What’s Next After Impeachment, According to Maxine Waters
One of the loudest impeachment voices reckons with the president’s speech on the eve of his acquittal
Maxine Waters might have lost the battle, but she is sure as hell not ready to call it quits on the war.
As President Donald Trump prepared to give a victorious State of the Union address knowing that the U.S. Senate would likely acquit him on Wednesday, Waters had other plans in mind. First and foremost, gathering both young journalists like myself at her annual Millennial Media Row and Capitol Hill’s finest young interns at a SOTU watch party. Second, remind everyone to own their political power and why the country needs them.
“They’ve reneged on their responsibility, and so they will not do what is necessary to oust him from the presidency,” Waters told GEN of her Republican colleagues in the Senate. “But I’m not deterred from the fight to get rid of him. And so, we’ve put our focus on the election and helping people understand that we don’t have to endure him for another four years.”
Trump had not even gotten used to the Oval Office when Waters, a longtime California congresswoman, called for his impeachment in the spring of 2017. “Auntie Maxine,” as her supporters call her, was one of the few people to use the I-word, then demanded it relentlessly over the past three years. In December, she was finally vindicated: Trump was charged with abuse of power and obstruction and impeached by the House. But the Republican-controlled Senate was never going to remove the president from office. Instead, he is poised to be acquitted.
“We’ve put our focus on the election and helping people understand that we don’t have to endure him for another four years.”
Waters has refused to attend Trump’s official addresses since he took office. This year, other prominent Democrats such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Ayanna Pressley boycotted the event as well. “To go in there and sit with this president who’s been impeached by the House, and be part of business as usual…” Waters trailed off. She then looked me dead in the eyes: “That’s not something I can do.”
