The Republican Party should be in big trouble. President Trump's approval rating is somewhere in the 30s and the Republican-dominated Congress hasn't passed any major legislation.

So while it's premature to look ahead to next year's midterms, most analysts give Democrats a reasonable chance of retaking the House.  The Senate, where Democrats must defend many more seats, is far more likely to remain in Republican hands.

One big problem for the Democrats is California Congresswoman Maxine Waters. 

Waters has been on CNN more than Anderson Cooper, on MSNBC more than Joe and Mika.  Because she takes the art of bomb-throwing to a new level, the Congresswoman is a favorite guest of the left and has become the scowling face of the anti-Trump "resistance."

Her hosts, most of whom hate Trump nearly as much as she does, rarely criticize Waters and let her say just about anything.

This week she was at it again, denouncing law professor Alan Dershowitz as a "racist."  This is the same Alan Dershowitz who was a member of O.J. Simpson's "dream team," who marched in civil rights rallies, and who is a lifelong liberal.  His crime, in Mad Maxine's eyes, came when he correctly stated that Robert Mueller's grand jury will be drawing from a pool of people in D.C. who generally aren't big fans of Donald Trump. 

Wow, he might as well be David Duke.

In recent weeks, Waters also called for President Trump's impeachment, then said she did no such thing.  With her customary wit and charm, she called the Trump team "a bunch of scumbags," and warned Ben Carson that she would "take his ass apart."  She also expressed her unshakable belief in that ultra-fake "dossier" that accused Donald Trump of all sorts of salacious acts.  Her constituents in California's 43^rd District must be very proud.

But then again, they don't see much of their representative.  Her primary residence is a $4.3-million, 6,000 square foot home in a very posh Los Angeles neighborhood.  It is not in her own district, which is impoverished beyond belief.

So just how did Maxine Waters become so wealthy?  That is the $4.3-million question that some watchdog groups have been asking for many years, even though the mainstream media seems incredibly incurious about her wealth.

The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a left-leaning organization, named Maxine Waters one of the most corrupt members of Congress.  She made that dubious list four times, most recently in 2011!

During the financial crisis of 2008, the Congresswoman implored Treasury Department officials to meet with OneUnited Bank, which eventually received $12-million in federal bailout dough.  Waters failed to mention that her husband held stock in OneUnited.

She has also put her relatives on her House payroll and paid them lavishly, but the very secretive House Ethics Committee ruled that she did not technically break any rules.

It's worth mentioning that Waters is the ranking Democratic member of the House Committee on Financial Services, and could chair that committee if the House switches from R to D.  "Financial services" is certainly a topic with which she is familiar.

Maxine's bizarre behavior is nothing new.  Back in the 1990s, soon after being elected to Congress, Waters implied that the CIA was responsible for the crack epidemic.  When deadly riots broke out in Los Angeles after the Rodney King trial, she labeled it a "rebellion."

Maxine Waters, who turns 79 next week, has gone from "most corrupt" to "Auntie Maxine," darling of the far-left.  Her admirers don't much care about her very checkered past, her fact-challenged claims, and her outrageous allegations. 

But it would be very interesting to know what goes through the minds of the many sane and sober House Democrats when they see Maxine Waters spewing her vitriol on television.  Do they really believe she is helping their cause and the Democratic Party?  Would she be welcome to campaign with them next year?

On the other side of the aisle, Republican consultants must be drooling at the thought of running attack ads next year featuring Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and Maxine Waters.

Waters refused to attend Donald Trump's inauguration and has since called him "the most deplorable person I have met in my life."  She has often predicted that he will surely be impeached.

But despite all that, perhaps President Trump should be grateful to Congresswoman Maxine Waters for turning an old adage on its head.  "With enemies like these," he might ask, "who needs friends?"