If Democrats think describing Rep. Elijah Cumming’s Maryland congressional district as “a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess” is racist, they should take a look at what Sen. Bernie Sanders said about it, President Trump argued Monday.
“Crazy Bernie Sanders recently equated the City of Baltimore to a THIRD WORLD COUNTRY! Based on that statement, I assume that Bernie must now be labeled a Racist, just as a Republican would if he used that term and standard!” Trump tweeted.
After visiting West Baltimore, Sanders told the Baltimore Sun in December 2015: “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.”
Trump’s description of Cummings’ district came Saturday in response to Cummings’ scolding last week of acting Homeland Security chief Kevin McAleenan for saying the department was doing its “level best” to handle the humanitarian crisis at the border.
Cummings yelled in response: “What does that mean? What does that mean when a child is sitting in their own feces, can’t take a shower? Come on man. What’s that about? None of us would have our children in that position. They are human beings.”
Trump tweeted Saturday, regarding Cummings, “If he spent more time in Baltimore, maybe he could help clean up this very dangerous & filthy place,”
which, he said, “ranks last in almost every major category.”
Sanders, in 2016, tweeted: “Residents of Baltimore’s poorest boroughs have lifespans shorter than people living under dictatorship in North Korea. That is a disgrace.”
Nevertheless, Sanders on Saturday characterized Trump’s description of Baltimore as racist.
“Here’s what’s really going on,” Sanders tweeted. “@RepCummings has been busy revealing the failures of the Trump administration and exposing the greed of Trump’s friends in the pharmaceutical industry, and our racist president doesn’t like it.”
Meanwhile, House Judiciary Committee chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday the president’s remarks were “disgusting and racist.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., tweeted, referring to Cummings, “We all reject racist attacks against him and support his steadfast leadership.”
Former Vice President Joe Biden, directing his tweet to Trump, wrote: “It is despicable for you to attack him and the people of Baltimore this way. Once again you have proved yourself unfit to hold the office. A President is supposed to lift this nation up. Not tear it down.”
Fellow Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Cory Booker tweeted: “This is painful. This is a moral, defining moment in America. Other generations had to answer: When the Know Nothings, McCarthy, Wallace and so many others sought to demean, degrade, demagogue and divide, What did you do? We must now answer. Silence is toxic complicity.”
