Rep. Maxine Waters on Wednesday blamed President Trump for the increase in political confrontations and incivility, in an attempt to defend her own call for protesters to confront Trump officials when they’re seen in public places.
“I think every reasonable person [has] concluded that the president of the United States has advocated violence, he has been divisive and he has been the one that has caused what we see happening today,” the California Democrat said at a House Financial Services Committee hearing.
Waters, who has drawn insults from Trump himself for her comments over the weekend, was responding to the committee’s Republican chairman, Jeb Hensarling of Texas, who had called for civility. Hensarling said if he owned a restaurant in Dallas and Waters visited, he would serve her.
“If you want to talk about civility, you start with the president of the United States,” Waters said.
She reeled off a list of comments Trump made during events on the campaign trail, when he encouraged supporters to hurt protesters. Trump, Waters said, is advocating “pure violence.”
Waters’ remarks didn’t sit well with the Republicans at the hearing.
“We don’t take responsibility for our own actions, we should blame somebody else for our poor behavior,” Wisconsin Republican Sean Duffy remarked sarcastically.
