On the campaign trail, Senator Warren loves telling stories from her past. No speech is complete without a retelling of the struggles she endured as a young mother. By now, almost every Democratic voter knows about how her “Aunt Bee” helped take care of the future senator’s children when she first entered the professional world.
One story that’s become central to Sen. Warren’s 2020 candidacy involves her leaving her job as a teacher when she was 22 years old.
Warren says that after she became visibly pregnant, the principal at her Riverdale, N.J. school told her that she wouldn’t be coming back the following school year. Warren cites this as an example of “discrimination” women face in the workplace. She’s since recruited other women to share similar stories, which she says highlights the need for more federal laws protecting women in the workplace.
The only problem is that Warren’s story is demonstrably untrue. The Washington Free Beacon visited her former school and located records showing that the school board unanimously extended Warren’s employment after her first year, and that they “accepted with regret” her resignation. The story was additionally debunked by Warren herself, who as recently as 2008 explained that her decision to stop teaching came down to wanting to attend graduate school to receive more training. CBS News also threw into doubt her story; Ed O’Keefe spoke with two of her former colleagues, neither of whom recalled her ever being fired.
Despite Warren’s tale of woe appearing as dubious as her similarly debunked claims of Native American ancestry, the national media is helping prop up her her claims.
A column appearing on CNN.com says Warren’s tale of discrimination matches a “much larger pattern” other women have experienced:
The Washington Post’s media columnist, Margaret Sullivan, used the story to attack not Warren for making up another tale of hardship other less well off women really do suffer, but rather the conservative media outlets that exposed her:
Another Washington Post reporter used the same tactic as Warren: gathering real tales of discrimination to create the impression Warren’s story is plausible:
NBC News’s John Harwood suggested Warren’s story must be true because other women experienced situations like this:
Vox likewise suggested Warren’s story might be true because other women have experienced discrimination:
Businessweek/CNN’s Joshua Green was another journalist who suggested Warren’s story could be true because other women really have experienced sexism (specifically his own mother):
USA Today reported not on the validity of Warren’s story, but on conservatives “latching” onto what appear to be her false claims:
Warren is already infamous for spending most of her professional career claiming to be Native American; institutions that employed her, such as Harvard University, very boastfully touted her supposed minority pedigree. But after a DNA test proved she has less Native American ancestry than the average American, Warren was forced to own up and apologize, which makes her more recent embellishments all the more baffling.
Her self-persecution complex notwithstanding, Warren can at least take solace that many of the biggest names in media appear committed to helping coverup whatever demonstrably untrue autobiographical vignettes she dreams up next.