Jeff Malet/ZUMA
President Donald Trump started his Saturday tweeting an attack on Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) after the Democratic chairman of the House Oversight Committee recently condemned the Trump administration’s treatment of migrants detained at the 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
Why is so much money sent to the Elijah Cummings district when it is considered the worst run and most dangerous anywhere in the United States. No human being would want to live there. Where is all this money going? How much is stolen? Investigate this corrupt mess immediately!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 27, 2019
Trump’s disparagement of Cummings’ district as a “disgusting, rat and rodent-infested mess,” as well as a “very dangerous and filthy place,” employed the same inflammatory language he’s often used when describing communities of color and African nations. The clearest and, perhaps, most damning example came earlier this month with Trump’s racist demand that four Democratic congresswomen of color “go back’ to the “crime-infested” countries they came from.
Cummings is a senior member of the Congressional Black Caucus. His district, Maryland’s 7th, which he has represented for 13 terms, is predominantly African American.
Trump finished his attack by appearing to accuse Cummings of corruption. “Where is all this money going?” he tweeted. “How much is stolen? Investigate this corrupt mess immediately!”
The president did not offer any evidence to support the incendiary accusation. He was likely responding to a Fox News segment targeting Cummings for his recent remarks on the border.
After Robert Mueller’s testimony before Congress this week, Cummings also slammed Trump for the conduct outlined in the former special counsel’s testimony. “I’m begging the American people to pay attention to what is going on,” Cummings said, adding. “Because if you want to have a democracy intact for your children, and your children’s children and generations yet unborn, we have got to guard this moment.”
