Maxine Waters Responds To Threats: ‘If You Shoot Me, You Better Shoot Straight’

Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 08:47 pm

After taking a break for a few days Rep. Maxine Waters of California was back in the public eye on Saturday, responding to death threats she had received earlier in the week by saying if anybody comes after her they “better shoot straight.”

Speaking at an immigration rally she said:

“I have no fear. I’m in this fight. I know that there are those who are talking about censuring me, talking about kicking me out of Congress, talking about shooting me, talking about hanging me.

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All I have to say is this, if you shoot me you better shoot straight, there’s nothing like a wounded animal.”

After White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave a restaurant in Virginia, Waters stirred up a huge controversy in the country by saying:

“If you think we’re rallying now, you ain’t seen nothing yet. You have members of your cabinet being booed out of restaurants. You have protesters taking up at their house. We say no peace, no sleep. No peace, so sleep.”

“Let’s make sure that we show up where ever we have to show up. 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.”

President Donald Trump then falsely claimed that Waters was calling for violence against his supporters and posted a tweet warning her that she should be careful.

“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!”

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

After that, things escalated even more, as Waters went on TV and read a long list of statements Trump has made where he actually incited violence.  And then Speaker of the House Paul Ryan had the nerve to demand an apology from Waters, even though she had done nothing wrong.

Then on Thursday we reported that Waters had to cancel some public appearances due to death threats. She issued the following public statement at that time:

“As the President has continued to lie and falsely claim that I encouraged people to assault his supporters, while also offering a veiled threat that I should ‘be careful’, even more individuals are leaving (threatening) messages and sending hostile mail to my office.

There was one very serious death threat made against me on Monday from an individual in Texas which is why my planned speaking engagements in Texas and Alabama were cancelled (sic) this weekend. This is just one in several very serious threats the United States Capitol Police are investigating in which individuals threatened to shoot, lynch, or cause me serious bodily harm.”

What this incident shows is that Donald Trump owes Maxine Waters an apology because he is the one encouraging his dangerous and unhinged supporters to commit violence against a member of Congress. All Waters did was make a speech.  She didn’t make any threats or attempt to incite violence the way Trump has done many times in the past.

Maxine Waters is still speaking up, and speaking her mind.  At yesterday’s immigration rally she showed that she has no fear while she attacked Trump for his evil family separation program.  “How dare you. How dare you take the babies from her mother’s arms,” she said.

You can watch her speech in the video below:

"How dare you. How dare you take the babies from their mother's arms!" Rep. Maxine Waters says President Trump has gone too far with his zero-tolerance policies that led to separating families. https://t.co/s5VHotCcgS pic.twitter.com/gD28BJNsy0

— CNN (@CNN) June 30, 2018

All Americans owe a debt of gratitude to Maxine Waters for courageously exercising her right to free speech while standing up to the bully in the White House.  Our country would be better off if more people in Congress demonstrated her courage and commitment to human rights and decency.

Leo Vidal

I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.