Rep. Maxine Waters
Maxine Moore WatersCongressional Black Caucus chair: Members will 'stare racism in the face' at Trump SOTU Live coverage: Trump delivers his first State of the Union Fox's Wallace: 'It's a mistake' for Dems to boycott State of the Union MORE (D-Calif.) says President Trump
Donald John TrumpSchiff: Nunes gave Trump 'secretly altered' version of memo Davis: ‘Deep state’ existed in ’16 – but it elected Trump Former Trump legal spokesman to testify to Mueller about undisclosed call: report MORE’s addresses to the nation are so dangerous that they should come with a parental advisory.
“This president with his vulgarity and his disrespect for women and people of color is a terrible role model for our children,” Waters said Wednesday, in her response to Trump’s State of the Union address.
“Whenever he appears on TV, there should be a disclaimer that says ‘This may not be acceptable for children.’”
Waters, a frequent critic of the president, said Trump’s calls for unity in his speech were ironic given his past “racist” statements.
“Yesterday Donald Trump had the audacity to call upon people to set aside differences when, in reality, he has divided Americans in ways no other modern president has done,” Waters said in a pre-recorded video aired on BET.
As an example of the president's divisiveness, Waters pointed to Trump's statement last summer that there were people to “blame on both sides” at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., during which a counterprotester was killed. She also pointed to his reported “shithole countries” remark about Haiti, El Salvador and African nations.
“One speech cannot and does not make Donald Trump presidential,” Waters said.
She said Trump is a “dangerous, unprincipled, divisive, and shameful racist” and should not be allowed to “stoke racial animosity” on public platforms.
Waters was one of several Democratic lawmakers who boycotted Trump’s State of the Union address this week. She also skipped Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress in 2017.
Waters and Trump have feuded often since he took office, with Waters frequently calling for Trump’s impeachment.