Sunday on MSNBC, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) discussed President Donald Trump’s retweeting of a video this morning of an apparent supporter shouting “white power.”
Host Alex Witt said, “So let’s get to the tweet. It has been removed from the president’s Twitter feed. The White House is saying the president did not hear the one statement that we just highlighted until the video, but what is your reaction? Do you think the president was willfully pushing an agenda, or would he be unaware of what is being said there eight seconds into the video.”
Waters said, “Well, you know, we have learned a lot about this president. And so it’s not believable what he said he did not hear it. As a matter of fact, since he’s been president and increasingly we’re hearing all kinds of racist comments. People, the white men who just did that, they felt empowered by this president, that it is all right to do this now, to talk like this. So he’s responsible for the growing division, the more racist comments that we are hearing.”
She continued, “Not only blacks but all Americans should be concerned that this outpouring of racism and talks of killing and violence is not good for this country. So this country cannot progress as long as this president is in office and basically dog-whistling to this kind of constituency and having them feel it is all right. That they have the White House and they’ve got the president of the United States who is with them. And so it is more than concerning. It is absolutely outrageous that we’re now living in a time when the president of the united states of America is responsible for this kind of division.”
Waters added, “When we have a president like Trump, what you have is people thinking too many thinking this is okay to do. This is all right for me to talk like this. I was right all along. If the president is saying it and acting it out and encouraging me, then what I’ve known all along, what I’ve been taught, what I’ve lived with is right.”
She concluded, “As he said, we have to take back our country. Who he is talking about taking it back from? Basically, he’s talking about whites being in total power, and total control and blacks and people of color and others are having to live under the domination of white power as they see it.”
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