Rep. Maxine Waters is… “special.” I’m not breaking news on that one by any stretch of the imagination.

However, what she did recently was incredibly stupid, even for her.

You see, following Sarah Sanders being kicked out of a restaurant simply because of who she was–apparently, only people who make wedding cakes can be forced to serve others–Waters thinks she sees blood in the water. Now, she’s calling on her allies to harass Trump cabinet members anywhere they go in public.

The good stuff starts around 2:38 or so.

However, just what is Waters doing? I can’t help but believe she’s actually telling supporters and allies to go out there and get shot. Oh, those aren’t her words, but they might as well be. I honestly think that’s the ultimate result of where this will head if people heed her call.

Follow with me for a moment.

Someone sees a member of the cabinet at a restaurant. They call all their friends and a mob forms and pushes into the restaurant. The cabinet member decides to extricate themselves from the situation. However, the mob is caught up in the harassment. They don’t want their quarry to get away.

The cabinet member’s bodyguard realizes they won’t allow them to leave and witnesses something that looks like an act of aggression–beyond what we’ve already described, anyway–and so he pulls his gun and shoots one of the mob.

This is actually the most innocent scenario I can see where violence happens. In this one, fear leads to a potential misunderstanding.

Realistically, though, mobs are dumb, violent beasts that get caught up in their righteousness and often forget completely about the rules of society. The chances are actually better that if someone gets shot, it’ll be because of an actual act of violence. Someone will throw a rock or a bottle, something that could maim or even kill, all because they’re riled up. They’re convinced they’re facing evil because people like Maxine Waters said so.

Of course, this will then be spun as evidence that guns are bad, probably by Waters herself.

This, folks, is how civil wars can start. It’s not enough to disagree with your political opponents; they have to be hounded out of polite society. Much like the stigmatization of gun owners I’ve discussed here before, the idea is to make your opponents appear to be out-of-touch and radical by simply denying them a voice. You make it impossible for them to share their opinions without being bombarded with harassment.

Eventually, people get tired of it. Or, on the other hand, their opponents get tired of their harassment not working and ramp it up. Either way, violence soon results. Hell, it already has.

The problem is that Waters is riling people up for what may be an upsurge in such actions.

Remember when Sarah Palin was blamed for the Gabby Giffords shooting because of an image? Somehow, I doubt Waters will get any blame from the media for any ensuing violence.

And that same media wonders why people no longer trust them.