Stepping up feud, Trump assails Rep. Cummings as ‘racist’
WASHINGTON — Facing growing accusations of racism over his incendiary tweets, President Donald Trump on Sunday tried to deflect the criticism by labeling a prominent minority congressman as himself racist and accusing 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 majority-black district in the Baltimore area as a “rodentinfested mess” where “no human being would want to live” drew widespread condemnation from Democrats as racebaiting.
Trump insisted there was nothing racist about his criticism and tweeted back, “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. He offered no detail to back up his accusation of racism against Cummings.
The president’s comments capped a weekend of attacks on Cummings, the powerful chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, and marked his latest rhetorical shot against non-white lawmakers, exacerbating racial tensions. Two weeks ago, Trump caused a nationwide uproar with racist tweets directed at four Democratic congresswomen of color.
Heading into the 2020 elections, the president is trying to tap into anxieties about demographic and cultural changes in the nation in the belief that the divided country he leads will simply choose sides over issues such as race.
A White House aide said Sunday that 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.
Acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney insisted in two national television interviews that Trump was not making racist comments. But Mulvaney, a former congressman himself, said he understood why some people could perceive Trump’s words as racist.
Mulvaney said Trump’s words were exaggerated for effect — “Does the president speak hyperbolically? Absolutely” — and meant to draw attention to Democratic-backed investigations of the Republican president and his team in Washington.
“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,” Mulvaney said, pointing at Democrats who now control the House.
He asserted that Trump’s barbs were a reaction to what the president considered to be inaccurate statements by Cummings about conditions in which children are being held in detention at the U.s.mexico border.