Maxine Waters to skip the State of the Union: 'What does he have to say that I would be interested in?'


Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) is the third House Democrat to announce her intent to skip President Trump's State of the Union address on Jan. 30.
"Why would I take my time to go and sit and listen to a liar?" Waters said in an appearance on MSNBC Friday evening. "Someone who lies in the face of facts, someone who can change their tune day in and day out. What does he have to say that I would be interested in?"
Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) announced his plan to boycott earlier Friday, citing Trump's reported derogatory comment about Haiti, El Salvador, and African nations; and Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) said last week he would rather hear from his constituents.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Many congressional Democrats who will attend plan to stage a silent protest in the audience. Members of the Democratic Women's Working Group will wear all black, said chair Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.), "to really continue the conversation about sexual harassment in the workplace, about disparity of salaries where people work in the same job, and also getting paid for the value of your work."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
-
Lesotho: the tiny African nation in the crosshairs of Trump's tariff war
Under the Radar US president imposes 50% reciprocal levy on the impoverished state: the highest of his so-called 'Liberation Day' tariffs
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
18 slang words and phrases we can thank (or blame) Gen Z for
In Depth Younger Americans have put their stamp on our language with these neologisms
By David Faris Published
-
Kennedy: Cutting to the bone at HHS
Feature The Health and Human Services Secretary has laid off 10,000 HHS employees
By The Week US Published
-
Trump, China up trade war risks with tariff threats
Speed Read China said it would 'fight to the end' after President Donald Trump threatened an additional 50% tariff on Chinese imports
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Supreme Court gives Trump 2 deportation wins
Speed Read The court ruled that the Trump administration could continue to deport Venezuelan migrants
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Judge orders US to recall deported migrant
Speed Read The Trump administration has been ordered to retrieve one of the migrants it sent to a prison in El Salvador due to an 'administrative error'
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump calls tariffs 'medicine' as stocks plunge
Speed Read 'Sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,' the president said of his imposed 10% tariffs on imported goods
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump axes NSA head, NSC staff after Loomer advice
Speed Read On the recommendation of Laura Loomer, Trump fired the head of the National Security Agency and several National Security Council officials
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump says tariffs 'going very well' as markets fall
speed read US financial markets had their biggest one-day drop since the advent of Covid-19
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump rolls out tariffs on virtually all imports
Speed Read On "Liberation Day," Trump announced a 10% baseline tariff on all imports to America and higher reciprocal tariffs for some 60 other countries
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Sen. Booker's 25-hour speech beats Thurmond
Speed Read He spoke for the longest time in recorded Senate history, protesting the Trump administration's policies
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published