Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters claimed on Sunday that she never encouraged violence against members of the Trump administration.
“As a matter of fact, if you look at the words that I used, the strongest thing I said was tell them they're not welcome," the California Democrat told MSNBC’s Ali Velshi after he asked if she ever “glorified or encouraged” violence.
“Talk to them," she recalled saying. "Tell them they’re not welcome. I didn’t say go and fight. I didn’t say anybody was going to have any violence. And so they can’t make that statement.”
.@RepMaxineWaters now says her urging supporters to be increasingly "confrontational" and "forceful" against Trump allies was not actually meant to incite violence pic.twitter.com/tRkHOUxD33
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) February 8, 2021
Waters’ infamous 2018 comments came after backlash over the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy. On MSNBC at the time, she said “the people…[are] going to absolutely harass them.”
Maxine Waters calls for attacks on Trump administration: "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." pic.twitter.com/jMV7wk48wM
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) June 24, 2018
This is not the first time she argued that she did not incite violence against her political opponents. In September of 2018, she defended her speech about how people should confront Trump administration officials.
"I did not threaten [Trump] constituents and supporters. I do that all the time, but I didn't do that that time," Waters told a Los Angeles crowd.
Waters said she does not advocate violence.
"What bothered me so much was, they tried to frame that as violence," she said. "That's not violence…I do not advocate violence.”
Update: As Grabien Media's Tom Elliott pointed out, Waters' comments were just some of the many examples of Democrats "endorsing violence as a political tactic." He proceeded to provide several instances.
In 2018, @tedlieu threatened “widespread civil unrest” if Trump fired Mueller. This wasn’t a fluke, either. He repeatedly said people should “take to the streets” if Trump did so (which as we know he didn’t). pic.twitter.com/htLbQrRpWq
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 8, 2021
Also in 2018, Sen. @CoryBooker told activists to “get up in the face of some congresspeople” pic.twitter.com/jIAbYi2dPS
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 8, 2021
.@EricHolder told liberal activists that Michelle Obama was wrong; “When they go low, we go high. No. No. When they go low, we kick them." pic.twitter.com/tWQfyLr2Cu
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 8, 2021
.@RepMaxineWaters told activists that “God is in our side” and urged her followers be increasingly confrontational members of the Trump Administration pic.twitter.com/W9X4A7jAXN
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 8, 2021
Earlier this year, @SpeakerPelosi said of getting active in politics, “When you’re in the arena, you have to be ready to take a punch and you have to be ready to throw a punch” pic.twitter.com/xe4U5ElFCW
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 8, 2021
.@SenatorTester said that in order to take on Trump, you have to “punch him in the face” pic.twitter.com/7NPJ3MOk2i
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 8, 2021
BTW, I forgot about this nugget from December that @Google & @YouTube have attempted erasing from the Internet — Mich. Rep. Cynthia Jones (D) explicitly urging her supporters to attack Trump supporters; “make them pay!” pic.twitter.com/KgxZGh0JlA
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 12, 2021
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