Sen. Elizabeth Warren Addresses #ShePersisted
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell may have silenced Senator Elizabeth Warren on the Senate floor this week, but her message was still heard loud and clear.
On Wednesday, The Daily Show's Trevor Noah spoke with Warren about being told to sit down while reading a letter from Coretta Scott King in opposition to Sen. Jeff Sessions, who has since been elected Attorney General. At the time, McConnell had invoked "Rule 19" and stated, "She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted." Soon after, those last three words became a rallying cry online as thousands demanded the Senate #LetLizSpeak.
Addressing the phenomenon, Warren mostly demurred, stating she was just happy that King's words were reaching a wider audience.
"Look, the main thing is that millions of people are now reading Coretta Scott King's letter," she said. "I hope everybody reads her letter."
“Do you think Mitch McConnell realized what a solid he’s done you?,” the host responded, in reference to how many people have rallied behind the senator and have encouraged her to run for president in 2020.
“What it's done is it’s helped us have a better Democratic conversation,” Warren said. "We don’t have the votes in the United States Senate to block somebody like Jeff Sessions. So what we’ve got to do is count on people all around this country to make their voices heard."
In another interview with The Cut, Warren went on to state how outraged she was that the Senate would try to silence King's powerful statement against Sessions.
“When he said ‘Nevertheless, she persisted,’ I thought, ‘You bet I persist. And I will persist,” she said. "Notice that Republicans haven’t said, ‘Oh, she got the facts wrong,’ or, ‘Here are other things he did that give a very different impression.’ They say, ‘You’re just not allowed to talk about that.’ And that’s a pretty stunning statement of how debate works in America."
She also went on to state that despite Republicans having "concentrated money and power," Democrats still have "our voices and our votes" - which is why protests of all forms are so essential.
"The Women’s March mattered," she said. "It mattered to us, to remind us that we’re still in the fight, but it mattered to say loudly to the Republicans in Washington, ‘We’re here. We’re strong. And we will be persistent.’"
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