Rep. Maxine Waters endorses Joe Biden for president

Rep. Maxine Waters, who has often tussled with President Trump, said she would endorse Joe Biden, saying it’s a “particularly dangerous time in America.” She also accused the president of “talking about killing young white children” by deploying the military to quell riots.

The California lawmaker said the US is at a crossroads as it confronts the nationwide protests of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the 40 million Americans unemployed and the ravaging effects of the coronavirus on the economy.

“It’s tough right now,” Waters said in an interview Wednesday with Cheddar.com.

“Not only are people upset with the criminal justice system and the fact that this just happens far too often and to black people in particular, people are out of work right now. One in four people are unemployed,” she said, adding this is a “particularly dangerous time for America.”

The troubling environment, she said, makes the case for electing the former vice president.

“This is going to help people to understand that Biden is a must. They’ve got to change the presidency of the United States. We cannot take four more years of Trump,” Waters said.

Asked about concerns over Biden’s electability, Waters said she sees “a growing understanding that Biden must be elected,” because Trump is “destroying America.”

“I see a growing understanding that [Biden] must be elected. He must be elected because this president is destroying America. Not only is he goading confrontation, this business of calling out the military. Now he’s talking about not only killing black people, he’s talking about killing young white children,” the congresswoman said. “I do not believe that whether you’re a Republican, or you are an independent, that you’re going to stand for your white daughter, your white son, to be killed by the military because this president is using it as a campaign tool.”

Waters said the country needs to make substantive changes to the criminal justice system or the protests will continue, but she has no faith in Congress taking up the issue.

“I don’t have any hopes that anything is going to happen in Congress anytime soon to change it,” she said.

Trump has nicknamed Waters, one of the first Democrats to call for him to be impeached, “Low IQ Maxine.”