Maxine Waters pushes Democrats' new Trump-as-dictator narrative and concern-mongers about civil war

With just under six months left until the election, Democrats are desperately attempting to inspire fear about what horrific fates might befall the nation should Donald Trump retake the White House.

In past months, the Biden campaign and other Democratic outfits advanced the notion that democracy is under threat by a choice of candidate unfavorable to the Democratic Party. Having ostensibly exhausted this "democracy is on the ballot" narrative, Biden boosters now appear keen to paint former President Donald Trump as a dictator in waiting.

California Rep. Maxine Waters (D), long a champion for mob-rule street action, appears more than happy to take this new piece of hyperbole to new extremes.

Over the weekend, the 85-year-old Democrat resumed her apparent election-time role as a conjurer of alternate histories and paranoia, launching into a deranged rant on MSNBC's "The Sunday Show" wherein she not only articulated the new narrative but suggested that right-wing Americans aligned with Trump are plotting a civil war and that the Biden Department of Justice should surveil his allies.

The setup

MSNBC talking head Jonathan Capehart appeared to set Waters off Sunday with a reference to Trump's recent interview with Time, specifically the Republican's indication that he would not seek a third term, even if legally enabled.

In the Time interview, reporter Eric Cortellessa incorrectly suggested that the Heritage Foundation's Project 25 had proposed abolishing the 22nd Amendment that limits presidents to two terms. He then asked Trump, "Would you definitely retire after a second term, or would you consider challenging the 22nd Amendment?"

Trump answered, "Well, I would, and I don't really have a choice, but I would." The Republican presidential candidate added, "I'm going to serve one term, I'm gonna do a great job. We're gonna have a very successful country again ... and then I'm gonna leave."

Evidently dissatisfied with the innocuity of Trump's answer, Cortellessa pressed the issue, prompting Trump to clearly indicate that he would not be in favor of challenging the 22nd Amendment.

"Not for me. I wouldn't be in favor of it at all. I intend to serve four years and do a great job. And I want to bring our country back. I want to put it back on the right track. Our country is going down. We're a failing nation right now. We're a nation in turmoil," said Trump.

Imagining meat for a nothing-burger

Capehart looked to Waters to resuscitate the claim of dictatorial aspirations despite Trump having effectively killed it in the cradle.

"Trump says in that in that Time interview that he would not seek to overturn or ignore the Constitution’s prohibition on a third term," Capehart told Waters. "Should the American people believe that? Do you believe that?"

"No! Absolutely not," said Waters. "As I said, you can't believe anything that Donald Trump has to say. Donald Trump will do any and everything that he can possibly get away with. He does not at all support the Constitution of the United States of America. This is a man who we better be careful about."

Waters explained to Capehart that she plans on asking the Biden Department of Justice and the Biden White House "what they are going to do to protect this country against violence if he loses."

"I want to know about all of those right-wing organizations that he's connected with who are training up in the hills somewhere and targeting, you know, what communities they are going to attack," said the Democrat. "We need to know now, given that he's telling us there is going to be violence if he loses, we need to know what his plan is and how we are going to be protected."

Capehart cued Rep. Robert Garcia, another California Democrat, to confirm that "this isn't hyperbole, this is real."

Garcia obliged the talking head, saying, "This is dangerous, and I think what they are preparing to destroy our democracy, the way we have elections in this country, and the congresswoman is absolutely correct. ... If Donald Trump gets re-elected, there is no doubt that he will try to stay in office beyond his four-year term. He will destroy this country, our democracy."

"Not only are they planning on a civil war ... but he is spelling it out specifically how and what they are going to do and how he is going to get revenge, how he is going to attack his enemies, all of these things."

After having her fantasy affirmed by a fellow traveler, Waters added, "We know that there are people aligned — who are with him, who follow him — who are already practicing what their government is going to be under Trump. Not only are they planning on a civil war if they have to do that, but he is spelling it out specifically how and what they are going to do and how he is going to get revenge, how he is going to attack his enemies, all of these things."

Waters' apparent decision to fabricate rumors about civil war plots came just days after Rasmussen Reports indicated — on the basis of a national telephone and online survey — that 41% of likely U.S. voters believe that the country is bound to suffer a civil war sometime in the next five years.

According to Rasmussen, discussions of civil war "got a boost" after the Hollywood film "Civil War" made its debut as No. 1 at the box office last month.

Waters, having watered the seed of concern regarding another civil war, added that Trump is a "pure racist" who may attack non-whites.

Earlier in the interview, Waters said, "We have to be very concerned about a former president of the United States talking about attacking his own country, talking about perhaps a bloodbath, talking about perhaps there is going to be trouble. He said it in so many different ways. We should take him seriously."

Waters' calculated use of the term "bloodbath"was a rehash of the manufactured scandal over Trump's March 16 use of the term "bloodbath." Whereas the Biden campaign and its apparent allies at CBS News, Politico, NPR, Rolling Stone, the Los Angeles Times, and USA Today mischaracterized the Republican's remarks as threatening, Trump had actually used it in reference to the economic fallout of continued offshoring of jobs and automobile manufacturing plants under the Biden administration.

"This man does not believe in the Constitution. He wants to be a dictator. This is a dangerous human being. We have to know what our country is going to do to protect us from him," added the Democrat.

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