Source: Spencer Platt / Getty
Following a weekend of attacks on Congressman Elijah Cummings, President Trump in an early Monday morning post redirected his rage at activist and MSNBC TV host, Reverend Al Sharpton. Trump spent the weekend attacking “King Elijah” as he nicknamed him on his “poorly run” district in Baltimore citing pest infestation, trash and crime as the reason for his attacks.
Rev. Al got involved when he tweeted a photo of himself at the airport with the caption “arrived in DC from Atlanta, headed to Baltimore. Long day but can’t stop.” Trump retweeted the photo with a smear on the 2004 Presidential candidate.
“Al is a con man, a troublemaker, always looking for a score,” Trump wrote on the social media site. “Just doing his thing. Must have intimidated Comcast/NBC. Hates Whites & Cops!”
Rev. Sharpton shot back at Trump on Twitter saying “If he really thought I was a con man he would want me in his cabinet.”
The President’s attack on Cummings and his district has been largely viewed as racist. When going after poltical opponents who are people of color, Trump’s go to phrase has been to call their hometown “poor” or “crime infested.”
Earlier this month Trump attacked Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayana Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib by telling them to go back to the countries they came from and fix the crime infestation. Ocasio-Cortez, Pressley and Tlaib were all born in the United States and Rep. Omar became a naturalized citizen as a teen.
Despite the repetitive theme when addressing people of color, Trump has denied that his statements were racist. Trump went after Cummings after the Maryland Congressman slammed the President for the conditions of refugees at the Southern border. Cummings, who is the House Oversight Committee Chariman, largely has kept his responses based on policy, but did issue his own response to the President on Twitter saying that he has a moral duty to fight for his constituents.
