After Calling Baltimore ‘Rodent-Infested Mess,’ Donald Trump Reminded If He Doesn’t Love America He Can Leave
After Donald Trump referred to a majority-black congressional district, which includes the city of Baltimore, as a “rodent-infested mess,” Twitter was quick to remind him of the words of an American president: “If you hate your country, if you’re not happy here, you can leave.”
Those words of wisdom came directly from Trump himself, just a few days ago.
Trump sparked controversy on Saturday when he launched into an attack on the Maryland congressional district represented by Elijah Cummings, one of the longest-serving black legislators. Echoing the words of a Fox News segment that had aired just minutes before, Trump said that the district was a filthy and rat-infested mess.
“Rep, Elijah Cummings has been a brutal bully, shouting and screaming at the great men & women of Border Patrol about conditions at the Southern Border, when actually his Baltimore district is FAR WORSE and more dangerous. His district is considered the Worst in the USA,” Donald Trump wrote in the series of tweets. “As proven last week during a Congressional tour, the Border is clean, efficient & well run, just very crowded. Cumming District is a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess. If he spent more time in Baltimore, maybe he could help clean up this very dangerous & filthy place.”
The attack on the Baltimore district came just a few days after Trump explicitly told a group of congresswomen of color that they should leave the United States if they wanted to criticize it. As the New York Times had reported, Trump accused the group of hating the United States, just days after telling them to go back to their “original” countries — three of the four were born in the United States. Trump said that if they “hate your country,” they were free to leave.
After his attack on Baltimore, many people on Twitter were quick to remind Donald Trump of his own advice from just a few days before. Others pointed out that Trump has long trashed the United States, but seems to have a problem when any criticisms come from people of color.
Pres. Trump’s allies have sought to defend him from charges of racism while fusing his nativist rhetoric with a love-it-or-leave-it appeal to patriotism.
But, like his “infested” tweet, Trump often says the quiet part out loud.
W/ ?@AshleyRParker? https://t.co/TLpj8KInTo— Toluse Olorunnipa (@ToluseO) July 27, 2019
Last week, Trump said if you trash America, you are welcome to leave.
This week, Trump trashes West Baltimore. pic.twitter.com/ykokdJX9bp
— Holy Bullies (@holybullies) July 27, 2019
Trump: if you don’t like America, you can leave
Everyone:
Trump: West Baltimore sucks
— Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) July 27, 2019
Many accused Donald Trump of appealing directly to racism in the attack on the district, which has the second-highest average annual income of all majority-black districts in the United States. As The Inquisitr reported, Trump also borrowed some language he has used exclusively in attacks on people of color. As the report noted, Trump has used the phrase “infested” exclusively when talking about people of color.
