Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) may be in hot water with some of her fellow Democrats who are signaling that they may vote to censure her for her comments about the Derek Chauvin trial. Many are interpreting these comments as an incitement of violence. Since she told protestors to get more confrontational, a church in Minneapolis has burned, and two National Guard members were injured in a drive-by shooting. Even the judge in the Chauvin trial noted that her comments could be considered prejudicial on appeal, if any jurors were exposed to them, and result in a mistrial.
Apparently, moderate Democrats who recall their colleagues getting bounced after 2020’s “Defund the Police” rhetoric by the radicals in their party are nervous. The losses in the House last cycle led to arguments between the two factions in the Democrat Party that were quite heated. With a slim Democrat majority, Republicans are convinced that they can retake the chamber. If there is chaos following the Chauvin verdict and another riot season, it will undoubtedly benefit their cause.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has said he would be submitting a resolution to censure Waters and remove her from her chair position on the House Finance Committee. This announcement followed Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), saying Waters did not need to apologize and press secretary Jen Psaki refusing to condemn Waters’ comments. Waters is digging in, saying “confrontational” doesn’t mean what everyone thinks it means.
Now, Fox News’ Chad Pergram is reporting that rank-and-file Democrats are unhappy with Waters and Pelosi. In an extended Twitter thread, Pergram said that some Democrats are so angry that they would be willing to vote for a “reasonably worded” censure resolution. He notes that for moderates likely to face tough 2022 races, it would be good politics to punish Waters for her careless comments. Censure is a privileged resolution and must go to the floor. It takes a simple majority vote, and Pelosi can only afford two defectors. The Speaker is notoriously effective at whipping the caucus into a party-line vote, but emotions may be high enough for McCarthy’s resolution to have teeth.
In one tweet, Pergram notes how rare censure is. It has only happened 23 times in the history of the body, and, he added:
“Censure” is a severe, formal rebuke by the House. The full House must vote to censure a member. It requires a simple majority vote. The censured member appears in the well of the House with the Speaker presiding, officially chastising the offending member.
This situation is a radically different response than Democrats had when Waters told her supporters to gather a crowd, get in the faces of Trump administration officials, and let them know they aren’t welcome. There was no rebuke from members of her caucus then. However, as Tucker Carlson noted Monday night, this type of rhetoric is a feature, not a bug for Waters. She vocally supported the 1992 Los Angeles riots following the Rodney King verdict. Carlson noted Waters’ response at the time:
“People want to know why I’m not saying exactly what they want me to say,” she said at the time. “They want me to walk out in Watts, like [B]lack people did in the ’60s, and say, ‘Cool it, baby, cool it.’ … Well, I’m sorry. The fact of the matter is, whether we like it or not, riot is the voice of the unheard.”
Fifty-eight people were killed during those riots in 1992. Many more were seriously injured. One of those most seriously injured was a man called Reginald Denny, who was beaten nearly to death and left with permanent brain damage. Why? Because he looked the wrong way. He had the wrong color. A mob pulled him out of his truck and smashed his skull with a cinderblock. It happened on camera.
Waters then defended the men who beat Reginald Denny. On the day of the verdict, she visited the home of one perpetrator, Damian Williams. Afterward, she said, “We have an opportunity for justice to prevail.” Williams served a short sentence and went on to murder someone. Waters has also openly supported those who have fled to escape justice following horrific crimes in the U.S. and opposed their extradition. Carlson described Waters’ past support for the regime in Cuba and noted:
These aren’t aberrations. This is a decades-long theme. What do we conclude from it? The obvious: Maxine Waters doesn’t believe in the Western understanding of justice or self-government. She believes in mob violence for political ends. That’s why she’s been calling for it for decades.
Carlson said Democrats know they are hypocritical and advised Republicans to stop pointing it out because they don’t care:
Too often, Republicans waste time highlighting the hypocrisy of the left. Is BLM more dangerous than the fake insurrectionists who showed up at the Capitol on Jan. 6? Well, yeah, obviously. Is Maxine Waters guilty of greater incitement than Donald Trump? Well, of course, but that’s not the point. People like Maxine Waters don’t care if you point out that they’re hypocrites. They don’t care if you catch them lying. You’re wasting your breath. They are not ashamed, and they never will be ashamed.
This attitude aligns perfectly with the themes in left-wing darling Herbert Marcuse’s well-known essay “Repressive Tolerance.” The paper explains why all left-wing violence must be tolerated in the name of progress. It asserts that no one should accept right-wing violence, and center-left individuals may even excuse left-wing violence in response to right-wing ideas and speech. That summary is not an overstatement, and if you read it and don’t see it playing out in real-time, you aren’t paying attention. And Waters’ history and public statements align perfectly with it.
To date, Waters’ achievements seem to be making the communities she represents and those groups she plays “Auntie Maxine” to less safe. That her Democrat colleagues may censure her is a step in the right direction. It is a shame it appears motivated by electoral politics rather than standing up for the safety and security of Americans.
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