President Donald Trump spent the weekend going after Rep. Elijah Cummings (R-MD) and his majority black district in Baltimore, Maryland.
“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 on Saturday morning.
Echoing similar language to his racist attacks against Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Trump called Cummings’ district a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess.”
“If [Cummings] spent more time in Baltimore, maybe he could help clean up this very dangerous & filthy place,” Trump tweeted.
….As proven last week during a Congressional tour, the Border is clean, efficient & well run, just very crowded. 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
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 27, 2019
Trump’s Twitter attacks against Baltimore and Cummings bled over from Saturday to Sunday in the form of videos purporting to show dirty city streets.
“Mr. President, I go home to my district daily. Each morning, I wake up, and I go and fight for my neighbors,” Cummings tweeted in response on Saturday night. “It is my constitutional duty to conduct oversight of the Executive Branch. But, it is my moral duty to fight for my constituents.”
Mr. President, I go home to my district daily. Each morning, I wake up, and I go and fight for my neighbors.
It is my constitutional duty to conduct oversight of the Executive Branch. But, it is my moral duty to fight for my constituents.
— Elijah E. Cummings (@RepCummings) July 27, 2019
On Sunday morning, Trump pushed back against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s charge that his comments were racist.
“The Democrats always play the Race Card, when in fact they have done so little for our Nation’s great African American people,” Trump fumed.
….a look, the facts speak far louder than words! The Democrats always play the Race Card, when in fact they have done so little for our Nation’s great African American people. Now, lowest unemployment in U.S. history, and only getting better. Elijah Cummings has failed badly!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 28, 2019
Trump’s outburst seemed to be prompted by Cummings’ line of questioning when acting Department of Homeland Security chief Kevin McAleenan was giving a testimony in front of the House Oversight Committee last week.
Cummings, the chairman of the Oversight committee, shredded McAleenan for the Trump administration’s child migrant separation policy and for the squalid conditions at the migrant detention centers.
