Elizabeth Warren Condemns Infighting, Praises Buttigieg, Sanders as ‘Great People’ Despite Targeting Them

MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE - FEBRUARY 11: Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabet
Scott Olson/Getty Images
Hannah Knudsen

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) lamented the infighting among Democrat presidential candidates during her conciliatory speech in New Hampshire Tuesday evening, praising both Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Pete Buttigieg (D) as “great people” despite targeting them on the campaign trail in recent weeks.

“The question for us Democrats is whether it will be a long, bitter, rehash of the same old divides in our party, or whether we can find another way,” Warren told supporters during a speech at her campaign headquarters in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Tuesday.

“Senator Sanders and Mayor Buttigieg are both great people, and either one of them would be a far better president than Donald Trump,” she said, blasting the fighting on the campaign trail.

“I respect them both. But the fight between factions in our party has taken a sharp turn in recent weeks, with ads mocking other candidates and with supporters of some candidates shouting curses at other Democratic candidates,” she said, shaking her head:

She continued:

These harsh tactics might work if you are willing to burn down the rest of the party in order to be the last man standing. They might work if you don’t worry about leaving our party and our politics worse off than how you found it. And they might work if you think only you have all the answers and only you are the solution to all your problems.

However, Warren failed to address her own role in the recent infighting, particularly with Sanders and Buttigieg.

She sparked a war with the former South Bend mayor in December over his wine cave fundraiser and support from the ultra-wealthy.

“If you cannot stand up to the wealthy and well connected when you are a candidate then how can the American people believe that you’re going to stand up to the wealthy and the well connected when you are president and it’s really hard,” Warren said at the Democrat debate in December, sparking a contentious back and forth.

More recently, Warren accused Sanders of telling her that he did not believe a woman could win the presidency. While he denied it multiple times, she maintained her story.

“Among the topics that came up was what would happen if Democrats nominated a female candidate. I thought a woman could win; he disagreed,” Warren said in a statement.

“Well, as a matter of fact, I didn’t say it, and I don’t want to waste a whole lot of time on this because this is what Donald Trump…would want,” Sanders said when asked about the alleged remark during January’s Democrat debate.

Warren did not address his denial, telling the moderators that she “disagreed” with his alleged remark.

Despite that, Warren called for unity on Tuesday.

“But if we’re going to beat Donald Trump in November, we’re going to need huge turnout within our party, and to get that turnout, we will need a nominee that the broadest coalition of our party feels like they can get behind,” she said, prompting the crowd to shout, “Warren!”

“We cannot afford to fall into factions,” she continued. “We can’t afford to squander our collective power. We win when we come together.”

President Trump mocked Warren over her “really bad night” Tuesday, writing, “I think she is sending signals that she wants out. Calling for unity is her way of getting there, going home, and having a nice cold beer’ with her husband!”:

Warren is not expected to reach the threshold required to earn delegates in New Hampshire.

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