BEDFORD, New Hampshire — A week after endorsing Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren on Saturday fired off a two-pronged attack against Donald Trump and former rival Scott Brown.
“I’m here to apologize,” the Massachusetts senator told the New Hampshire Democratic Party convention. “You see, back when I beat Scott Brown in 2012, I never expected him to pack up his truck, move to New Hampshire and become your problem.”
Brown became a Republican icon after winning Ted Kennedy’s old Senate seat in early 2010, only to lose it to then-Harvard Law School Professor Warren in November 2012. Brown later moved to New Hampshire, and challenged Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in 2014, but lost. Brown has since become a prominent surrogate of Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, and has been mentioned as a potential vice-presidential pick by the Manhattan businessman.
“I hear Donald Trump is floating Scott Brown as a possible running mate,” Warren told the New Hampshire Democratic faithful. “And I thought, ‘Ah, so Donald Trump really does have a plan to help the unemployed.'”
“You know, Scott Brown for Vice President makes sense,” Warren added about a prospective match-up between Trump and presumptive Democratic nominee Clinton. “Let’s face it: Nobody knows more about losing to a girl than Scott Brown. It’s the perfect reality TV show ticket — ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ meets the ‘Biggest Loser.'”
Warren also had some new lines for Trump, who she’s attacked repeatedly in speeches and on Twitter. On Saturday Warren called the mogul a “thin-skinned, racist bully.”
“Every day we learn more about him, and every day it becomes clearer that he is just a small, insecure money-grubber who doesn’t care about anyone or anything that doesn’t have the Trump name splashed all over it,” Warren told the crowd.
“Donald Trump says he likes to see women on their knees. Well, Donald, that’s not happening,” Warren said to laughter and cheers. “Can you believe this guy? Democrats believe in equal pay for equal work and a woman’s right to decisions over her own body. And we’re ready to fight for it.”
Warren was conspicuously silent about Clinton’s Democratic primary rival, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who has yet to concede the race despite coming up far short in the delegate count. Warren did mention the “hard fought primary” and said it was time to cross over to the general election with Clinton as the nominee.
“Whether you supported her in the primary or not, we can all say: Hillary Clinton is a fighter,” Warren said. “She keeps at it, fighting for Democratic values and fighting to take down an army of right-wing lunatics who will say and do anything to undermine reform in this country.”
That approach frustrated some Sanders supporters in a state where he trounced Clinton 60% to 38%. Chants of “Bernie!” could be heard several times throughout Warren’s speech.
“They’ve been close allies for so long so the fact that she’s basically leaving everything she’s been working on her entire career to support Hillary Clinton, it was very disappointing, especially without giving Bernie the credit he deserves,” Emily Jacobs, a Sanders delegate and Coos County Democratic chair, told CNN.
Sanders’ supporters hoped to pass a resolution at the state convention to open up the floor for debate. Supporters told CNN it would allow them to push for superdelegates at the Democratic National Convention to reflect the outcome of February’s primary proportionally, but the move failed to garner enough votes.
