Maxine Waters Will Not Go Anywhere Trump Goes

Few Democratic members of Congress have seized as much viral appeal in the early months of the Trump administration as California Rep. Maxine Waters. The 78-year-old, 13-term congresswoman has emerged as one of the most vocal and strident anti-Trump voices in Congress. And this week, she made it clear she won't be rubbing elbows with the president, either. Maxine Waters will boycott any event Trump attends, according to a report from the Associated Press.

According to the report, Waters refuses to meet with Trump or share a space with him, regardless of whether she's invited to the White House, or if Trump visits her congressional district (California's 43rd, comprised mostly of South Los Angeles) someday. Her reasoning, simply put, is that it would "not be honest" for her to act as though there were any potential for a "decent" conversation between them.

"I don't see myself meeting with him, sitting down with him, believing anything he would say or even respecting anything he would say. It would not be honest on my part to go to any ceremonies with him or to pretend I am having a decent conversation with him."

Although it wasn't so explicitly stated before, Waters has seemingly held to this Trump-related personal code of conduct throughout the early months of his administration. When the inauguration rolled around, Waters was nowhere to be found, instead returning to visit with constituents in her district. She also skipped out on Trump's first address to a joint session of Congress, saying she did not "choose to honor him," and wanted nothing to do with the event.

She's made no bones about mentioning the I-word, either. Less than 100 days into the new administration, Waters has already referenced impeachment several times, both in interviews and on Twitter. Speaking to MSNBC's Joy Reid last week, Waters suggested that the Trump/Russia investigations could lead down that road, although there's no public evidence yet to judge.

[Trump] will be in a position where he will meet the standards and the criteria for high crimes and misdemeanors, and I maintain that's where impeachment comes in.

In short, the woman whom some Democrats have begun affectionately referring to as Aunt Maxine (a nickname she apparently enjoys) is not playing nice with Trump or his administration, and it seems to be paying off for her as far as the loyalties of the fervently anti-Trump Democratic base are concerned. And that boost to her profile and to her supporters has only increased as she's absorbed her fair share of attacks from the political right, some of them decidedly sexist and racist.

Regardless, it's clear that she has no intention of backing off. As she told MSNBC's Chris Hayes on Tuesday night, "we also know that when a woman stands up and speaks truth to power that there will be attempts to put her down. And so, I'm not going to be put down, I'm not going to go anywhere, I'm going to stay on the issues."