Trump Calls Sen. Warren After Her Speech on Democratic Party’s Future

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) discussed affordability and interest rates in a call on Jan. 12 following the senator’s wide-ranging address that morning about economic stances within the Democratic Party.

“After my speech, the president called me, and I delivered this same message on affordability to him directly. I told him that Congress can pass legislation to cap credit card rates if he will actually fight for it,” Warren said in a statement posted on X.

“I also urged him to get House Republicans to pass the bipartisan ROAD to Housing Act, which passed the Senate with unanimous support and would build more housing and lower costs.”

A White House official told The Epoch Times, “President Trump and Sen. Warren had a productive call about credit card interest rates and housing affordability for the American people.”

The ROAD to Housing Act passed the Senate Banking Committee in a unanimous 24–0 vote in July. It was added as an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act, which passed the Senate 77–20 on Dec. 17 and was signed into law by Trump on Dec. 18.

In her speech at the National Press Club, Warren called for a “big tent” Democratic Party with a progressive platform.

She rejected calls for the Democratic Party to moderate on financial issues ahead of the 2026 midterms in November. She did not address social issues such as abortion, guns, or transgenderism.

Warren said that there are “self-described experts” who say that the Democrats lost in 2024 because they were too progressive, especially the ones on Wall Street, in Silicon Valley, and in Washington.

“Too progressive is code used to undermine any economic agenda that favors working people,” Warren said. “Look, they put it more politely, but these movers and shakers want the Democratic Party to respond to the 2024 losses by watering down our economic agenda and sucking up to the rich and powerful, claiming that a less progressive Democratic Party will win more elections.

“They are wrong.”

She called for the Democratic Party to reject the influence of the wealthy. She said there are people at the top who aren’t Republican, and they embrace the Democrats on some social issues, but they don’t want the Democrats to implement progressive economic policies. This group pushes for deregulation and tax breaks that benefit themselves, she added.

The Democratic Party needs to attract rural voters and those without a college degree, she said. Democrats won in the 2025 elections by gaining some of these voters and running on a message that the Trump administration has not made life affordable for average Americans, she said.

Trump has said that the focus on affordability in political messaging is a “Democrat hoax” because of inflation levels inherited from his predecessor.

Warren said that for the Democratic Party to have a wider appeal, it isn’t enough to criticize Trump. Democrats need to earn the trust of the American people, she said, adding that the party should not “sand down the edges” even if that means offending wealthy party donors.

Warren said there are two versions of a big tent. “One vision says that we should shape our agenda and temper our rhetoric to flatter any fabulously rich person looking for a political party that will entrench their own economic interests,” she said.

“The other vision says we must acknowledge the economic failures of the current rigged system, aggressively challenge the status quo, and chart a clear path for big structural change.”

Warren said Democrats must choose one of those.

The senator said that the Democrats’ economic platform should consist of affordability for working people, affordable housing, bigger Social Security checks, universal child care, higher taxation for the affluent and big corporations, an increased minimum wage, and other measures.

Warren’s speech comes as Democrats have been battling over the direction of their party. Some have called for the party to moderate. While left-of-center Democrats won gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey in November, socialist Zohran Mamdani won the mayoral race in New York City.