WASHINGTON, July 28, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – US President Donald Trump was hit
with new accusations of racism Saturday after he attacked a prominent
African-American lawmaker and branded the majority black city of Baltimore an
“infested mess.”
Trump’s outburst came in a series of sharply worded tweets aimed at
Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings — a high-profile critic of Trump’s
administration whose district covers much of Baltimore.
“Cumming (sic) District is a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess,” the
president wrote, calling it “the worst run and most dangerous anywhere in the
United States.”
“No human being would want to live there,” he said — in an attack
ostensibly provoked by Cummings’ criticism of the harsh conditions facing
would-be asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border.
The morning diatribe ignited a storm of criticism, less than two weeks
after the House of Representatives condemned Trump for “racist” comments
targeting four first-term Democratic congresswomen who are ethnic minorities.
The top Democrat in Congress, Nancy Pelosi, accused Trump of a “racist”
attack on a “champion… of civil rights and economic justice, a beloved
leader in Baltimore, and deeply valued colleague.”
“We all reject racist attacks against him,” wrote Pelosi — who was born in
Baltimore and whose father served as mayor of the city.
Former vice president Joe Biden — the Democratic frontrunner to challenge
Trump in 2020 — called out the president directly on Twitter.
“It is despicable for you to attack him and the people of Baltimore this
way,” Biden wrote. “Once again you have proved yourself unfit to hold the
office. A President is supposed to lift this nation up. Not tear it down.”
There was similar condemnation from half a dozen White House candidates
including Cory Booker, who tweeted footage of a black CNN anchor and
Baltimore native who broke down on air while reacting to the attack on his
hometown.
“This is painful. This is a moral, defining moment in America,” wrote
Booker. “Silence is toxic complicity.”
– ‘Disgraceful’ –
Democratic 2020 contender Kamala Harris, who like Booker is black, said she
was “proud” to have her campaign headquarters in Cummings’ district and
calling Trump’s attack “disgraceful.”
The city’s Democratic Mayor Bernard “Jack” Young — also black — rejected
Trump’s rhetoric, calling it “hurtful and dangerous.”
“It was a total insult,” he told reporters. “We’re not going to ignore
anyone degrading Baltimore city and its effective leadership, no one.”
A historic port city of 600,000 people, Baltimore presents a mixed picture,
with both handsome and affluent neighborhoods and poverty-stricken districts.
It has one of the country’s highest murder rates.
Cummings’ district is more than 50 percent black — and the city of
Baltimore as a whole more than 60 percent.
Cummings himself tweeted: “Mr. President, I go home to my district daily.
Each morning, I wake up, and I go and fight for my neighbors. It is my
constitutional duty to conduct oversight of the Executive Branch. But it is
my moral duty to fight for my constituents.”
As chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Cummings — one of the most
prominent African Americans in Congress — has launched investigations into
Trump administration policies, including reports of poor treatment at migrant
detention centers.
“Rep. Elijah Cummings has been a brutal bully, shouting and screaming at
the great men & women of Border Patrol about conditions at the Southern
Border, when actually his Baltimore district is FAR WORSE and more
dangerous,” Trump charged.
He attacked Cummings again Saturday evening after spending the day at Trump
National Golf Club outside Washington.
“Elijah Cummings spends all of his time trying to hurt innocent people
through ‘Oversight.’ He does NOTHING for his very poor, very dangerous and
very badly run district!,” the president tweeted, adding the hashtag
#BlacksForTrump2020.
The broadside was reminiscent of Trump’s recent, racially-charged onslaught
against the four young Democratic women lawmakers, who he said should “go
back” to the “crime infested” places they came from. In fact, three were born
in the US and all are American citizens.
In an op-ed piece for The Washington Post late Friday, 148 African
Americans who served under former president Barack Obama pledged their
support for the four “as well as all those currently under attack by
President Trump.”
Trump denies accusations of racism — and has made a point of pushing for
the release of US rapper A$AP Rocky, held in Sweden on assault charges, in an
apparent effort to curb his unpopularity with black voters.
But his calculated targeting of the “Squad” — as the four are known — was
widely seen as a bid to galvanize his mostly white electoral base as he gears
up for next year’s reelection battle.