On Saturday, President Trump shot off a couple of tweets attacking Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and his majority-black congressional district, which includes much of Baltimore. Trump has gotten some pushback for these attacks, but acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney defended Trump's tweets when Fox News Sunday when Chris Wallace said they seemed "the worst kind of racial stereotype."
"Look, I was in Congress for six years," Mulvaney said. "If I had poverty in my district like they have in Baltimore ... and I spent all of my time in Washington, D.C., chasing down this Mueller investigation, this bizarre impeachment crusade, I'd get fired. And I think the president's right to raise that. It has absolutely zero to do with race." According to Census data, Mulvaney's 5th Congressional District in South Carolina has a median income about $10,000 below Cummings' 7th District in Maryland, and its poverty level is either about the same or higher than Maryland's 7th.
Wallace pointed out that along with the district's above-average income, "Columbia, Maryland, which is part of the Cummings' district, has been called the safest city in America." And he continued:
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Wallace: You say it has zero to do with race — there is a clear pattern here, Mick. ... Before his inauguration, the president tweeted about John Lewis, a black congressman that he should ... spend time in his crime-infested district. Then, two weeks ago, he goes after these four members of "The Squad," all women of color, and says they should go back to the crime-infested countries from which they come. Then he talks about Elijah Cummings and he says his district is rat and rodent-infested.Infested. It sounds like vermin. It sounds subhuman. And these are all six members of Congress who are people of color.Mulvaney: I think you're spending way too much time reading between the lines...Wallace: I'm not reading between the lines. I'm reading the lines. [Fox News Sunday]
Maybe this is personal for Trump? Either way, people who live in rodent-infested houses probably shouldn't throw vermin comments. Peter Weber
-
Musk wins $1 trillion Tesla pay packageSpeed Read The package would expand his stake in the company to 25%
-
Political cartoons for November 7Cartoons Friday’s political cartoons include a party at Mar-a-Lago, a handy chart for ICE, the Republican train wreck and Nancy Pelosi's retirement
-
Trump ordered to fully fund SNAPSpeed Read The Justice Department is appealing the decision
-
Has Zohran Mamdani shown the Democrats how to win again?Today’s Big Question New York City mayoral election touted as victory for left-wing populists but moderate centrist wins elsewhere present more complex path for Democratic Party
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
-
Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
-
Trump’s huge ballroom to replace razed East WingSpeed Read The White House’s east wing is being torn down amid ballroom construction
-
Trump expands boat strikes to Pacific, killing 5 moreSpeed Read The US military destroyed two more alleged drug smuggling boats in international waters
