President Trump's needling of Senator Elizabeth Warren's unsupported claim to Native American ancestry has hit its mark.  Yesterday, the Massachusetts senator made an unannounced appearance before the National Congress of American Indians, the oldest national organization that claims to represent the interests of Native Americans, and repeated her previously debunked claims in a particularly offensive manner.

The reliably progressive Boston Globe covered the speech with a straight face:

Warren did not apologize for her undocumented claims that her mother's family had Cherokee blood – instead, reaffirming: "My mother's family was part Native American.  And my daddy's parents were bitterly opposed to their relationship.  So, in 1932, when Mother was 19 and Daddy had just turned 20, they eloped.

"The story they lived will always be a part of me," she said, as tears came to her eyes.  "And no one – not even the president of the United States – will ever take that part of me away."

The tears are a nice touch, don't you think?  She's a victim, just like her Indian momma.  Trump is so mean...

Judge for yourself the sincerity of the tears:

But her claim implying that her paternal grandparents were racists in opposing marriage to an Indian-heritage girl is false and despicable, besmirching the reputation of long dead ancestors for political gain.  Michael Graham of the Boson Herald, no friend of Warren, easily debunks this claim of parental racial victimhood.

No, her grandparents were not the racists she claims they were, forcing their son to marry in secret.  The wedding of Pauline Reed and Donald Herring (Warren's parents) was conducted by a prominent Methodist minister (he helped found Southern Methodist University) and announced with great fanfare in the local paper.

Not exactly the behavior of parents who opposed a marriage, and definitely not an elopement.

As for the claim of victim status:

And most important of all, no – Liz Warren's family never suffered a single setback or even a moment of discrimination due to family lore about their heritage.  Liz Warren never lived one minute of her life as a minority.  The entire premise of her claim is ludicrous on its face – with or without the high cheekbones.

She also lied about exploiting her purported minority status to hop on the affirmative action gravy train.  From the Globe:

Responding to critics who claim she used a minority status to gain prestigious law professorships, she said: "I never used my family tree to get a break or get ahead.  I never used it to advance my career."

She had herself listed in directories listing minority faculty members in the United States.  These directories  are what universities use when under pressure to add minorities and women to their faculties, as Harvard Law School was under pressure to do at the time of her hiring.  And Harvard touted her as a minority hire.  And, at the time she was hired, I believe she was the only member of the Harvard faculty not to have attended an elite law school.  Her hiring, in other words, screams affirmative action.

Warren threw in some palliatives to distract the audience, made up of genuine Native Americans who are members of tribes (no tribe has ever recognized Warren as a member).

"I get why some people think there's hay to be made here.  You won't find my family members on any rolls, and I'm not enrolled in a tribe," Warren admitted, much as she did in 2012.  And just as in 2012, yesterday she failed to produce any proof of her Cherokee heritage claim.

But even so, she'll lobby for their causes just as if she were a genuine Indian:

The Massachusetts Democrat ... made an impassioned pledge to advocate for issues of importance for Native Americans.

It should now be abundantly clear that Warren is running for president in 2020 and wants to put this behind her.

It won't work.