Fox News host Pete Hegseth echoed language from President Trump on Thursday while taking a shot at Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), saying that it was “fitting” the “Fox & Friends” morning program was talking about “Pocahontas” on Thanksgiving.
Hegseth used the name Pocahontas, which Trump deploys to mock Warren’s claims of Native American ancestry, as a panel discussed Warren’s recent drop in polls focused on the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.
A national Quinnipiac poll released on Tuesday showed that Warren’s support has sunk by 14 percentage points in the past month. The decline in support pushed her behind former Vice President Joe Biden and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg.
Warren has brushed off the poll’s significance, telling reporters Tuesday that she’s more focused on “fighting everyday on behalf of working families.”
Hegseth mocked the comment on Thursday morning, saying that “it’s always what politicians say when they’re losing.”
“‘Don’t follow the polls. It doesn’t matter,'” Hegseth said.
After the other hosts chimed in, Hegseth wrapped up the segment by saying it was appropriate that they talked about Warren’s poll numbers, considering the day.
“Well, it’s Thanksgiving. So it’s fitting that we got a little Pocahontas in there right at the very end,” he said.
The Hill has reached out to Fox News for comment.
Trump has frequently derided Warren as “Pocahontas” at campaign rallies over the years. He’s also targeted the Massachusetts senator over DNA results she released last year that showed she had a Native American ancestor from between six and 10 generations ago.
“I think Pocahontas, she’s finished. She’s out. She’s gone. When it was found that I had more Indian blood in me than she did, and then it was determined I had none, but I still had more, that was the end of her 32-year scam,” Trump said at a rally in April.
Warren took a test last year that showed she was between 1/64 and 1/1028 Native American. She has since apologized for the confusion she may have caused when she identified herself as Native American.
Earlier this month, Trump repeated the “Pocahontas” slur while attacking Warren at a campaign rally in Louisiana.
“I don’t even know, because I’m looking at Pocahontas, can you imagine?” Trump said. “No, no — Pocahontas is starting to rise from the ashes.”