INGLEWOOD, CA-The heat just got turned up on President Donald Trump. His administration has been accused of possible collusion with Russia. Current and former allies have already been allegedly tied to corruption. He has tabbed a running war with the media and with intelligence agencies.
Lawsuits declaring his travel bans unconstitutional, have racked up. News that he allegedly tried to get fired FBI director James Comey to drop his investigation on the activities of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, have raised alarm bells on Capitol Hill.
Calls looking into possible obstruction of justice by the President is growing by the hour. Not even six months into his presidency, Trump’s pledge of “America First” ring hallow.
The political upheaval has been so great that now a former FBI director has jumped into the fray and is the lead investigator charged with getting to the bottom of the whole Russia meddling mess.
Since being sworn into office, Trump has seen his White House become embroiled in one sure-fire scandal after another. The former “The Apprentice” reality star could use a good friend to lean on.
Don’t expect U. S. Congresswoman Maxine Waters to be that person. When it comes to Trump, it is safe to say that Waters is not a fan. That would be somewhat of an understatement to how Waters really feels about the 45th President of the United States.
There is no love lost here. Waters abhors President Trump and what he stands for. Before Trump took office, Waters denounced his behavior when he mocked a disabled journalist and was caught on tape bragging about what amounts to alleged and perceived sexual assault behavior on women, among other things unbecoming of an individual running for president.
Since then, the Waters’ locomotive has been running full steam ahead with impeachment talk coming from the ranking member on the Financial Services Committee.
“Donald Trump, I’m coming for you,” Waters said at a boisterous town hall meeting she hosted for her constituents at Inglewood High School in Inglewood, California on Saturday, May 13.
One thing people have come to know about Waters (D-43) is that she is a political pitbull when she latches unto something. That something for the past year for Waters has been Trump.
“I’ve decided to take the gloves off, to put my career on the line,” Waters said in reference of going after Trump.
That was just the warm-up act for the 43rd District representative. One of the few political voices in Congress who has the backbone to challenge Trump on the way he conducts himself, Waters let loose for nearly 30 minutes in a firestorm rebuke of the country’s current commander-in-chief.
It wasn’t a pretty picture that Waters painted of Trump and his administration. And she didn’t hold back, labeling White House Senior Counselor Steve Bannon a “racist,” calling Attorney General Jeff Sessions “a throwback” to the Jim Crow era, and dubbed Trump’s cabinet as the “Kremlin Klan.”
“When I saw how he treated other human beings on the campaign, when I saw him mock and mimic a disabled journalist, when I saw him talking about grabbing women by their private parts and getting away with it because he was a celebrity, when I saw him get in Hilary Clinton’s face and call her crooked, and tell people to say, ‘lock her up,’ when I saw how him talk to one of his Republican Party colleagues Carly Fiorina and say, ‘Look at that face, who would vote for her?’ I thought to myself this man can never be president of the United States.”
This is not the first time that Waters has gone after Trump. In January, Waters introduced legislation to look into possible collusion between Russia and the Trump Presidential Campaign. Back in February, Waters blasted Bannon’s appointment to the National Security Council.
“As a master manipulator, Steve Bannon’s chief objective is to continue to use President Trump as a ‘blunt instrument’ to burn down the proverbial house and rebuild our government from the ground up, in a manner that would serve only a tiny fraction of the American people,” Waters said.
Waters later slammed Trump after the U.S. dropped the so-called “mother of all bombs” on Syria, contradicting a stance he held when President Barack Obama was considering military action back in 2013. Trump reportedly (Middle East Eye) sent out at least 13 tweets decrying then President Obama not to go the military route.
“What will we get for bombing Syria besides more debt and a possible long-term conflict? Obama needs Congressional approval,” Trump said in one tweet.
When Trump allowed the U.S. military to bomb Syria, he did so without Congress signing off on the strike. So naturally, Waters took exception to this double-standard.
“Donald Trump’s incoherent strategy on Syria is threatening our national security,” Waters said in a released statement in April.
The Syria matter and all the reported ill-advised moves that Trump and his White House have taken since January has boiled into a full-blown crisis crescendo. Waters’ town hall meeting served as a platform for her to unleash a scathing takedown on what the President has or has not done.
She also called out her colleagues on Capitol Hill for their inaction or their slow way of doing next-to-nothing agenda in keeping Trump, his associates and current and former White House and campaign staff members unaccountable when it comes to all things Russia.
“We have got to have a credible investigation…we’ve asked for an independent commission. We’re asking for an independent prosecutor,” Waters said. “We’ve got to ensure that we do everything that we can to get the investigations that we need to connect these dots and to get the facts because in the final analysis I do believe there was collusion. If Trump and his allies colluded with the Kremlin and with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, they undermine our democracy. They undermine our election system.”
Of course, any discussion about Trump and his White House is usually tantamount to having a conversation about Russia, which Waters does not take lightly.
“We already know Michael Flynn is in trouble,” said Waters. “Not only did he lie, but he has been going back and forth into Russia for quite some time. We know he got paid for so-called speaking engagements. We know he was sitting right next to Putin and on and on.”
As she wrapped up her fiery speech that had her constituents standing up in unification at times, Waters issued one final challenge to the crowd.
“Are we going to stand back and allow Trump and his greedy allies to ignore the Constitution, not only to undermine our election system, but to literally undermine this democracy? I think we’re the patriots. We’re the ones who are going to save America,” Waters said.
Dennis has covered and written about politics, crime, race, sports, and entertainment. Dennis currently covers the NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA, and Olympic sports. Dennis is the editor of News4usonline.com and serves as the publisher of the Compton Bulletin newspaper. He earned a journalism degree from Howard University. Email Dennis at dfreeman@news4usonline.com