Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

Watch Elizabeth Warren’s epic 10-minute takedown of Donald Trump

Elizabeth Warren calls Donald Trump a “small, insecure money grubber.”

Donald Trump “will never be the president of the United States.”

That’s the message US Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has been working hard to drive home these past weeks, most notably with her unyielding tweetstorms.

But on Tuesday, speaking at the Center for Popular Democracy, Warren stepped away from the 140-character platform and made her point very clear: Trump is “a small insecure money grubber who doesn’t care who gets hurt so long as he makes money off it” and “cares about no one but himself.”

“Now that he has sewn up the Republican nomination, Donald Trump is dropping all pretense. He is kissing the fannies of all the poor misunderstood Wall Street bankers,” Warren said Monday night. “But the American people are a lot smarter that Donald Trump thinks they are.”

It was a speech filled with biting one-liners, attacking the presumptive nominee for claiming to be “tough” on Wall Street:

Sometimes Trump claims he is tough on Wall Street, but now he is singing a very different song, he is saying that the new Dodd-Frank regulations, and I’m going to quote here, ‘made it impossible for bankers to function’ and he will put out a new plan soon that will be close to dismantling it.

Donald Trump is worried about helping poor little Wall Street. Let me find the world’s smallest violin to play a sad sad song.

Can Donald Trump even name three things about Dodd-Frank? Someone should ask.

Chiding Trump for being pleased with the 2008 financial crisis:

The rest of us were horrified by what happened in the 2008 financial crisis, by what happened to millions of families that were forced out of their homes.

But Donald Trump was drooling at the idea of a housing melt down because it meant he could buy more property on the cheap. What kind of a man does that? What kind of a man roots for people to get thrown out of their house? What kind of a man roots for people to get thrown out of their jobs? To root for people to lose their pensions?

What kind of man does that? I will tell you exactly the kind of man. It is a man that cares about no one but himself.

What kind of a man does that? A man that will never be the president of the United States.

And turning Trump’s ever-elusive tax returns against him:

For all we know he could be paying zero taxes today. And he is proud of it. Two weeks ago he was more than happy to dodge taxes because he doesn’t want to throw his money, quote, ‘down the drain.’

Donald Trump likes being a billionaire but he doesn’t think that the rules that apply to everyone else, should apply to him. But let’s be clear Donald Trump didn’t get rich on his own.

His businesses rely on roads and bridges paid for by the rest of us. His businesses rely on workers that are educated by the rest of us. They rely on police and firefighters who protect the rest of us and are supported by the rest of us. Donald Trump and his businesses are protected by a world-class military that defends us abroad and keeps us safe at home and the rest of us pay to support.

[...]

Donald Trump thinks that supporting them is throwing money down the drain. Then I say we throw Donald Trump down the drain.

Mic drop.


Watch: The obscure research that predicted Donald Trump

More in Politics

Podcasts
The Supreme Court abortion pills case, explainedThe Supreme Court abortion pills case, explained
Podcast
Podcasts

How Louisiana brought mifepristone back to SCOTUS.

By Peter Balonon-Rosen and Sean Rameswaram
Politics
Trump’s China policy is nearly the exact opposite of what everyone expectedTrump’s China policy is nearly the exact opposite of what everyone expected
Politics

As Trump heads to China, attention and resources are being shifted from Asia to yet another war in the Middle East.

By Joshua Keating
Politics
Are far-right politics just the new normal?Are far-right politics just the new normal?
Politics

Liberals are preparing for a longer war with right-wing populists than they once expected.

By Zack Beauchamp
The Logoff
Flavored vapes doomed Trump’s FDA headFlavored vapes doomed Trump’s FDA head
The Logoff

Why Marty Makary is out at the FDA, briefly explained.

By Cameron Peters
Politics
Virginia Democrats’ irresponsible new plan to save their gerrymanderVirginia Democrats’ irresponsible new plan to save their gerrymander
Politics

Democrats just handed the Supreme Court’s Republicans a loaded weapon.

By Ian Millhiser
The Logoff
Can Trump lower gas prices?Can Trump lower gas prices?
The Logoff

What suspending the gas tax would mean for you, briefly explained.

By Cameron Peters