Elizabeth Warren lashes out at Donald Trump: He is a 'thin-skinned, racist bully'


Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) excoriated Donald Trump Thursday during a speech at a legal conference, calling him a "thin-skinned, racist bully" prone to "nasty temper tantrums" who should be ashamed of himself for using "the megaphone of a presidential campaign to attack a judge's character and integrity" simply because he thinks he has "some God-given right to steal people's money and get away with it."
The presumptive Republican nominee, Warren said, is "just a guy who inherited a fortune and kept it going by cheating people. When that's your business model, sooner or later you're going to run into legal trouble, and Donald Trump has run into legal trouble." Trump University targeted the most vulnerable people and left them in debt, Warren said, and "in America, we have the rule of law that means no matter how rich you are, no matter how loud you are, no matter how famous you are, if you break the law you can be held accountable, even if your name is Donald Trump."
By attacking the judge presiding over the Trump University fraud cases, Judge Gonzalo Curiel, Warren says it shows Trump is upset that Curiel is "following the law instead of bending it to suit the financial interests of one wealthy and oh-so-fragile defendant." Curiel is bound by the federal code of judicial ethics not to respond to Trump's comments, and Trump picking on him is "exactly what you would expect from a thin-skinned, racist bully," Warren said. Trump is "race-baiting a judge" who is "one of countless American patriots who has spent decades quietly serving his country, sometimes at great risk to his own life," Warren added. "Donald Trump is a loud, nasty, thin-skinned fraud who has never risked anything for anyone and who serves no one buy himself, and that is just one of the many reasons he will never be president of the United States."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
How the woke right gained power in the US
Under the radar The term has grown in prominence since Donald Trump returned to the White House
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK
-
Codeword: April 24, 2025
The Week's daily codeword puzzle
By The Week Staff
-
Crossword: April 24, 2025
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff
-
Musk vows DOGE pullback as Tesla profits plunge
Speed Read The Tesla SEO says he will soon step back from government matters to devote more time to the company
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
IMF sees slump from tariffs, Trump tries to calm markets
Speed Read The International Monetary Fund predicts the U.S. and global economies will slow significantly due to the president's trade war
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
DHS chief Kristi Noem's purse stolen from eatery
Speed Read Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's purse was stolen while she dined with family at a restaurant in Washington, D.C.
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Trump stands by Hegseth amid ouster reports
Speed Read The president dismissed reports that he was on the verge of firing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over a second national security breach
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
Hegseth reportedly shared war plans in 2nd group text
Speed Read The defense secretary sent information about an attack in Yemen to a Signal group chat that included his wife and brother
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Judge threatens Trump team with criminal contempt
Speed Read James Boasberg attempts to hold the White House accountable for disregarding court orders over El Salvador deportation flights
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
Biden slams Trump's Social Security cuts
Speed Read In his first major public address since leaving office, Biden criticized the Trump administration's 'damage' and 'destruction'
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
El Salvador refuses to return US deportee
Speed Read President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador said he would not send back the unlawfully deported Kilmar Ábrego García
By Peter Weber, The Week US