It was a typical speech for Sen. Elizabeth Warren. The Massachusetts Democrat blamed President Donald Trump for rising costs that she said are hurting Americans. She called him a “wannabe dictator.” She accused him of “doing not one damn thing” to lower housing costs and ridiculed him for not actively supporting legislation that would encourage more construction.
“Where is Donald Trump? Has he lifted a finger to move that bill forward in the House of Representatives?” she asked Monday morning at the appearance at the National Press Club. “He sure knows how to get on the phone when he doesn’t like what they’re doing over the Epstein files.”
Then, Trump got on the phone with her.
The two erstwhile foes discussed housing legislation and the proposed cap on credit card rates. It was “a good call” that occurred spontaneously, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
“He heard about the speech and said, ‘Let me call her,’” Leavitt said. “President Trump has shown a willingness to pick up the phone and talk with anyone.”
This was, however, the first time Trump has called Warren, according to an aide to the senator. More typically, he has disparaged her left-leaning politics and derisively called her “Pocahontas” — reveling in the nickname as recently as last month — as a way to mock her claims of Native American heritage.
So was it a one-off moment of geniality? Or a more lasting attempt by Trump to forge yet another unusual political alliance? It is unknown whether they came to any agreement, or whether Trump will help push the housing or credit card legislation Warren is backing.
The antipathy between Trump and Warren goes back years. During an event in the Oval Office in August, he called her “a mean, horrible human being” and claimed her policies had destroyed financial institutions and put farmers out of business.
“She’s a liar and a mean person. She’s a nut job,” he said. “I watched her the other night. She’s all hopped up endorsing a communist in New York City, and she was all excited and jumping up and down. She’s got to take a drug test. She really does. She’s got to take a drug test. There’s no way somebody can act that way and be normal.”
Trump that day was referring to her endorsement of Zohran Mamdani, who went on to win the mayoral race — and had a cordial meeting in the Oval Office with Trump in December.
In her remarks Monday, Warren criticized Trump for not doing more to help working families, lower housing costs and cap credit card interest rates.
Warren said in a statement that she delivered the same message to Trump after he called her.
“I told him that Congress can pass legislation to cap credit card rates if he will actually fight for it,” she said. “I also urged him to get House Republicans to pass the bipartisan ROAD to Housing Act, which passed the Senate with unanimous support and would build more housing and lower costs.”
In a question-and-answer segment after the speech, Warren was asked what she thought of Trump’s proposal to cap credit card interest rates at 10 percent.
“Let’s go, I’m ready,” she said. “I have that one written out. We are ready to move that one in Congress on the Democratic side. And where has President Trump been? Missing in action.”
Warren also criticized Trump for not doing more to push forward a bill to encourage more housing construction that passed the Senate last year. The House, under Republican Speaker Mike Johnson (Louisiana), has not picked up the Road to Housing legislation.
Warren said Trump has a “credibility problem” on the issue of affordability that Democrats will run on in the 2026 midterm elections. “He’s just shooting out one idea after another and doing not one damn thing to actually lower the cost of housing for the American people,” she said.
Much of Warren’s speech was focused on the future of the Democratic Party, as she urged party leaders to embrace an economic populist message and to stop “sucking up to the rich and powerful” by watering down calls to tax the rich and rein in the power of large corporations. But she also called Trump a “wannabe dictator.”
Not long after, he was on the phone.
The post Trump picks up the phone and calls Sen. Elizabeth Warren appeared first on Washington Post.
