Even though she was invited to deliver the spring commencement speech at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) just couldn’t stop herself from going off topic.
Beginning her speech by congratulating the graduates for their achievements, on Friday, she wasted no time in diverting her speech towards bashing President Donald Trump for his governing policies, decisions, and actions.
“I’m trying to keep this apolitical but I can’t help myself … the principle that no one, no one in this country is above the law and we need a Justice Department, not an obstruction of justice department,” Warren said, according to The Hill.
The line obviously referred to Trump’s move earlier this week, to dismiss James Comey as Director of the FBI. Democrats seem to have, all of a sudden, united against the president’s decision, claiming that he is trying to hide an alleged connection to Moscow. All the claims and allegations regarding the connection have so far been unfounded though.
Even then, that wasn’t the only time Warren deviated from the topic of her speech. She criticized Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s White House counselor, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Additionally, Warren spoke about the inadequacies of the student loan system; she further bashed big business CEOs and Wall Street bankers, who according to Warren, “spend buckets of money” to have their voices heard in Washington.
At that point, Warren’s speech started to sound more like a political one. She almost turned the gathering into a community organizing effort, encouraging students to get involved in politics.
“It’s no longer possible to assume that democracy will work if most Americans simply wait until election time to learn a little about the candidates and otherwise ignore what’s going on,” Warren remarked.
While encouraging the youth to get more politically involved, Warren said the younger generation’s “future is on the line” because power brokers and politicians only work for the benefit of the elite.
