President Trump escalates feud with California Democrat Maxine Waters

June 26, 2018June 26, 2018 WKXA

Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump amped up his ongoing feud with California Rep. Maxine Waters, dubbing her the “face of the Democrats” after she called on opponents of the president to confront members of his Cabinet in public places.

“The face of the Democrats is now Maxine Waters who, together with Nancy Pelosi, have established a fine leadership team. They should always stay together and lead the Democrats, who want Open Borders and Unlimited Crime, well into the future….and pick Crooked Hillary for Pres.,” Trump tweeted on Tuesday.

Trump’s tweet is the latest salvo in the escalating feud. On Monday, he blasted Waters and called her an “extraordinarily low IQ person.”

“Congresswoman Maxine Waters, an extraordinarily low IQ person, has become, together with Nancy Pelosi, the Face of the Democrat Party. 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!” Trump said.

On Tuesday, House Speaker Paul Ryan called on Waters to apologize for her remarks.

“There’s no place for this, she obviously should apologize,” Ryan said Tuesday at a press conference.

“That we should resort to violence, harassment and intimidation? That’s dangerous for our democracy,” he said.

Waters has denied she was trying to incite violence.

“Trump is the one who is creating lies,” Waters told reporters on Capitol Hill Monday. “Trying to have people believe that I talked about harming people. There’s nowhere in my statement, anytime, anyplace that we talked about harm.”

Waters, a California Democrat, called on her supporters at a rally on Saturday to confront Trump Cabinet officials in public spaces like restaurants and department stores to protest the administration’s policies.

“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,” she said.

Waters’ call to action came on the heels of widespread outrage over the Trump administration’s policy of forcibly separating migrant families who illegally cross the southern border from Mexico.

Trump signed an executive order last week to end the practice of separating migrant families. But officials say well over a thousand children remain apart from their parents, and many continue to criticize the president’s “zero tolerance” approach to illegal immigration.

Democrats in the House and Senate have largely condemned Waters’ remarks.

On Monday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi tweeted a subtle rebuke aimed at her Democratic House colleague.

“In the crucial months ahead, we must strive to make America beautiful again. Trump’s daily lack of civility has provoked responses that are predictable but unacceptable. As we go forward, we must conduct elections in a way that achieves unity from sea to shining sea,” Pelosi tweeted.

The Senate’s top Democrat Chuck Schumer said Waters’ call for the “harassment of political opponents” was “not American.”

Congressional Republicans, meanwhile, have introduced a resolution calling for Waters to apologize and resign.

The resolution, authored by Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs, claims that Waters’ statements could “directly and unnecessarily lead to public unrest, physical violence, and physical injury” and that members of the administration have already been harassed in public.

The resolution says that Waters’ comments “are in direct conflict with the reputation of the United States as a nation where individuals have a right to debate their differences civilly, without fear of physical retribution.”

And it said she should resign so “an individual more befitting of the respect of the people of the United States” could represent her district.