Hopes of 'Beating' Elizabeth Warren's Native Ancestry, and People Have Questions

Lindsey Graham Just Announced He'll Take a DNA Test In Hopes of 'Beating' Elizabeth Warren's Native Ancestry, and People Have Questions
(Photo by Ethan Miller and Chris Kleponis/Getty Images)

Huh?

In response to repeated racial slurs by President Donald Trump on Twitter and in his rallies and public appearances, Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren took a DNA test to prove her claim of an unnamed, unidentified Native American ancestor in her mother's family line.

On Monday, Warren shared her DNA results and her family story asking Trump to pay the $1 million dollars he said he would donate to charity if she took a DNA test and proved there was a Native American ancestor in her matrilineal genealogy.


But rather than admit he was wrong or make the charitable donation, Trump first said he did not care, denied his July statement issuing the challenge and then took to Twitter Tuesday morning to again use the name of Tsenacommacah Algonquian Confederacy woman, Pocahontas, as a racial slur. Native leaders asked the President to stop using Pocahontas' name in attacks on Warren.

It seems the bar shifted from proving Warren had a Native American ancestor, which is what she claimed based on stories from her mother, to having "enough" Native American DNA and tribal enrollment in the Cherokee Nation.

Warren mentioned her mother thought the ancestor might be Cherokee, but never claimed tribal affiliation. However after her DNA test reveal, the media sought input from the Cherokee Nation.

As sovereign nations, tribes determine their own eligibility criteria for citizens and enrollment. DNA testing is not a factor in tribal citizenship or affiliation.

But Trump and his supporters seized on the relatively small amount of Native American DNA in Warren's results, even though it proves she did have an unidentified Native ancestor as she claimed, and her lack of endorsement for tribal citizenship from the Cherokee Nation as a new opportunity to mock Warren.

On Tuesday, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham got in on the attack during an appearance on Fox & Friends. Graham stated:

"I've been told that my grandmother was part Cherokee Indian. It may all be just talk, but you're gonna find out in a couple of weeks because I'm gonna take this test."

Graham said he was sure he could "beat Warren." He added:

"I didn't think about it much, but if she's less than one tenth of one percent, I think I can beat her."

In his remarks regarding Warren, Graham said he viewed the test as a "reality TV moment" and vowed to reveal his results on Fox & Friends. Graham topped it off with a racist comment about getting $1 million and a casino, as a jab at Native American gaming.

"I'm going to take it, but the results are going to be revealed here. This is my Trump moment."

Not content with mocking Warren and the Cherokee Nation, Graham ended his visit with a jab at Persians, or Iranians, as the South Carolina Senator called them. The GOP legislator said:

"I'll probably be Iranian. That'd be, like, terrible."

Watch his remarks here.

People failed to appreciate Senator Graham's comments.

Many cited Graham's confusion between racism and humor.

While others wondered about the obsession with Warren's ancestry and what else might show up in a Graham DNA test.

Warren is up for reelection in November's midterms. Midterm elections are slated for Tuesday, November 6, 2018.

More from People/donald-trump

Dave Coulier on TODAY
TODAY/YouTube

Dave Coulier Reveals New Cancer Diagnosis Just Months After Beating Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

Fans of Full House and of Dave Coulier, who played Joey Gladstone on the show, have been on a roller coaster in the past year, following Coulier along on his cancer treatment journey after he revealed that he'd been diagnosed with Stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma and later deemed cancer-free.

Now, unfortunately, the journey continues, as Coulier revealed during an interview with TODAY after Thanksgiving weekend that just seven months after being declared cancer-free, he's since been diagnosed with a "P16 squamous carcinoma," which is a form of cancer that concentrates in the head and neck, and in Coulier's case, in his tongue.

Keep ReadingShow less
Oxford American College Dictionary
AFP PHOTO/Nicholas KAMM (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images

Oxford Dictionary Just Announced Their 2025 Word Of The Year—And Yep, That Tracks

It's that time of year when all of the "2025 wrap ups" start to come out—some carefully considered and others a slapdash attempt at penning a list of things for people to buy—but a few "best of" lists are highly anticipated each year.

For those interested in words and/or pop culture, one of the big moments is when Oxford University Press releases their Word of the Year.

Keep ReadingShow less
Lilly Wachowski; Keanu Reeves
So True with Caleb Hearon/YouTube; Warner Bros.

Lilly Wachowski Shares How She Had To 'Let Go' Of 'The Matrix' After It Was Twisted By Right-Wing Theories

Matrix co-creator Lilly Wachowski has opened up about what it's been like to see her magnum opus The Matrix be co-opted by the far-right.

Anywhere you go in online spaces for the past 10-15 years, right-wing weirdos talk about being "red-pilled," a reference to the film's plot point in which lead character Neo is offered a red pill that will enlighten him to the realities of the systems ruling our lives, or a blue pill that will allow him to stay ignorant.

Keep ReadingShow less
Madonna; Donald Trump
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Madonna Rips Trump Administration's 'Absurd' Decision Not To Mark World AIDS Day For First Time Since 1988

Pop icon, singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor Madonna has a bone to pick with the administration of MAGA Republican President Donald Trump.

On Monday, the Queen of Pop noted on Instagram that December 1 was World AIDS Day, but the United States government wouldn't be acknowledging it for the first time since the World Health Organization had established the day in 1988.

Keep ReadingShow less
Franklin the Turtle illustration; Pete Hegseth
CBC Television

'Franklin The Turtle' Publisher Condemns Pete Hegseth For Turning Beloved Character Into Violent Meme

Kids Can Press, the Canadian publisher behind the beloved Franklin children's books, condemned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in a statement after he shared an AI-generated image of Franklin the Turtle to justify his attacks on alleged drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean.

Hegseth's original meme, which he inexplicably captioned "for your Christmas wish list," features a doctored book cover titled Franklin Targets Narco Terrorists and shows Franklin, the protagonist of the popular Canadian children's book series authored by Paulette Bourgeois and illustrated by Brenda Clark, firing a bazooka from a helicopter at boats in the water below.

Keep ReadingShow less