GOP voices offer a range of responses to Trump's Baltimore tweets


President Trump has received his fair share of criticism for his attacks on House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and the city of Baltimore. But the White House's acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney is backing his boss.
Mulvaney appeared on Fox News' Fox News Sunday, where he told host Chris Wallace that Trump's criticism of Cummings had "absolutely zero to do with race." He said that the president was only going after Cummings for his criticism of the situation at the southern border.
Mulvaney wasn't the only GOP voice to weigh on Sunday, though he was the most supportive of the president. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) avoided condemning or supporting the tweets on NBC's Meet the Press, but he did say he was "disappointed" in Cummings for "attacking Border Patrol agents that are trying to do their job."
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Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican who does not work for Trump and does not have to worry about re-election, was more forthright in his criticism. During an appearance on ABC's This Week, he said the tweets were a "bad idea."
Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas), the only black Republican in the House, was highly critical of Trump's previous racist tweets directed at four Democratic congresswomen, but he went easier on the president this time around, arguing that the Baltimore tweets were "different." Hurd, who also appeared on This Week, did suggest that he didn't agree with Trump's style. Tim O'Donnell
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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
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