Woman sparked a Trump Baltimore tweetstorm
BALTIMORE — Armed with a camera and a Twitter account, Kimberly Klacik sparked a firestorm.
The videos she posted on social media of blight and trash in West Baltimore caught the eye of Fox News and then President Donald Trump, who over the weekend launched a blistering attack against U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, beginning a multiday war of words between the Republican president and the leaders and boosters of deep blue Baltimore.
Klacik — a Middle River resident who is a member of the 6th District Republican Central Committee and cable news commentator watched the intense reaction.
“The President saw my work,” she tweeted Saturday. “This just made my day.”
Over the next couple of days — as Trump continued to tweet insults and Baltimore leaders continued to defend ? Klacik’s Twitter followers grew from about 16,000 to close to 76,000. She said she become inundated with media requests and got word that unidentified liberal journalists were planning a “hit piece” on her.
On Monday, she said she wants to make it clear that the public’s attention should be on fixing the problems of West Baltimore, not the president’s tweets.
“Hopefully people understand I never had bad intentions,” Klacik said in an interview. “I never wanted this to become a political mess. I wanted Baltimore officials to see these conditions and to do something about it.”
Klacik, who grew up in Accokeek in Prince George’s County and attended Bowie State University, said she initially wanted to become a broadcast journalist, but shifted into political activism. She said she has aspirations of running for office.
“One day I would love to,” said Klacik, who declined to give her age. “I’ve learned a lot about the GOP and why they have issues getting more voters. “
Klacik said she got the idea to make her videos after seeing Cummings speak out against conditions migrants are held in at the Mexican border, while also saying on ABC News that residents in his district were afraid of Trump. She runs a nonprofit called “Potential Me” that does work at the Gilmor Homes in West Baltimore, including giving out clothes, and thought he should show the same outrage for the conditions there.
So, she picked up her Sony camera, drove to Riggs Avenue, and started interviewing residents.
“Residents constantly call the city to remove trash, no one shows up for months. Rats & roaches are a problem in almost every home,” Klacik tweeted in one of several posts. “Illegal immigrants at the border live in better conditions than Americans in West Baltimore. This is @RepCummings district.”
With Cummings’ committee voting recently to subpoena communications from senior White House officials, a producer from Fox News called Klacik and invited her on the show “Fox & Friends” on Saturday morning.
The president is a frequent viewer. On air, Klacik called Cummings’ district “the most dangerous district in America” and said: “Congressman Cummings, like many Democrats, are just in there for the photo-ops.”
(While Baltimore is consistently among the most violent large cities in the country, Cummings’ district, which includes portions of the region’s wealthier suburbs is not statistically the most dangerous in the country.)