Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats say trying to mortify Trump administration officials may backfire.
By Sarah D. Wire
WASHINGTON — The recent public shaming of Trump administration officials in restaurants has triggered an internal debate among Democrats over how far they should go in confronting the president and his policies.
The boisterous protests against Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Trump advisor Stephen Miller as they dined in different Mexican restaurants, and the ejection of White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders by the owner of a Virginia eatery, caused some Democrats to embrace the strategy as an effective way to rally supporters and hold officials responsible.
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), a frequent critic of the administration , gave a high-profile boost to the tactic by saying members of the Trump administration should be repeatedly confronted in their everyday lives.
“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 are not welcome anymore, anywhere,” Waters said at a rally in Los Angeles on Saturday. ...
But on Monday, several Democrats warned that such actions could backfire by eliciting sympathy for Trump officials, rallying Republicans to the polls in midterms or leading to similar protests against liberals by Trump supporters. ...
The Democrats’ debate is not unlike the one raging over whether to openly call for the impeachment of Trump , something party leaders such as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi say is not appropriate at this time, especially as Democrats are trying to regain control of the House.
Pelosi urged caution Monday about expanding the protests against Trump Cabinet members beyond official events. Linking to an article about Waters’ comments, Pelosi took to Twitter to urge civility.
“Trump’s daily lack of civility has provoked responses that are predictable but unacceptable. As we go forward, we must conduct elections in a way that achieves unity from sea to shining sea,” she said.
http://enewspaper.latimes.com/desktop/latimes/default.aspx?pubid=50435180-e58e-48b5-8e0c-236bf740270e
"We must conduct elections in a way that achieves unity from sea to shining sea." Pot has obviously been legalized in California and Nancy has smoked a metric ton. We will not ever, nor should we ever wish to unite all Americans from sea to sea. Trump has 90% approval among Republicans. The flyover region is roughly 70% Republican. Rush Limbaugh is a virtual deity in this region. You want to unite with that? I sure as hell don't. Republithugs cannot be reasoned with and most Republicans are thugs. I give you Jim Jordan as exhibit A. He was *elected* and the people who voted for him are not to be tolerated, not the best of them and certainly no civilized people would ever wish to unite with them.