A US city’s newspaper has blasted Donald Trump as the “most dishonest man to ever occupy the Oval Office” after the US president called part of the area a “rat and rodent-infested mess”.
On Saturday, Trump attacked Democrat politician Elijah Cummings, who represents the US city of Baltimore in Congress, after he had criticised the inhumane conditions at the US-Mexico border. He labelled Cummings a “brutal bully” and berated his majority-black district.
The Baltimore Sun’s editorial board tore into Trump in a searing op-ed published on Saturday, calling the president “the mocker of war heroes, the gleeful grabber of women’s private parts, the serial bankrupter of businesses” and “the useful idiot” of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
It wrote: “We would tell the most dishonest man to ever occupy the Oval Office, the mocker of war heroes, the gleeful grabber of women’s private parts, the serial bankrupter of businesses, the useful idiot of Vladimir Putin and the guy who insisted there are ‘good people’ among murderous neo-Nazis that he’s still not fooling most Americans into believing he’s even slightly competent in his current post. Or that he possesses a scintilla of integrity.
“Better to have some vermin living in your neighborhood than to be one.”
The president has faced intense backlash since berating Cummings in response to the Maryland politician’s criticisms.
“The Border is clean, efficient & well run, just very crowded,” Trump claimed on Saturday. “Cumming District is a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess.”
Democrats and Baltimore residents bashed Trump for his comments attacking the American city and the people who live there, with House speaker Nancy Pelosi decrying them as “racist”.
“We all reject racist attacks against him and support his steadfast leadership,” Pelosi tweeted.
On Sunday, Trump tweeted again - bringing California Democrat Pelosi into the fray.
“Someone please explain to Nancy Pelosi, who was recently called racist by those in her own party, that there is nothing wrong with bringing out the very obvious fact that Congressman Elijah Cummings has done a very poor job for his district and the City of Baltimore.
“The Democrats always play the Race Card, when in fact they have done so little for our Nation’s great African American people,” he continued. “Elijah Cummings has failed badly! Speaking of failing badly, has anyone seen what’s happening to Nancy Pelosi’s district in San Francisco. It is not even recognizable lately. Something must be done before it is too late.”
The latest accusations of racism against Trump came less than two weeks after he suggested four Democratic congresswomen of colour ― Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar “go back” to other countries.
The president’s tweet on Sunday claiming that Democrats called Pelosi “racist” appeared to be a misleading reference to the reported tension between these four lawmakers ― known as ‘the Squad’ ― and Pelosi. Ocasio-Cortez has criticised the Democratic leader but stated earlier this month that she doesn’t believe she is racist.
Asked about the tweets on Sunday, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney rejected the notion that racism had a role in Trump’s repeated singling out of minority politicians.
“This is what the president does. He fights and he’s not wrong to do so,” Mulvaney said on Fox News Sunday, insisting Trump was right to point out problems in Cummings’ district.
Mulvaney, a former congressman who represented a mostly rural district in South Carolina, added: “If I had poverty like that in my district, if I had crime like that... I’d get fired.”