Maxine Waters Responds to Death Threats from Trump Supporters: "You Better Shoot Straight"
Some Democrats in Congress are caught up in a debate over whether members of the Trump administration deserve to be left blissfully alone when they're off the clock and not defending a wannabe-autocrat. They don't. One congresswoman, Maxine Waters, has no time for that conversation. Waters isn't interested in the performative hand-wringing over the "death of civility," as though American politics have ever been about mutual respect and not competition over resources and who counts as a real person in the eyes of the law.
Waters has been unequivocal on the issue, calling for people to confront and protest members of the Trump administration any time they feel shameless enough to appear in public. This drew swift condemnation from Trump and his enablers at Fox News, who invented claims that Waters was calling for violence. Unsurprisingly, after she was singled out by Trump, Waters began receiving death threats, some of which were so credible that they forced her to cancel public appearances in Texas and Alabama.
But on Saturday, Waters appeared in front of the Los Angeles city hall to speak at one of the dozens of rallies across the country protesting the Trump administration's draconian treatment of immigrant families at the US-Mexico border. She did not mince words:
We have some members of Congress who are intimidated. I have no fear. I’m in this fight. And I know that there are those who are talking about censuring me, talking about kicking me out of Congress, talking about shooting me, talking about hanging me. All I Have to say is this: If you shoot me, you better shoot straight. There’s nothing like a wounded animal I am prepared to make whatever sacrifices need to be made. I am not about to let this country go by the way of Donald Trump. We are sick and tired of him, he's been there too long, they dare me to say impeach him. Today I say, "Impeach 45!"
Waters clearly understands how to energize people better than Democratic leadership in Congress. Hopefully they can learn from her how not to run from a fight.
