Note: This article on Elizabeth Warren contains “Game of Thrones” spoilers from Season 8, Episode 5.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., was the hardest hit politician in the wake of Sunday night’s plot turn in “Game of Thrones.”
Just a few weeks ago, Warren, in an apparent effort to appear hip to younger voters, posted an extended take on the Cut extolling the leadership qualities of her “favorite” character, Daenerys Targaryen. My collegue Tiana Lowe took issue with it at the time, but Warren’s take looks even worse now.
A few weeks back, Warren explained how she was inspired by Targaryen’s biography of overcoming obstacles and her instincts to establish equality, free slaves, and to improve the lives of the poor while sticking it to the rich and powerful.
Warren wrote: “[Daenerys Targaryen] states her mission clearly in season seven: ‘I’m not here to murder. All I want to destroy is the wheel that has rolled over everyone both rich and poor, to the benefit of no one but the Cersei Lannisters of the world.’ And as much as Dany wants to take on her family’s enemies and take back the Iron Throne, she knows that she must first fight the army of the dead that threatens all mankind. This is a revolutionary idea, in Westeros or anywhere else. A queen who declares that she doesn’t serve the interests of the rich and powerful? A ruler who doesn’t want to control the political system but to break the system as it is known?”
In Sunday night’s episode, for those who don’t follow the show, Targaryen used her dragon to burn down a city and annihilate its civilian population.
So, to sum up: Warren’s favorite character was somebody with political ambitions, who offered lofty rhetoric about fighting inequality and taking on the rich when seeking office, but got corrupted by her lust for power and vengeance and turned into a brutal tyrant. Consider yourself warned.
