Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) will not be attending President Trump's State of the Union address tonight. She won't be tuning in at all, actually. Why should she, she told reporters, considering he has already told "6,000 lies."
#AClassyClapback served the way only Auntie Maxine can- straight, no chaser. Read why @RepMaxineWaters still isn't here for Trump’s #SOTU address: https://t.co/xkrXYm2CGU #ESSENCENews pic.twitter.com/jj1ESXrMsf
— ESSENCE (@Essence) February 4, 2019
"I think he's putting us all in harm's way and so he is not worthy of being listened to. I don't know why anybody would want to pay attention to anything that he has to say. He lies over and over again. Like I said, 6,000 lies have been documented," Waters told ESSENCE.
I wasn't aware of the 6,000 number, so I found the source she was likely referencing. In November, The Washington Post fact checkers compiled a list of 6,420 "lies or misleading claims" Trump made through his 649th day in office. Those examples included the many times he declared he passed "the biggest tax cut in history," when he asserted that the U.S. economy today is "the best in history," and the dozens of times he said his border wall is already being built, according to WaPo.
Waters "can't imagine" what other fibs Trump is going to tell tonight. So, she suggested people "turn the television" off.
Not all Democrats are boycotting the speech and are actually planning to show up, but they are planning on "trolling" the president with their guests. One is bringing an illegal immigrant who was just fired from Trump's golf club, while other lawmakers will be joined by government workers who were furloughed as a result of the shutdown.
Trump's guest list will also send a message. It includes those who have lost family members who were killed by illegal immigrants and workers who benefitted from the GOP-led tax cuts.