Failing red states safe from Trump attacks
His friends run them, his voters live there
President Donald Trump is right when he says Baltimore’s got problems. Like all big cities, it has crime, drugs, corruption, pockets of poverty and, yes, rodents. But it also has wonderful neighborhoods, beautiful parks, a world-class university, rich history and a lively, vibrant culture.
Obviously, Trump hasn’t singled out Charm City because he’s concerned about it. It’s 40 miles away from Washington, but he has never visited or lifted a finger to help. Shouldn’t presidents want to make things better for all Americans? Not Trump. His concern is that Rep. Elijah Cummings of Baltimore, the powerful Democratic chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, believes in the Constitution and its checks and balances — and is using his authority to probe Trump and his administration.
If I’m wrong and Trump really does care, why stop at Baltimore? His loud criticism of it is a stark contrast with his silence on other places that also have serious problems.
From 46th to 50th, the least educated states are Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, West Virginia and Mississippi.
Highest poverty rates: Kentucky, West Virginia, New Mexico, Louisiana, Mississippi.
Most dangerous: Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana and New Mexico.
Highest share on food stamps in 2017: Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia, New Mexico.
Most dependent on federal aid : Kentucky, Arizona, New Mexico, Louisiana, Mississippi.
Most polluted: Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana.
Most lacking health insurance: Florida, Georgia, Alaska, Oklahoma, Texas.
Of the 16 states in these seven categories, 15 are red states that voted for Trump in 2016. Trump doesn’t mention their problems, because he fears offending people who voted for him.
Trump thinks Baltimore’s a hellhole? The data shows that Mississippi, a deep red state, is poorly educated, mired in poverty and crime and heavily dependent on federal aid. But Mississippi’s governor, two senators and three of four congressmen are Republicans in the tank for him, so Trump won’t say a word. Mississippians deserve better and should demand it.
The people of Kentucky also deserve better. The Bluegrass State can’t support itself (it gets $2.61 from Washington for every dollar it sends there), and also ranks poorly on the poverty and pollution scale. Trump criticizes Cummings, who has been in Washington since 1996. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has been there since 1984 — and what’s he done?
You get the idea. Trump wants those critical of America to leave. When he himself criticized the country in his dark, creepy “American carnage” inaugural address, he could have been talking about these ravaged, failing, mostly red states just as much as Baltimore’s 7th congressional district. But he’ll never do that, of course.
One way Trump could help Baltimore clear its rodent infestation without spending a dime of taxpayer money is to summon his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, down the hall to the Oval Office and tell him to be a better landlord in that city. The Kushner family — which owns nearly 9,000 rental units in 17 locations, most of them in Baltimore County — racked up 200-plus housing violations there in 2017 alone.
ProPublica reporter Alec MacGillis writes of of resident Marquita Parmely: “She had a mouse infestation that was severe enough that her 12-year-old daughter recently found one in her bed. Parmely also has a 2-year-old with asthma, which is aggravated by allergens in mice droppings. She ... kept the family’s laundry in tote bags after mice started appearing in the hamper.”
How ironic that Trump complains of problems that a greedy, uncaring member of his own White House staff has been complicit in creating. The great city of Baltimore isn’t the only place that needs to be cleaned up.