Sen. Tom Udall on Monday said Rep. Maxine Waters‘ call to harass Trump administration officials was inappropriate, but that the president at least shares part of the blame for “setting a very negative tone” for the country.

“I think we should tone it down, both sides,” the New Mexico Democrat told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, in a clip flagged by the Washington Free Beacon. “Very unfortunately, you know, if you look at the history of the country, we’ve had some very negative tough periods, and the president sets the tone.”

“You can see what happens over and over again if anybody challenges him, he’s a big bully and ramps it up four or five times, and so it makes it difficult for us in Congress to try to come together and be civil,” Mr. Udall added.

Protesters have taken to confronting and berating administration officials and Trump-supporting Republicans in public and at their homes. Just this past week, DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was chased out of a Mexican restaurant and accosted by protesters at her Virginia home, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was kicked out of a Virginia restaurant, the president’s senior policy adviser, Stephen Miller, was called a “fascist” at a Washington restaurant, and Florida Attorney Gen. Pam Bondi was heckled outside a screening for the new Mister Rogers documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbor.”

Ms. Waters, California Democrat, told her supporters to keep it up: “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, and you push back on them, and you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere,” she said Saturday.

Mr. Trump responded on Twitter, saying Ms. Waters should be careful what she wishes for.

Congresswoman Maxine Waters, an extraordinarily low IQ person, has become, together with Nancy Pelosi, the Face of the Democrat Party. 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! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 25, 2018

Sign up for Daily Newsletters Manage Newsletters

Copyright © 2020 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.