Could We Please Stop Pretending Elizabeth Warren is Native American?

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren officially launched her 2020 presidential bid at a rally in Lawrence, MA today.

No one is more delighted with this news than President Trump who tweeted, "Today Elizabeth Warren, sometimes referred to by me as Pocahontas, joined the race for President. Will she run as our first Native American presidential candidate, or has she decided that after 32 years, this is not playing so well anymore? See you on the campaign TRAIL, Liz!"

Trump was immediately criticized for making mocking reference to the Trail of Tears, the forced relocation of Native Americans during the mid-19th century which resulted in the deaths of an estimated 4,000 people. It's a dumb thing to for Trump to trivialize the Trail of Tears, but what does the Trail of Tears have to do with Warren? Could we please stop pretending Warren is Native American?

After all, Warren has had to "apologize" for this twice in the past week. First, when she apologized to the Cherokee Nation for undergoing a DNA test last fall to determine any Native American heritage and for a second time when a 1986 card to the Texas bar revealed that Warren had identified herself as Native American. Her second "apology" was particularly galling. Warren stated, "I am sorry for furthering confusion on tribal sovereignty and tribal citizenship and harm that resulted." She didn't confuse anyone. Warren outright lied.

Could anyone tell me how exactly this is any different than when Rachel Dolezal passed herself off as a black woman? This is going to be a problem for Warren from now until the conclusion of her campaign. If Democrats are foolish enough to nominate her they will guarantee Trump a second term.  For all of Trump's lies, he can make mincemeat out of her over one lie told over many decades.

Of course, Trump is going to target any Democrat he faces in 2020, but Warren represents his easiest target by far. As I recently argued, Trump is going to have a much harder time going after Kamala Harris than he would Warren and he has been treading lightly around her.  Whether Harris is the Democrats' best option remains to be seen, but it would seem to me that for all of Trump's lies that Democrats would be wise not to nominate someone with a propensity towards lying and other deficiencies in character.