Trump attacks congressman and calls Baltimore a ‘mess’
President’s Twitter rant parrots Fox News report about Democratic critic Rep. Elijah Cummings has criticized conditions in migrant detention centres.
U.S. President Donald Trump lashed out at a leading African-American congressman Saturday, calling him “a brutal bully” who represents a Baltimore-based district that has become a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess” where “no human being would want to live.”
Trump’s attack on Democratic Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, a leading critic of the president, parroted a segment that aired earlier in the morning on Fox & Friends.
The president suggested the congressman was a hypocrite for criticizing conditions in migrant detention centres at the border when his own district is blighted. Trump also made a vague and unsubstantiated insinuation of corruption.
“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 tweeted. “His district is considered the Worst in the USA.” He went on: “Cumming District is a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess. If he spent more time in Baltimore, maybe he could help clean up this very dangerous & filthy place.” Cummings responded on Twitter shortly afterward, saying that he was a vigorous advocate for his district.
“Mr. President, I go home to my district daily,” he wrote. “Each morning, I wake up, and I go and fight for my neighbours. It is my constitutional duty to conduct oversight of the Executive Branch. But, it is my moral duty to fight for my constituents.”
The congressman pointed to a hearing he held Friday on his effort to legislate lower drug prices, which would help his Baltimore constituents.
“You told me then that you supported the legislation and that you would work with me to make it happen,” Cummings said, still addressing the president. “I took you at your word.”
Trump’s blasts could revive the criticism that followed his attacks on four first-term Democratic congresswomen of colour, who he angrily declared should “go back” to their home countries, even though three of them were born in the United States and the fourth is also an American citizen. The president’s use of racist tropes generated enormous anger on the part of Democrats and some Republicans, leading the House to pass a resolution, largely along party lines, condemning his remarks.
On Saturday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi responded on Twitter to the president’s criticism of Cummings, calling the congressman a patriot and a “champion in the Congress and the country for civil rights and economic justice, a beloved leader in Baltimore, and deeply valued colleague.”
She added, “We all reject racist attacks against him and support his steadfast leadership.”
Mayor Bernard C. Young of Baltimore also reacted angrily, saying in a statement that it was “completely unacceptable” to “denigrate a vibrant American City like Baltimore.” He added, “Mr. Trump, you are a disappointment to the people of Baltimore, our country and the world.”
Trump’s Twitter assault came shortly after Fox & Friends aired a segment Saturday morning assailing Cummings for focusing on migrants more than his own urban constituents. As video footage showed boarded-up houses and trashstrewn areas of Baltimore, the Fox host said that “living conditions at the border are better than most areas in his district.”