To use an old adage, sunlight is said to be the best disinfectant.

That may have been the mindset of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., when she decided to release her DNA results to the Boston Globe thus "proving" her Native American ancestry. However, it backfired in the worst possible way.


Warren continues to contend that her Native American heritage did not help her advance her legal career. That may be true. But what’s also true is just how bad this reflects on her and the Democratic Party when they’re fighting to take back the House and Senate in the 2018 midterm elections.

[Also read: Elizabeth Warren's DNA test shows she isn't Native American, makes her the butt of jokes once again]

In 2011, when then-President Barack Obama produced his birth certificate after some suggested he wasn't born in America, the birther movement largely disappeared.

Warren may have assumed she could accomplish the same thing, opting for full transparency as she eyes a 2020 presidential run in which she’d undermine one of Trump’s favorite nicknames for one of his political opponents, “Pocahontas.”

But it isn't having that effect.

Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., went on "Fox & Friends" on Tuesday and mocked Warren's DNA results, saying he would get one, too.

"I've been told that my grandmother was part Cherokee Indian," he said. "It may all be just talk, but you're going to find out in a couple of weeks because I'm going to take this test. [...] I'm taking it, and the results are going to be revealed here. This is my Trump moment. This is reality TV."

Warren's DNA test and her critics' subsequent mocking of it brings up a larger conversation about the role of "intersectionality" in political discourse.

The concept of "intersectionality," increasingly popular among leftists, creates a culture where people's views are valued not for their expertise, but because of their membership in historically disadvantaged or oppressed groups. People try to embrace labels, sometimes even labels that don't rightly suit them (i.e. Rachel Dolezal), out of a desire to give their opinions greater weight.

While Warren was teaching at Harvard, she was identified by the school as their first person of color. Her ancestors may have been disadvantaged for being Native American, but she’s more likely to have gained an advantage for claiming this heritage.

The bottom line: Warren seems to want to live in a world in which we take blood tests to see how much we have a right to speak.