While standing in front of a portrait of Andrew Jackson, President Trump decided that a ceremony honoring the remaining Native American code talkers was an ideal time to bring up his standing feud with Senator Elizabeth Warren and call her by his favorite pet name--Pocahontas.
Leaving aside whether he intended to use this name he calls her in a racist way (because, screw his intent, the issue is how his words are going to be received by the people he delivered them to), why did he need to make this event about anything else? These are veterans, they risked their lives for a country that has not done well by Native American people, and this was about them, not Trump. Even if what he said was not culturally inappropriate, that he felt the need to backhand someone not present shows his pettiness.
But it was also culturally insensitive (and this is not the first time he has been culturally insensitive like this, but of course, that was for business). And just as he has used this name of a famous historical Native woman to insult the Senator previously, he should by now know that some Native Americans have taken offense and should by now know to not use it. But will anyone in the White House try to correct Trump? Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders made sure to point out that the real villain here is Elizabeth Warren, for believing her family's oral history regarding her heritage. And I half-believe that even if someone did try to explain to Trump how what he said was inappropriate, he'd never quite get it. (Something something, politically correct, something something, snowflakes.)
We can expect no better from him, regardless of what his job entails or what we deserve from him.
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