Trump calls Cummings ‘racist’
President steps up his feud with Baltimore-area congressman
WASHINGTON — Deflecting criticism of his recent tweets attacking a prominent minority congressman, President Donald Trump on Sunday labeled the congressman himself as racist and accused Democrats of trying to “play the race card.”
Trump assailed Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-MD., as a racist after the president’s criticisms of the congressman’s Baltimore-area district as a “rodent-infested mess” where “no human being would want to live” drew widespread condemnation from Democrats as race-baiting.
Trump insisted there was nothing racist about his criticism and tweeted, “If racist Elijah Cummings would focus more of his energy on helping the good people of his district, and Baltimore itself, perhaps progress could be made in fixing the mess that he has helped to create over many years of incompetent leadership.”
“His radical ‘oversight’ is a joke!” Trump added.
In two national television interviews Sunday, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said Trump was frustrated by the Democrats’ unrelenting investigations and talk of impeachment and swung hard at Cummings and his district because the president believes such Capitol Hill critics are neglecting serious problems at home in their zeal to undermine his presidency.
Mulvaney insisted Trump was not making racist comments, but he said he understood why some people could perceive the tweets as racist.
Trump’s words were meant to draw attention to Democratic-backed investigations of the president and his team, Mulvaney said.
“Instead of helping people back home, they’re focusing on scandal in Washington D.C., which is the exact opposite of what they said they would do when they ran for election in 2018,” he said.
Trump also tweeted Sunday:
“There is nothing racist in stating plainly what most people already know, that Elijah Cummings has done a terrible job for the people of his district, and of Baltimore itself. Dems always play the race card when they are unable to win with facts.”
Mulvaney argued that Trump would criticize any lawmaker in a similar way if he felt that individual spoke unfairly about the president’s policies.
Trump was “right to raise” the challenges faced in Cummings’ district while Cummings and other Democrats are pursuing “this bizarre impeachment crusade,” Mulvaney said.