NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / World

Trump takes aim at congresswoman after she calls for harassment of his Cabinet

By Avi Selk, John Wagner
Washington Post·
25 Jun, 2018 06:04 PM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

US President Donald Trump. Photo / AP file

US President Donald Trump. Photo / AP file

US President Donald Trump warned Congresswoman Maxine Waters to "be careful what you wish for," offering a provocative rebuke to the California Democrat who has called for the continuing public harassment of Trump Administration officials.

Taking to Twitter, Trump called Waters "an extraordinarily low IQ person" - a moniker he has bestowed on her before - and cautioned that he has a massive movement behind him.

"She has just called for harm to supporters, of which there are many, of the Make America Great Again movement," Trump wrote. "Be careful what you wish for Max!"

Waters, who has represented various Southern California districts in Congress since 1991, leaned into her more recent role as a leader of the anti-Trump resistance over the weekend, earning widespread condemnation as she called for the public to "absolutely harass" Trump's Cabinet officials on the streets, lest they help their boss turn the presidency into a dictatorship.

"The American people have put up with this President long enough. What more do we need to see? What more lies do we need to hear?" Waters shouted at a rally in Los Angeles. "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!"

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Her comments came a day after White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave a restaurant. Sanders' aborted dinner party followed spontaneous street protests against other Trump aides and allies, including Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who left a Mexican restaurant to cries of "Shame!" last week.

The flash mobs are inspired, in particular, by the Administration's new "zero tolerance" policy on undocumented migrants, whom Trump said should be stripped of their due-process rights.

But Waters's indignation encompasses the entire Trump presidency - not just what he's done, but who she says he is.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Congresswoman Maxine Waters, an extraordinarily low IQ person, has become, together with Nancy Pelosi, the Face of the Democrat Party. She has just called for harm to supporters, of which there are many, of the Make America Great Again movement. Be careful what you wish for Max!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 25, 2018

"He loves the strongmen and the dictators of the world because he wants to be just like them. He wants to run the country like them," the congresswoman told MSNBC yesterday, a day after her rally.

"And I want to tell you," she said, "for these members of his Cabinet who remain and try to defend him, they're not going to be able to go to a restaurant, to be able to stop at a gas station, to be able to shop at a department store. The people are going to turn on them, they're going to protest, they're going to absolutely harass them until they tell the president: 'No, I can't hang with you.' "

Her call to drive Trump officials from public life has made her a hero to many on the left - and has disturbed not only Trump supporters but some moderates and Democrats who accuse her of hastening the country's descent from centuries-old civic standards.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi pushed back against Waters in a tweet that referenced a news story about her colleague's comments.

Discover more

World

Erdogan picks up sweeping new powers

25 Jun 12:41 AM
World

Inside: Shaming and shunning public officials

25 Jun 01:41 AM
Entertainment

Donald Trump tells Jimmy Fallon to 'be a man'

25 Jun 05:00 PM
World

Banksy splashes Paris with works on migrants

26 Jun 05:00 PM

"In the crucial months ahead, we must strive to make America beautiful again," wrote Pelosi, who herself has been shouted down by left-wing protesters in San Francisco. "Trump's daily lack of civility has provoked responses that are predictable but unacceptable. As we go forward, we must conduct elections in a way that achieves unity from sea to shining sea."

Couldn’t disagree more with @MaxineWaters. Disgusted with this admin’s policies? Organize, donate, volunteer, VOTE! Rousting Cabinet members from restaurants is an empty and, ultimately, counter-productive gesture that won’t change a thing.

— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) June 25, 2018

Some Republicans were less subtle in their condemnation of Waters.

White House social media director Dan Scavino repeated an earlier Trump attack on Waters, tweeting: "The President is right. #LowIQMaxine."

Appearing on Fox News, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said what Waters was doing is "very dangerous."

"She should apologise to the American public," McCarthy said. He also urged Pelosi to stand up to her.

"We're kind of back to the Colonial era in terms of public shaming, with virtual and symbolic stocks in the public square rather than literal ones," US historian Jon Meacham said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Why Maxine Waters' low-road strategy on Donald Trump is a very bad idea | Analysis by Chris Cillizza https://t.co/3EULafUb0o pic.twitter.com/QYBu42CWuP

— CNN (@CNN) June 25, 2018

He called this a perhaps uniquely "tribal moment" in the country's history.

Without mentioning Waters, David Axelrod, former President Barack Obama's onetime chief strategist, wrote that he was "kind of amazed and appalled by the number of folks on the Left who applauded" Sanders' expulsion from a restaurant.

As of Monday morning, the right-leaning Drudge Report was devoting the top section of its front page to a teeth-gritting photo of Waters, who "orders MORE public harassment of Trump aides."

And Waters's opponent in the upcoming election, Republican Omar Navarro, has tried to turn the outrage into a boost for his long-shot campaign to unseat her.

The congresswoman's office could not immediately be reached for comment on the reaction.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from World

World

Eight dead after fire engulfs hot-air balloon in southern Brazil

21 Jun 10:50 PM
World

US stealth bombers fly over Pacific as tension with Iran grows

21 Jun 06:49 PM
World

'Advance terror attacks': Israeli navy strikes Hezbollah site

21 Jun 06:55 AM

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from World

Eight dead after fire engulfs hot-air balloon in southern Brazil

Eight dead after fire engulfs hot-air balloon in southern Brazil

21 Jun 10:50 PM

Thirteen survivors were treated at hospitals.

US stealth bombers fly over Pacific as tension with Iran grows

US stealth bombers fly over Pacific as tension with Iran grows

21 Jun 06:49 PM
'Advance terror attacks': Israeli navy strikes Hezbollah site

'Advance terror attacks': Israeli navy strikes Hezbollah site

21 Jun 06:55 AM
Missing HMS Endeavour’s disputed resting place confirmed

Missing HMS Endeavour’s disputed resting place confirmed

21 Jun 06:52 AM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP