Inside Elizabeth Warren's war with the White House
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
👋🏼 It's Mike Deehan, back with Spill of the Hill — my column unraveling Massachusetts politics.
The beginning of Sen. Elizabeth Warren's third term in the U.S. Senate has been consumed fighting a multifront war against President Trump that's grown bloodier as his first 100 days continue.
Why it matters: Warren's political clout among Democrats, national profile and comfortably safe seat mean she's on the front line of Democrats' chaotic battle against nearly each of Trump's executive orders, cabinet nominees and public pronouncements.
- As the new top Democrat on the Banking Committee, she's a key figure in her party's opposition to Trump's economic agenda.
Between the lines: Warren's anti-Trump activism is filtered through her left-leaning populist economic message: confronting the wealthy elites Trump has empowered, resisting attempts to drastically slash government spending, and sounding alarms that the GOP may try to cut taxes for the ultra-rich.
Warren has been all over the news and in front of cameras since Trump's return to office. She made her biggest splash grilling Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on his financial connections to a law firm suing a pharmaceutical company over vaccines.
- Warren denounced the president's proposed federal funding freeze and tariffs, condemned Elon Musk's involvement in government payments, and even slammed Trump over the cost of eggs.
The Trump administration hit Warren close to home Monday when Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, now acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which Warren helped found, told bureau staff to cease work on much of its activities.
- Warren threatened to "use every tool at my disposal in the Banking Committee to hold him accountable" if Bessent doesn't reverse course.
The other side: "Senator Warren is a provocateur — this is the only way she remains relevant," MassGOP spokesperson Logan Trupiano told Axios.
- He said Warren "should focus on finding ways to work together and move the state forward, rather than elevating herself and fostering division."
Yes, but: Even local Democrats who seemed willing to work with Trump in the interest of Massachusetts have found more to oppose than to embrace.
- After making bipartisan overtures in her State of the Commonwealth speech, Gov. Maura Healey's tone hardened as Trump pushed a federal funding freeze and tariffs with major implications for Massachusetts consumers.
- "These are the kinds of things that hurt our states. Not just Massachusetts and not just states that are purportedly 'blue.' They hurt all states around this country," Healey told reporters Monday after Trump's tariff order.