Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., speaks during a campaign event, Sunday, Jan. 26, 2020, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

A reporter asked President Trump if he thought sexism was a factor in Elizabeth Warren’s decision to exit the race. The President responded in his inimitable style (video below). He said:

No, I think lack of talent was her problem. She has a tremendous lack of talent. She was a good debater. She destroyed Mike Bloomberg very quickly, like it was nothing, like it was easy for her. People don’t like her. She’s a very mean person and people don’t like her. People don’t want that. They like a person like me that’s not mean.

Once upon a time, Elizabeth Warren actually took the lead in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. If she were a victim of sexism, how could her popularity have reached a level of 26.6% (Real Clear Politics average of national polls) in October?

Personally, I was astonished. I never thought she would live down her false claim of Native American ancestry. Additionally, shortly after declaring her candidacy, she recorded a cringeworthy home video in which she tried to show voters she was just like everybody else. At one point, she said, “I’m gonna get me a beer.” She then proceeded to drink it right out of the bottle.

Nevertheless, she quickly overcame both of those missteps and slowly climbed in the polls. Her calls for Medicare for all and student debt relief were popular. Her ideas for sweeping change and rooting out corruption in America appealed to Democratic voters. They liked it that she would stand up to billionaires because after all, why should anyone be allowed to be a billionaire? She was a socialist without the socialist label.

Then came the October debate. As the frontrunner, Warren became the target of her rivals’ fire. And she handled it abysmally.

She was repeatedly asked if her plan to provide Medicare for All would require a tax increase on the middle class. Her attempts to dodge the question made her look, well, like an untrustworthy politician. And her rivals pounced.

During this debate, she touted a bill she had introduced to establish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Joe Biden interjected and actually “complimented her on her hard work and said he had lobbied support for it. “I agreed with the great job she did, and I went on the floor and got you votes. I got votes for that bill. I convinced people to vote for it. So let’s get those things straight, too.”

She refused to give Biden credit for helping to get the bill passed and very rudely dismissed him. In the process, she made herself appear unlikable.

In that same debate, she said that “bad trade policy, not automation, is the biggest factor in industrial job losses today.” Obviously, this was disingenuous and Andrew Yang jumped in to set her straight. He said:

Senator Warren, I’ve been talking to Americans around the country about automation. And they’re smart. They see what’s happening around them. Their Main Street stores are closing. They see a self-serve kiosk in every McDonalds, every grocery store, every CVS. Driving a truck is the most common job in 29 states, including this one; 3.5 million truck drivers in this country. And my friends in California are piloting self-driving trucks. What is that going to mean for the 3.5 million truckers or the 7 million Americans who work in truck stops, motels, and diners that rely upon the truckers getting out and having a meal? Saying this is a rules problem is ignoring the reality that Americans see around us every single day.

Yang made Warren look like “the ivory-tower elitist, removed from everyday lives, that she really is.”

Most political analysts considered Warren the loser of that debate and agreed she had presented herself as mean, dishonest, out of touch and unlikable. Just as President Trump said “She’s a very mean person and people don’t like her.” Following that fateful performance, her standing in the polls went into a gradual decline, flattening out in December around the 15% level. Warren was never able to recover.

Sexism had nothing to do with it.

REPORTER: "Do you think sexism was a factor in Elizabeth Warren pulling out?"

TRUMP: "I think lack of talent was her problem… People don't like her. She's a very mean person… They like a person like me that's not mean." pic.twitter.com/CZ1hdboJRx

— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) March 6, 2020