Nancy Pelosi rallies to Maxine Waters's cause

By Andrea Widburg

By some metrics, Maxine Waters is a true American success story — the fifth of 13 children to a single mother, she slowly worked her way up the ladder to become one of the most powerful politicians in America. By other metrics, she's an American success story in the same way Al Capone was a success story: She attained and has retained power through thuggish bullying. Capone was finally brought to justice for his sins, and Waters's latest incitement to violence may finally be catching up with her.

Waters has been in the House since 1991, representing a very poor area in Los Angeles, even as she lives in a $6-million mansion in a mostly white neighborhood. She has distinguished herself by being rude and obstreperous within Congress and by inciting violence outside it.

In 1992, when the Rodney King riots erupted, eventually killing 63 people and leading to the infamous attack on Reginald Denny, Waters didn't try to calm the rioters. Instead, she led a "no justice, no peace" really in the middle of the riot. Waters defended the violence, saying, "If you call it a riot, it sounds like it was just a bunch of crazy people who went out and did bad things for no reason. I maintain it was somewhat understandable, if not acceptable." During the trial of Damian Williams, who was caught on camera slamming a concrete slab into Reginald Denny's head and dancing around his body, Waters embraced Williams's cause.

By 1994, the House's presiding officer, Rep. Carrie Meek, called Waters "unruly and turbulent" and threatened her with the House equivalent of a cease-and-desist order for repeatedly interrupting Rep. Peter King's speech. Ironically, just recently, Waters told Rep. Jim Jordan to "shut your mouth" and stop questioning Fauci.

In 2000, 2004, and 2016, Waters objected to the results of the presidential elections. Nevertheless, she was one of those leading the charge again Republicans who challenged the results of the 2020 election.

In 2018, at a rally about "kids in cages" (which Democrats ignore now), Waters told people to intimidate people in the Trump administration:

Let's make sure we show up wherever we have to show up. And 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.

Waters has since escalated her violent demagoguery. This weekend, after having first asked for police protection, Waters crossed state lines to head into Minneapolis. Once there, Waters riled up the crowd gearing up to destroy Minneapolis following a verdict in the Derek Chauvin case.

Even though Chauvin is not charged with first-degree murder, and the prosecution struggled to meet the elements of lesser charges, Waters loudly insisted that Chauvin was guilty of first-degree murder — and urged violence if the jury didn't find him guilty of a crime for which he's not being charged:

I know this, we've got to stay in the streets. We are looking for a guilty verdict. If nothing does not happen then we have to not only stay in the streets but we have to fight for justice. I am very hopeful and I hope that we are going to get a verdict that is guilty, guilty, guilty and if we don't, we cannot go away.

Shortly after Waters said that, a drive-by shooter attacked a Minnesota National Guard and a Minneapolis police team.

Waters's demand was so heinous that Chauvin's attorney argued that it would influence the jury, destroying Chauvin's right to a fair trial. Judge Peter Cahill denied that the jury would be influenced, but nevertheless, he lit into Waters for talking about the case, "especially in a manner that is disrespectful to the rule of law":

Judge Cahill added that Waters's conduct not only was "abhorrent," but could result in the case being overturned on appeal if Chauvin is convicted.

Despite all this, Nancy Pelosi not only refuses to take action against Waters, but also says Waters does not owe Congress or the American public an apology. Instead, said Pelosi, Waters was just another civil rights activist:

Pelosi to @AnnieGrayerCNN on whether @RepMaxineWaters needs to apologize: “No she doesn’t. .. Maxine talks about confrontation in the manner of the civil rights movement.”

Asked whether Waters’ comments incite violence, Pelosi said: “No absolutely not"
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) April 19, 2021

In other words, as long as Waters's violent rabble-rousing works to the Democrats' benefit, she'll get away with using her bully pulpit in a constitutional office to undermine the Constitution and the rule of law.

The final word goes to Tucker Carlson, who ably sums up both Waters's demagoguery and the Democrats' willingness to embrace it: