MSNBC "All in with Chris Hayes" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Maxine Waters

Interview

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HAYES: How do you keep the base fired up when you`ve just won again? Play  it like you`re the victim and constantly under attack. It`s essentially  the mission statement over at Trump T.V. where Tucker Carlson spends a  truly remarkable amount of time each and every night trying to scare his  viewers with warnings of an out-of-control and violent left, occasionally  plucking out random tweets to illustrate it. And look at those Chiron`s,  it`s kind of his thing.

But don`t be mistaken it`s because they see this strategy as a political  winner in the wake of the Kavanaugh protests. Take this scene as reported  by The Washington Post when thousands of furious screaming protesters march  towards the Capitol. As Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed, Republican staffers  peered out at the scene from the windows above. They were not alarmed but  elated. There has been some evidence that the Kavanaugh fight energized  the GOP base, at least in the short term but there`s also evidence that  when people get really, really mad at you, you`re probably losing.

Remember back in 2009 spurred by lies about ObamaCare death panels and  pulling the plug on grandma, the Tea Party angrily protested and invaded  town halls to confront even yell at scream at Democratic lawmakers. This  was incidentally before the right suddenly became so concerned about "mob  rule." But here`s the thing. In the subsequent Midterm Election,  Democrats lost 63 seats on their way to losing the House. All that right- wing anger had consequences and it looks at least at this point like this  anger just might as well.

According to a new poll, Democrats now have a 13-point edge in the generic  House ballot 54 to 41. Republicans seem to think that their last best hope  to limit the damage is to convince their base that if they don`t vote they  will find themselves at the mercy of an angry mob of pitchfork-wielding  liberals. Joining me now someone very familiar with these tactics,  Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Democrat of California who`s being a target of  Trump T.V. and the President this summer when she encouraged supporters to  push back on the Trump administration officials in public,

Congresswoman, you`ve seen Mitch McConnell and Chuck Grassley and others in  the wake of all these protesters in the Senate saying basically this is mob  rule, we`re being literally assaulted in the words of Mitch McConnell.  What do you think about that?

REP. MAXINE WATERS (D), CALIFORNIA: Well, I think it`s absolutely  ridiculous and it is not believable. As a matter of fact this country was  built on peaceful protests and those of us who were part of the civil  rights movement who understood the power of protests taught by Dr. Martin  Luther King and others know that we cannot allow Donald Trump in anybody  else to take protests away from us and to deem it to be violent and to try  and make us look like a mob.

It is because of peaceful protests not only in the civil rights movement  but the labor movement was able to get better wages, able to get better  working conditions, able to get better pay, everything because they learn  to March and protest and they still do it today. We know that protest is  guaranteed to a Democratic Society. We know that this is guaranteed to us  by the Constitution. They`re trying to change the description of protest  and call it a mob.

Well, this president is the poster boy for what a mob protester looks like.  He is, as a matter of fact, he`s the one who has been violent in his  speech. He`s the one in his rallies have said things like this: I`d like  to punch him in the face. Trump said that at one of his rallies. He said  knock the crap out of them, would you and seriously OK, just knock the  hell. I mean, I promise I will pay the legal fees. That`s the kind of  talk that he is done. That`s violent talk. We don`t have that kind of  talk that has come from the women who are protesting.

As a matter of fact, this country is past due for the kind of protests that  we have seen women do in the last few days as we have gone through this  confirmation process of Kavanaugh. It is time for women to say that we`re  tired of being disrespected. We`re tired of being you know, called out of  our names etcetera, etcetera. And of course, this sexual assault that so  many have gotten away with for so long is over.

The MeToo Movement have gotten us started, the marches that we`ve been  doing. We`re not going to back down. You`re not going to intimidate us.  You`re not going to frighten us. You`re not going to take away our right  to stand up for ourselves. And guess, what while they`re trying to say to  families, you got to be worried about your boys. Families know, families  know, first of all, they`ve got to be worried about all of their children  but they also understand if their daughters are to grow up and to have  careers and to have confidence and to be able to realize their full  potential, now is the time to embrace them and stand with them as they push  back on the abuse of power by people like the President of the United  States and McConnell.

They have abused their power. I`ve never seen anything like this before.  They have run over us. They have refused to respect Dr. Ford. They refuse  to bring forth the witnesses that are knocking down the doors of the FBI  saying let me come and tell you about what was happening with Kavanaugh not  only in high school but in college. And so we`re not going to allow them  to take this false message that they`re trying to carry to the American  people trying to make them believe that we`re an angry mob.

We`re not going to let him get away with that. This president will try  anything and he will change the conversation if we allow him. But now we  know we can push back on it.

HAYES: Let me -- let me ask you as something -- I want you to respond to  something that Hillary Clinton said that I thought was notable. And she`s  someone obviously who has a reputation in the United States Senate as a  first lady for bipartisanship. She`s worked with people across the aisle.  This is what she had to say about the Republican Party right now and  civility. Take a listen.

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HAYES: What do you think of that?

WATERS: Well, I like that. And listen, I understand and I know what  protest is all about. Of course, it will make others feel comfortable but  you don`t go around saying, may I please protest you? No. You gather your  strength and you take it to where it has to go and you will make people  uncomfortable. That`s what changes is all about.

HAYES: But people -- I want to be clear on this because there are people  who hear that and they think what you`re calling for is physical  intimidation, things that fray at the social fabric that then make people  cower the possibility of violence, of setting someone off who is perhaps  unwell. I want you to respond to that concern.

WATERS: Well, that is absolutely untrue. If they would like to take and  redefine somehow protest and call it something else, they`ll try and do  that. They`ll try and get away with that. But that is not absolutely  true. You don`t hear us talking about hitting anybody, punching anybody,  killing anybody. You have one of the Trump supporters that said you bet I  liked it knocking the hell out of them, big mouth. The next time we see  him we may need to kill him. You don`t hear us talking like that.

When we protest yes we`re shouting out, we have signs, we`re saying what we  think will get to the public and we are not saying we`re going to kill  anybody we`re going to hit anybody or we`re going to cause anybody in a  harm, that`s a lie in the way that they`re trying to redefine protest.

HAYES: All right, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, thank you as always for  making some time.

WATERS: You`re welcome.

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