President Donald Trump on Saturday denigrated a majority-black district represented by a congressional nemesis as a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess,” broadening a campaign against prominent critics of his administration that has exacerbated racial tensions.
Trump lashed out in tweets against Rep. Elijah Cummings, the powerful House Oversight Committee chairman, claiming his Baltimore-area district is “considered the worst run and most dangerous anywhere in the United States.” It was the president’s latest assault on a prominent lawmaker, and the people he represents, two weeks after he sparked nationwide controversy with racist tweets directed at four congresswomen of color.
His comments against Cummings, who leads multiple investigations of the president’s governmental dealings, drew swift condemnation from Democrats, including would-be presidential rivals. Statements from a spokesman for the state’s Republican governor and from the lieutenant governor defended Cummings’ district and its people.
Trump called Cummings a “brutal bully” after his public tongue-lashing of top Homeland Security officials over conditions for migrants detained along the southern border.
….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
“As proven last week during a Congressional tour, the Border is clean, efficient & well run, just very crowded,” Trump tweeted. “Cumming District is a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess.”
Cummings replied directly to Trump on Twitter, saying, “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.”
Trump is being called a Liar & Racist for saying West Baltimore is poorly ran by Democrats.
Well here is a video of West Baltimore and according to Democrats this is beautiful site. They like to see black people living in filth.
pic.twitter.com/rzkbbPQj8R— Terrence K. Williams (@w_terrence) July 27, 2019
Cummings has also drawn the president’s ire for investigations touching on his family members serving in the White House. On Thursday his committee voted along party lines to authorize subpoenas for personal emails and texts used for official business by top White House aides, including Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner.
After spending several hours on his private golf course in Virginia, Trump repeated the attack on Cummings, despite broad criticism from Democrats.
“Elijah Cummings spends all of his time trying to hurt innocent people through ‘Oversight,'” Trump tweeted. “He does NOTHING for his very poor, very dangerous and very badly run district!”
Elijah Cummings spends all of his time trying to hurt innocent people through “Oversight.” He does NOTHING for his very poor, very dangerous and very badly run district! Take a look…. #BlacksForTrump2020 https://t.co/seNVESZUht
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 27, 2019
The latest comments come as Trump has placed racial animus at the center of his reelection campaign, as he believes his inflammatory rhetoric will strengthen his support among the white working class and attract a new group of disaffected voters who fear cultural changes across America.
Cummings’ district is about 55% black and includes a large portion of Baltimore. It is home to the national headquarters of the NAACP and Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Hospital.
The city has struggled with violent crime, with more than 300 homicides for four years in a row. It has crumbling infrastructure and a police department under federal oversight.
Cummings’ district also extends into Maryland’s Baltimore and Howard counties.
Trump’s attack on Cummings was reminiscent of one he launched a week before his inauguration on civil rights legend John Lewis, a Democratic congressman from Georgia who questioned the legitimacy of his 2016 election.
Trump tweeted in January 2017 that Lewis “should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results.”
And earlier this month, the president drew bipartisan condemnation following his call for four Democratic congresswomen of color to get out of the U.S. “right now,” saying if the lawmakers “hate our country,” they can go back to their “broken and crime-infested” countries.
His comments were directed at Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. All are American citizens and three of the four were born in the U.S. The Democratic-led U.S. House voted largely along party lines to condemn his “racist comments.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defended Cummings on Saturday as “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.”
Baltimore Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young fired back at Trump after his attacks, saying he is a “disappointment to the people of Baltimore, our country, and to the world.”
“It’s completely unacceptable for the political leader of our country to denigrate a vibrant American City like Baltimore, and to viciously attack U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings a patriot and a hero,” Young said in a statement.
Democratic presidential contender Kamala Harris, a California senator, said she is “proud” her campaign is headquartered in Cummings’ district. “Baltimore has become home to my team and it’s disgraceful the president has chosen to start his morning disparaging this great American city,” she said.
A spokesman for Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, defended the area and its residents. In an email, Michael Ricci wrote, “Baltimore City is truly the very heart of our state, and more attacks between politicians aren’t going to get us anywhere.”
Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford, also a Republican, tweeted: “Mr. President, @realDonaldTrump, I have substantial policy differences with Congressman @RepCummings. However, I hope your criticism is not directed at the many good and hard working people who live in the district.”
(AP)
27 Responses
Good thing he didn’t notice the sinkhole in what is probably the most critical intersection in downtown Baltimore, that also swallowed the Light Rail, not to mention that the crooks have a better approval rating than the cops, or two of the last three mayors resigned in disgrace for bribery (or the Orioles set records for worst major league team in history – but at least seems to be improving).
If Trump wants Baltimore cleaned up, he should be talking to the mayor and other local officials. Congressman Cummings has no authority over Baltimore police, sanitation department or other Baltimore agencies responsible for running Baltimore’s government. But, of course, Trump does not know that.
The president is right on the money with this one. Cummings is a career politician whose district is a crime ridden rat hole. He is the father of at least 3 children by 3 different women and his current wife is under investigation for $6,000,000 of missing funds from a non profit organization that she runs. Hardly paragons of virtue. As a Baltimorean I am sick and tired of the stupidity of the voters who keep sending these swamp dwellers back to Washington. DRAIN THE SWAMP! Baltimore is on target for a murder a day for the month of July and this piece of garbage is complaining about the treatment of ILLEGAL immigrants?? Clean up your own house Elijah before you criticize President Trump’s following his constitutional mandate to serve and protect Americans.
We is owl waiting foh Elijah’s coming but this ain’t the Cummings of the Elija we is waiting foh.
Yes. Cummings’ Baltimore district includes a high percentage of low-income slum housing and has a high crime rate but the Trumpkopf is obviously trying to build upon the racist rants he started with the Obama “Birther” conspiracy theories, doubled down with his campaign kickoff event at Trump tower calling Mexicans rapists and murderers, peaking with his Charlottesville comments about “both sides having good people” regarding anti-jewish and anti-black white supremacist and continuing with his “go back” comments against the four Dem congresswomen who make stupid comments. He believes this racist/white supremacist rhetoric won over blue collar states in 2016 and will further energize his base for 2020.
baltimore and chicago are cesspools.
The President’s statements about Baltimore are objectively true. There’s nothing racist about it, unless the democrats want to make it that way.
President Trump attacked a congressman who happens to be black, and that’s completely different from attacking a black congressman for being black or tying it to the OBJECTIVELY TRUE FACTS that most of Baltimore under this congressman are a rat and crime infested toilet. Trump’s not the one who turned Baltimore into a sewer.
Baltimore has had solely Democrat leadership for 50+ years.
And when everything is racism, nothing is.
POTUS accurately called a spade a shovel.
Why is this controversial? He is simply stating the truth.
Trump is spot-on. Balto. City used to be about 900 thou, now it’s around 600. The white neighborhoods are still there. The black neighborhoods are gone. The black middle class with their jobs have fled to the county. It’s now like East St. Louis (#1 in crime) with an almost total black pop.!
There YOU GO AGAIN YWN with your leftist, anti-Trump lies! PRESIDENT Trump
commented that Communist members of Congress who hate America and the American system should just get out and leave.This wasn’t “racist tweets directed at four congresswomen of color” ,that they took it that he was talking about them says a lot ,and it’s hardly racist!! If PRESIDENT Trump, attacks these women personally it is because of their leftist ,anti-American ideas, not because of their skin color! SHAME ON YOU YWN, for your lack of objective reporting.
Lol i couldn’t be happier that Trump said this. Now, maybe the stupid liberals will have to take care of Baltimore just to prove trump wrong. Downtown Baltimore is one of the biggest eye sores. Tons and tons of homes are boarded-up and crime is through the roof, and sometimes spills into the Jewish community. They’ve gotta figure out some way to make a huge change in this city. I think a good way way to start is to invest billions of dollars in the infrastructure of buildings and homes and then create state of the art schools and recreational facilities. Maybe if the people there will live in a place with an upper class look to it, they will feel the need to be more upper class in regards to their behavior (dressing up nice will eventually have an impact on how you feel on the inside) then they will be able to change for the good. I think there is tremendous potential for a vibrant city and flourishing businesses ect.
Where’s the alleged racism? Trump didn’t say one word about race. Nor did he say one word about race when he made that stupid tweet about how congresswomen who don’t like America should go back to the countries they came from.
That was stupid only because three out of the four came from here; he should have told them to go to Venezuela or Zimbabwe or some other country that their policies have turned into s***holes. But there was nothing racist about it, and there’s nothing racist about this one.
Either Cummings’s district is a rat-infested dump or it isn’t. If it is then Trump’s criticism would seem to be fair. If it isn’t then it’s unfair. But either way how is it racist?
As for his attacks on John Lewis, Lewis is an old fraud and race-hustler, who richly deserves to be attacked, but every time he is he waves the race card as if he should be immune from criticism just because he got beaten up on a march 50 years ago.
When someone says Arab go back where you came from, that’s racism
When someone tells a lowlife go back where you came from, and the lowlife happens to be Arab, that’s called pro America.
When someone calls the person trying to be pro America, a racist, that’s called a lowlife liar
Truth hurts, Elijah et al. Jerry the waddler Nadler why dont you drive thru Baltimore city sometime. Tell the mother who was pistol whipped holding her 5 week old infant in her arms so that 3 thugs could steal her cell phone that this city is not a garbage dump where the criminals rule!
So the president who declared in his acceptance speech when nominated that all children in Baltimore, Detroit and Chicago have a right to live equally as every American and that he’d work EVERY DAY to make that happen, now admits in his own way that he was once again lying, aside from the racist conotatations.
And yet Jews continue to laud Baltimore and move there. Rationally any of us could go to anytown USA and film one minute and turn it into a horror show. But to the Presidents uninformed minions it’s easier to blame a congressperson who represents and entire district rather than those that govern the district. One of the benefits of a secular education is understanding the duties of elected officials, congress people, mayors, local govt appointees who regulate planning and seek solutions to urban blight. I can’t wait until someone posts a similar video clip showing the trash piles in Monsey.
Oh and I failed to mention the rats present in the kitchens at Mar a largo, Trump Plaza NYC and the Trump hotel in DC. These are just a few of the hundreds of sanitation violations at his businesses and all public record. And while we’re discussing the decline of Baltimore, please don’t ignore the Kushner family’s housing violations in their Baltimore rentals. This is all public record and been discussed in mainstream publications. Trust me people you need to stop depending on YWN as your sole news source.
Katan-beli-torah: his campaign kickoff event at Trump tower calling Mexicans rapists and murderers, peaking with his Charlottesville comments about “both sides having good people” regarding anti-jewish and anti-black white supremacist
You are an outright liar.
I think a good way way to start is to invest billions of dollars in the infrastructure of buildings and homes and then create state of the art schools and recreational facilities. Maybe if the people there will live in a place with an upper class look to it, they will feel the need to be more upper class in regards to their behavior
Are you insane? What planet do you live on? “Investing” billions of dollars in these things would be throwing it down the toilet. You might as well set fire to the money now. If the people there will live in a place with an upper class look, they will destroy it and reduce it to a slum within a decade.
As the Baltimore Sun writes “People who support President Donald Trump, no matter what he says or does, are beyond reach with reason and facts. To continue to support this president, you have to either agree with every bit of what he says and does or put yourself in a kind of bubble where you never hear his racism and never see his ignorance and cruelty. For you, Trump is all about conservative judges and a strong economy. Life is good, and so what if the president is a high-grade bigot?”
(For YWN I will add, life is good for Israel.)
“But his worst offense came in this phrase: “No human being would want to live there.” That’s as deeply racist a comment as he has ever uttered or tweeted. It says that the 600,000-plus of us who live here must be subhuman, or in some way defective human beings. ”
Imagine a tweet: Boro Park is overcrowded. Traffic is terrible. It’s dirty and garbage is strewn all over. It’s rat and bed bug infested.
No human being would want to live there.
Would that not be interpeted as Anti Semitic?
How is what he said in any way a lie? The president was saying that the children of those cities deserve a decent place to live. All of those cities have been run into the ground by the Democrats who have been in power for so many years. They had a long time in which to turn the situation around but deliberately dont do so. The sheeple keep voting them
in, loving the freebies that they are promised. If that makes me sound racist so be it. The frum community votes the same way on a local level. This city is a continuing corrupt mess. The black on black crime is not allowed to be mentioned for fear of the “R” word. The politicians don’t give a hoot for any thing but power and lining their own pockets. As proof see our 3 previous mayors. BTW – whatever happened to Catherine Puke? Will Sheila “the gift card thief” Dixon run again for mayor? Perhaps Governor….she’s qualified after all…she’s a Democrat
To all lunatic Democrats on this forum: read this and shut up.
“Anyone who took the walk that we took around this neighborhood would not think you’re in a wealthy nation,” . “You would think that you were in a Third World country”. “We’re talking about a community in which there are hundreds of buildings that are uninhabitable.” Bernie Sanders said in the interview with Baltimore Sun 2015.
Her is more for self-hating virtue signaling Marxists on this forum:
“Donald J. Trump is known for his hyperbole, but not all of his ideas are a stretch. Our inner cities are a “disaster,” as he said in the final presidential debate — and they should be officially declared so.” from Baltimore Sun published an op-ed on Nov. 9, 2016.
Jack: your hypothetical tweet about Boro Park is a joke. Surely under those circumstances no Jews would live there. Also, whose fault is it that Baltimore slums are dirty rat-infested slums? Cummings is not doing his job.
amil zola where do u reside do u think ny is any better the nypd does nothing and thanks to askanim and rabbis who voted only for democrats the jewish education system is in turmoil as well as many other problems i cant list here and yes i currently live in ny