Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., launched into an extended tirade Tuesday evening in which she accused Donald Trump of being a “sleazeball,” a move that appears to be part of a greater effort by Hillary Clinton’s campaign to provoke a furious response from the GOP nominee.
“What kind of a man roots for people to lose their homes?” the senator asked during a campaign event in Raleigh, N.C., “I’ll tell you what kind of man: a small, insecure money grubber. A man who will never be president of the United States.”
Clinton’s senate surrogate continued, and referenced reports alleging Trump has stiffed several contractors over the years.
“What kind of man does that? A pathetic bully. A man who will never be president of the United States!” Warren said to applause and cheers.
The Massachusetts lawmaker also hit Trump for saying during the second presidential debate that he is “smart” to try to avoid paying federal income taxes.
“What kind of man does that? A selfish little sleazeball!” she said. “A man who will never be president of the United States!”
Warren’s comments Tuesday evening come on the heels of a series of provocations from the Clinton campaign seemingly aimed at inspiring an unbecoming response from Trump.
Clinton’s team published a how-to guide earlier this week instructing supporters on how to make their own Trump-themed “tinfoil hats,” a move that comes as part of a larger effort to brand the GOP nominee as an unhinged conspiracy theorist.
Additionally, the Democratic nominee herself regularly mocks Trump’s purported personal wealth and challenges his claim he’s a multibillionaire.
Clinton multibillionaire supporters, including former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and business magnate Marc Cuban, have also taken to mocking Trump as being more broke than wealthy, and they often ridicule him as a failed businessman.
All of this comes after it was revealed earlier this year that the Clinton team has been working closely with mental health experts to develop a psychological profile on Trump, gaming out the best possible ways to get under his skin and into his head.
And if it’s a frenzied reaction Warren is looking for by calling Trump an unscrupulous “sleaze bag,” there’s a good chance she’ll get it: The senator is already one of the GOP nominee’s favorite targets for ridicule.
Trump usually responds whenever the senator has an unflattering thing to say about him, and he has aimed a vast array of colorful insults in Warren’s direction over the past 14 months.
Trump has tweeted that she is “sad to watch,” and that she has “done nothing in the Senate.”
The Republican candidate has also accused Warren of being “a very weak Senator, ” and has called her “Goofy,” “the least productive Senator in the U.S. Senate,” “Very racist,” a “Total hypocrite” and a “lowlife.”
Trump has added that she “doesn’t have a clue,” that she “gets nothing done,” that she “didn’t have the guts to run for POTUS,” that she is “weak and ineffective,” that she “has a career that is totally based on a lie” that she is “Hillary Clinton’s flunky,” that she “has a nasty mouth” and that she is “All talk, no action.”
The Republican candidate has also taken to dismissing Warren’s many criticisms of his candidacy by referring to her as “Pocahontas,” the famous daughter of Chief Powhatan.
Trump’s jabs are based on reports from 2012 disputing the senator’s claim to Cherokee Indian heritage. Warren identified as a Native American when she applied in the 1990s for a teaching positioning at Harvard Law School. However, she has yet to produce any evidence proving her supposed heritage.
On Tuesday, as she drew cheers and applause in Raleigh, Warren seemed to signal she is interesting in committing to a shooting war of words with the GOP nominee.
