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Rep. Maxine Waters continued her crusade against presidency of Donald Trump, giving a passionate plea at a Prince George’s County church for blacks to rally, campaign and encourage their elected officials to stand against the administration.
The longtime Democrat from California told the crowd at Southern Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Temple Hills to support her in the fight to impeach Trump, whom she disparagingly referred to as “number 45.”
“Who running for president of the United States would talk about grabbing women in their private parts?” Waters said while some of the 100 supporters groaned at a prayer breakfast. “This man is disrespectful to the entire American constituency.”
Waters gave her reasons why she thinks Trump should be impeached:
• Trump fired former FBI Director James Comey during his investigation between Trump’s campaign and the Russians;
• Former Trump advisers Carter Page and Roger Stone had contact with Russian officials; and
• Trump appointed Jeff Sessions, who Waters called “a known racist” for his voting record against minority communities, as U.S. attorney general.
“As you see, these are not people that we can really work with,” she said. “Who we can count on to advance the priorities that are important to us, least of all Trump himself.”
Waters appeared as a guest speaker for about 35 minutes at a prayer breakfast organized by the National Capital Baptist Convention and Maryland Business-Clergy Partnership.
She took a few audience questions from people such as Melody Arrington of Upper Marlboro on what could college students such as herself can do to support Waters in the impeachment movement.
Waters advised for youths to speak out on campus, use social media and “get busy.”
The Rev. Charles W. McNeill Jr., president of the Baptist convention and pastor of Unity Baptist Church in northeast D.C., said a plan will be to create a coalition of faith leaders to challenge Trump’s agenda.
One example, McNeill said, will have churches such as Southern Friendship Missionary to interview and hold community forums with county, state and national political candidates.
“The church has been the power for our communities,” he said. “This is a wake-up call. We have to remain vigilant in what we stand for. We have to look at all of the policies that affect our communities.”
Although Maryland remains a heavily Democratic state, Republican Gov. Larry Hogan has received support, including for the passage of a fiscal budget he largely approved.
Prince George’s County Council Obie Patterson (D-District 8) of Fort Washington said blacks got complacent during last year’s presidential election.
“I think we got sort of laid-back and forgot to the point of how we got here today,” he said. “As a result, [the election of Trump] is what happened. We have to rally folks. We need to get people to the polls and vote. I think through that process hopefully we can bring about some changes and maybe something great can happen in 2018.”