“Trump wants to call Elizabeth Warren ‘Pocahontas’ because he’s a racist, wants to appeal to racists, and his cult-like following so ignores everything bad he does that they think that had she lied — she didn’t — this (this!) would be worse than anything Trump has done. Process that.

“If you’re online trying to convince a Trumpist of anything — I mean anything — stop right now. The Trumpists’ reaction to Warren’s DNA test — a cacophony of fact-free insanity about race and DNA and even just the bare facts of what happened — tells you you’re wasting your time.

“I don’t see the point in baiting Trumpists, or insulting them, or calling attention to their madness on a daily basis. These people are fundamentally unserious about truth, discourse, and anything resembling a community of ideas. So (1) ignore them — completely and (2) vote — always.” — Author (“Proof of Collusion“) and Hollywood Reporter correspondent Seth Abramson (‪@SethAbramson‬), 10.16.18, around 5 pm.

“Running for president in the age of Donald Trump requires, above all, an ability to handle what John Heileman and Mark Halperin once called ‘the freak show’ (back when it was considerably less freaky).

“It requires (a) a deftness dealing with scandals and gaffes and accidental blunders, (b) an ability to know when you have a wrestling move that justifies getting down in the mud and (c) when you’re better off sitting on a top rail and acting superior to the pigs.

“So far Warren’s main encounter with the freak show has involved her claim to Cherokee ancestry, which was an issue in her last Senate campaign, in 2012, before Trump started in with his nicknaming. And from her initial response to the story through the new DNA test ‘rebuttal’ to the president, she has demonstrated a conspicuous lack of political common sense.” — N.Y. Times columnist Ross Douhat, “The Elizabeth Warren Fiasco,” posted on 10.17.18.