Eric Trump defended his dad’s use of the nickname “Pocahontas,” and Twitter threw so much shade
It seems that President Donald Trump and his family just can’t stay away from Twitter controversy. Most recently, the president’s son, Eric Trump, defended his dad’s “Pocahontas” remarks mocking Senator Elizabeth Warren at a ceremony meant to honor Navajo Code Talkers.
Since the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump has used the pejorative term to refer to Warren because of her unverified claims that she has Native American ancestry. His comment — and particularly the occasion at which he chose to use it — was met with immediate backlash, especially from Native American leaders.
Russell Begaye, the president of Navajo Nation told The New York Times that Trump’s use of the name was offensive and that the president should stop calling Warren by the nickname.
“The campaign is over,” Begaye said. “The nation needs to move forward, and using Native Americans in this way, in this type of honoring setting is something that should not be happening.”
But the president’s allies maintained that the nickname was not offensive. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told an ABC reporter that “Pocahontas” is a not a racial slur. And in a tweet that completely missed the point, the younger Trump wrote that ABC should not say that the nickname “Pocahontas” is offensive because of the company’s affiliation with Disney, which made the 1995 movie of the same name.
The irony of an ABC reporter (whose parent company Disney has profited nearly half a billion dollars on the movie “Pocahontas”) inferring that the name is “offensive” is truly staggering to me.
— Eric Trump (@EricTrump) November 28, 2017
Twitter users were quick to point out the flaws in Trump’s logic. Some explained that the title of the Disney movie is not offensive because it refers to, you know, a real historical figure.
...the fact that you can't see the difference between a movie ABOUT a real person and an insult AGAINST that person, a political enemy, and a whole group of people? THAT'S what's staggering here.
— Chris Buchheit (@TheBucket015) November 28, 2017
Eric Trump doesn't understand the difference between Disney making a movie about the actual Pocahontas, and his dad calling a white senator "Pocahontas." https://t.co/0IW4GqKdrW
— Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) November 28, 2017
Omg calling someone Pocahontas when it's actually Pocahontas is not offensive. It's like when someone calls you Eric Trump, it's not offensive, it's your name. But if somebody calls a random guy Eric Trump, it's definitely meant as an insult.
— Audrey Fox (@audonamission) November 28, 2017
Well then, ask Native Americans. Here, since you're so fricken stupid I'll just tell you.... it's the context in which he uses it. Damn you're an idiot.
— CarrieDahl
(@CarrieDDahl) November 28, 2017
First of all its the listener who infers. The speaker implies. Second, there's a massive difference between a children's movie and a racially motivated slur being repeatedly used against a sitting US Senator. Besides your father and grandpa LIED about being Swedish for decades.
— Ivye Allen (@ivye_m) November 28, 2017
It's offensive when used as a pejorative (pssst Eric- means expressing disapproval or contempt) as in, for example "you are almost as dumb as Eric Trump". pic.twitter.com/hpmrDVJAeN
— Jeffrey Evan Gold (@jeffgoldesq) November 28, 2017
How come the entire Trump family struggles with the concept of context? What gene is missing there?
— Winston Smith (@gaslightingus2) November 28, 2017
A Disney movie has nothing to do with using the name of one Native American woman to mock all Native Americans or people who have Native American ancestry. Despite what Trump’s allies say, calling Warren “Pocahontas,” to Native American veterans, no less, is racist.
The bottom line is if someone of a particular ethnic group is telling you not to use a word because it offends them, you need to listen. Trump should have more respect for the people he represents.