Writing in the Saturday print edition of The New York Times, national politics and social justice reporter Yamiche Alcindor took fellow lefties on a nearly-1,300 word trip through time, praising controversial, far-left Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters (Calif.) as “Auntie Maxine” tries to bring down President Trump.
“Maxine Waters runs around the U.S. Capitol these days — moving fast in heels as she balances back-to-back television interviews, speeches, hearings and hugs from millennials who have called her ‘Auntie Maxine’ to celebrate her outspoken style,” Alcindor began, setting the tone following one a colleague penned on Kamala Harris.
Alcindor offered only sprinkles of criticism, including her corrupt past and the suggestion that her constant freak-outs whenever she’s near a microphone have been all for show. Alas, whenever Alcindor would drop nuggets about that point of view, they were immediately rebutted with more ink.
She built on that yucky lede with more on the far-left spirit animal [emphasis mine]:
It is an odd new celebrity for a 78-year-old Washington fixture who has logged more than 25 years in the House, representing Los Angeles, from gritty but gentrifying Inglewood to largely white, working-class Torrance. But in President Trump, her sharp tongue has found its perfect target, and Auntie Maxine has gone viral.
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Ms. Waters never seems to tire of pressing this case. She has labeled Mr. Trump a “disgusting, poor excuse of a man.” She has called Mr. Trump and his associates “the Kremlin Klan” and began calling for his impeachment soon after he took office.
A brief nod was given to how “the president’s defenders have labeled her ignorant, an embarrassment, ‘Dirty Waters’ and ‘Crazy Maxie,’” but it was quickly back to hyping that Waters has overcome such accusations to having “remade herself from Los Angeles ward politician to a darling of the left.”
After footnoting her one-day suspension from the House floor in 1994 for rude behavior, Alcindor touted fluffy quotes from Democratic Congressman Cedric Richmond (La.) and a constituent visiting Washington. She added how Waters has “easily held her seat” since her election (but no complaints about gerrymandering or being in office too long).
Two paragraphs were devoted to her banking shenanigans that she and her husband engaged in, but dismissed those problems, hinting that “Mr. Trump’s arrival” in Washington no longer made those blemishes a liability for her.
Interspersed with more laudatory quotes, here’s more of Alcindor’s own praise:
That record made some on the left leery of Ms. Waters — until Mr. Trump’s arrival. In January, she refused to attend Mr. Trump’s inauguration. “I don’t honor him. I don’t respect him, and I don’t want to be involved with him,” she told MSNBC. In March, she said the president “doesn’t care about the issues facing the African-American community” and said that she believed “there was collusion between President Trump and Russia to violate the integrity of our elections.”
Now progressives regularly walk up to Ms. Waters and tell her that they love her.
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Ms. Waters has come to appreciate her new admirers from the millennial generation. Many of them may have been raised to believe that if they got a good education and did not make waves, life would be easy, she said. That is not how it always works out.
Ms. Waters has also faced fierce criticism from people who see her tone as showboating and disrespectful. Over July 4 weekend, after Ms. Waters warned that when Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson testified before her committee, she would take him apart, Kyle Morris, a conservative college journalist, accused her of inciting violence.
Ms. Waters said she planned to charge ahead. She is also hoping that the new generation discovering her brand of politics will get inspired to enter the fray.
