ArcaMax

"If you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd," the California Democrat said last weekend at a Los Angeles rally and again on Sunday on MSNBC. "And you push back on them. And you tell them they're not welcome anymore, anywhere. We've got to get the children connected to their parents."

Fine. But there are smart ways and not-very-smart ways to pursue that aim. As former Republican political consultant Steve Schmidt, who recently left the Grand Old Party to protest Trump's immigration policies, once said, tussling with Trump is like wrestling with a pig: "You both get dirty and the pig enjoys it."

Trump gave a demonstration on Monday morning of how, when Waters goes low, Trump goes lower. "Congresswoman Maxine Waters, an extraordinarily low IQ person, has become, together with Nancy Pelosi, the Face of the Democrat Party," Trump tweeted. "She has just called for harm to supporters, of which there are many, of the Make America Great Again movement. Be careful what you wish for Max!"

Yeah, Max. Never mind that you didn't really say what our gangster in chief says you said.

For the record, Waters did not call for physical "harm" to Trump administration officials or harassment of his supporters. And, instead of defending Waters, House Minority Leader Pelosi called her fellow California Democrat's comments "unacceptable," even as she blamed Trump's "daily lack of civility" for provoking the protests that Waters had in mind.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, went further. Calling Waters' approach "not American," he advised, "The best solution: win elections."

You said it, senator. As Trump continues to appeal almost exclusively to his adoring base, Democrats have more opportunities to tackle problems with positive policies and programs, not just protests.

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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.)

(c) 2018 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.