Schumer: ‘Not American’ to call for harassment of political opponents

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Monday said calls for opponents of the Trump administration to publicly harass Cabinet members are “not American,” arguing Democrats should focus their energy on winning elections. 

“I strongly disagree with those who advocate harassing folks if they don’t agree with you. … No one should call for the harassment of political opponents. That’s not right. That’s not American,” Schumer said from the Senate floor. 

{mosads}Schumer added that he understands the “frustrations” some members of his party feel when Trump “complains about bullying [and] harassment” even though the president uses it “as a regular tool almost every day.”

“But the president’s tactics and behavior should never be emulated. It should be repudiated by organized, well-informed and passionate advocacy. As Michelle Obama, a person who represents the same kind of fineness that we’ve always had in America … said, ‘When they go low, we go high,’” Schumer said. 

Schumer’s remarks follow similar comments from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who called for unity in a tweet on Monday that gently criticized the suggestion from Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) that people confront Trump administration officials in public. 

Waters, speaking at a Los Angeles rally over the weekend, said Trump administration officials would not be able to go to public places like a restaurant or gas station without being confronted. 

“The people are going to turn on them, they’re going to protest, they’re going to absolutely harass them until they decide that they’re going to tell the president, ‘No, I can’t hang with you, this is wrong, this is unconscionable and we can’t keep doing this to children,’” Waters said.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave a restaurant in Virginia on Friday over her role in the White House.