Justin Sullivan/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump weighed in on recent instances of members of his administration getting confronted by critics of his policies, saying he hopes “the other side realizes that they better just take it easy.”
The president in an interview on Fox Business that aired Sunday was asked by host Maria Bartiromo about recent incidents of White House and Cabinet officials being publicly challenged over the administration’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy.
“I hope the other side realizes that they better just take it easy,” the president said. “They better just take it easy because some of the languages, some of the words you — even some of the radical ideas — I really think they’re very bad for the country.”
Trump administration officials such as White House press secretary Sarah Sanders and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen have faced public confrontations in recent weeks from Trump critics, sparking a debate about whether such run-ins may be inappropriate or even — for Democrats — politically damaging.
Trump told Bartiromo, “Some of the things said are terrible.”
He also praised his supporters. “You know, there’s probably never been a base in the history of politics in this country like my base.”
The debate over whether Trump critics should confront administration members spilled over into a highly publicized exchange between the president and Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters of California after she said people should continue to call out officials to protest immigration policy.
Waters’ comments were criticized by some leaders in her own party, and the president slammed her on Twitter, calling her a person of “extraordinarily low IQ” who engages in “crazy rants.”
Waters shot back in comments during a House committee meeting. “If you want to talk about civility, you start with the president,” she said, adding that she thinks “every reasonable person” has concluded that Trump “has advocated violence, he has been divisive, and he has been the one that has caused what we see happening today, where people are trying to push back on his policies.”
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