Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) on Monday accused President Donald Trump’s administration of “committing moral vandalism against the ideals and values we all share,” but said left-wing activists should confront Trump administration officials in public “with love.”
Speaking to MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell from McAllen, Texas, Booker was asked about Rep. Maxine Waters’ (D-CA) remarks over the weekend in which she called on anti-Trump agitators to “harass” officials in Trump’s cabinet.
Booker said he had no problems with agitators confronting Trump administration officials but called on them to reject Waters’ in-your-face tactics. Booker said he believed in talking “to each other and seeking a beloved community” and “some of those tactics don’t reflect that spirit.”
“If I saw an administrator out and about, there is nothing wrong with confronting that person,” Booker said. “But not to lead with love and to do it in a way that is more reflective of the values that we are trying to reject in our country is unacceptable to me.”
Booker added, “Let’s elevate those tactics from people that we hail in our nation from Ghandi to [Martin Luther] King and reflect those values in our urgent protests in our urgent activism but always leading with love in our country.”
After accusing the Trump administration of committing “moral crimes” by implementing its “zero tolerance” illegal immigration policy, Booker said he subscribed to “an ideal of radical love” even when confronting “evil” and “injustice” and those “who are trying to destroy and hate you.” He said he worried about the country descending “into hatred, of American hating American.”
At a Los Angeles, California, rally on Saturday, Waters called on agitators to tell Trump administration officials that they are not welcome if they spot them in public at restaurants, gas stations, and department stores.
“If you think we’re rallying now you ain’t seen nothing yet,” Waters said. “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 doubled down on her remarks during a Sunday MSNBC appearance in which she said she had “no sympathy for these people that are in this administration who know it’s wrong for what they’re doing on so many fronts.”
“They tend to not want to confront this president or even leave, but they know what they’re doing is wrong. I want to tell you, these members of his cabinet who remain and try to defend him, they won’t be able to go to a restaurant, they won’t be able to stop at a gas station, they’re not going to be able to shop at a department store,” she continued. “The people are going to turn on them. They’re going to protest. They’re absolutely going to harass them until they decide that they’re going to tell the president, ‘No, I can’t hang with you.’ This is wrong. This is unconscionable. We can’t keep doing this to children.”
Trump blasted Waters as “an extraordinarily low IQ person” on Monday and warned, “Be careful what you wish for Max!”
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