After Congresswoman Maxine Waters encouraged people to confront members of Donald Trump’s cabinet and “tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere” because they support his harmful policies, Trump responded on Twitter with an ominous warning: “Be careful what you wish for Max.”
“Congresswoman Maxine Waters, an extraordinarily low IQ person, has become, together with Nancy Pelosi, the Face of the Democrat Party,” Trump wrote on his favorite platform. “She has just called for harm to supporters, of which there are many, of the Make America Great Again movement. Be careful what you wish for Max!”
While Trump doesn’t much care for the truth (read: he lies a lot), Rep. Waters didn’t actually call for violence against Trump’s supporters.
Here’s what Rep Waters actually said after Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave a Virginia restaurant over the weekend because the owner did not agree with her boss’ policies:
“For these members of his Cabinet who remain and try to defend him they’re not going to be able to go to a restaurant, they’re not going to be able to stop at a gas station, they’re not going to be able to shop at a department store,” she said. “The people are going to turn on them. They’re going to protest, and they’re going to absolutely harass them until they decide that they’re going to tell the president, ‘No, I can’t hang with you. This is wrong. This is unconscionable, and we can’t keep doing this to children.'”
She added: “If you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd and you push back on them, and you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.”
Rep. Waters has been a constant critic of Trump and his administration since he took office. She’s a proponent of impeachment, which has made her a huge target. Trump has accused the Congresswoman of having “a very low I.Q.” on several occasions and she had become a hated figure to many on the far right.
Back in April, a California man pleaded guilty to making death threats against Waters, citing her criticism of Trump as the reason he threatened to kill her. And she has often clashed with her congressional peers, birthing the iconic phrases “I will not yield” and “reclaiming my time.”
While Rep. Waters has yet to respond to this latest attack from Trump, something tells us she’ll continue to hold his administration accountable for its divisive rhetoric and policies.