Can You Guess The Party Affiliation Of The Only Cherokee Member in Congress?

[jberryhill]

Go ahead, I'll wait. Flip a coin if you have to.

The patronizing "noble savage" view of Native Americans prevalent at DU is as much of a racial stereotype as anything else.

There is one Cherokee member in Congress - Rep. Markwayne Mullin. He is an enrolled Cherokee and a vocal Trump supporter.

Link to tweet

Persons of Cherokee ancestry form a substantial portion of the population of Oklahoma, and vote thusly:

2008:



2012:



2016:



That a Cherokee elected official would come out with a criticism of Warren, for merely defending herself against Trump's "Pocahontas" routine is not surprising.

What is surprising is the manner in which he transparently managed to turn it into yet another claim that Warren was somehow attempting to secure unspecified benefits in the process.

[DURHAM D]

1. Back during Watergate I recall the

rumor that one of the Bagman for Nixon was a leading member of the Cherokee Nation and he was using tribal funds to pay bribes.

[vi5]

2. My issue with this whole Warren/Native thing...

...is that even our fiercest, most progressive members such as Warren, still feel the need to respond to stuff like Trump's taunts.

They lie, and lie, and lie, and lie and make vulgar statement after vulgar statement and are never made to account for, justify, prove, or apologize. But Democrats, even great ones like Warren still feel as though they need to respond to them.

It's the equivalent of someone intentionally starting a massive forest fire, but making someone else apologize for lighting a candle 3,000 miles away.

[Kaleva]

3. Warren shouldn't have responded to Trump's taunts.

By doing so is giving him control of the narrative.

[brush]

4. Nah, she disproved trump just as Pres. O did with the birther crap.

[Baitball Blogger]

5. Agreed. She countered with facts.

Now, she has to stick to the original "fight" and not follow Lindsay Graham's taunt, because he's going in another direction.

Republicans want to make this about one thing, when Warren said something very differently. She never claimed she was an Indian, just that she had Indian heritage.

[Kaleva]

7. Trump doesn't play by the rules.

He's still using it to attack Warren. Trump is using this to fire up his base, who only believe what he says, and get them to the polls. Trump isn't using this issue in an attempt to convince progressives to abandon Warren.

[brush]

8. Didn't work with O and won't work now. The blue wave outnumbers his base.

In three weeks we take back the House.

[Kaleva]

9. Again, you are missing the point.

Trump is using this to fire up his base, trying to motivate them to go to the polls. Trump's base would never support someone like Warren even if she proved she was 100% NA or had never claimed to have Native American heritage.

I do agree with you that we'll most likely take back the House in three weeks.

[brush]

10. You're missing the point, which is the upcoming election.

Warren might not even be the nominee in 2020 with all the promising and younger potential candidates we have.

Concentrate on Nov. 6.

[LanternWaste]

15. I really don't see this giving Trump any additional votes from his base.

[Caliman73]

6. I disagree.

She was not doing it for Trump's benefit. She was putting information out so that as Trump continues to lie and try to bully her, she can simply refer to this piece of information and show others (not him or his followers but people who are typically uninterested until closer to election day) that he continues to obsess about something that has been established.

[OKNancy]

11. FWIW, the person who issued the statement for the tribe

is a Democrat. An elected one at that.

[kcr]

14. Well. People who are interested should google his name.

Maybe he's a Dem, but there's a good reason there was controversy concerning his win and it isn't just because he only claims 1/32 heritage.

[Runningdawg]

12. Just remember

because a county swings red does not mean the Natives in that county all vote that way. Mullins is an embarrassment to the tribe. Every single thread/editorial I have seen online or in a Native newspaper about Mullins, is deluged with the same response. "I will NOT vote for an asshole solely because he is NA."
With 300K tribal members - worldwide, and the population of OK at 3.9 million. That would make Cherokees about 12% of the population in OK. Considering many Cherokee live outside of OK, that number is actually lower.

[Horse with no Name]

13. I live in choctaw country

And 90% of the folks who hunted down their distant relations on the rolls did it so that they could get free healthcare at the Indian clinics and for free college assistance ...not because of their love for their tribe. Many that receive benefits have no involvement whatsoever in the tribal issues or concerns.