Over the weekend, Rep Elijah Cummings (D-MD) became the latest target of a Twitter rant by President Trump. Here’s one example:
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 J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 27, 2019
And drew predictable responses. Here’s Benen’s:
With the stunning hypocrisy of Trump spending so much energy condemning those he perceives as critics of the United States, only to turn around and express his disgust for one of the country’s oldest and largest cities?
With the fact that Trump, once again, has presented himself as being president of the United States, but only the parts he likes?
Perhaps it’s the pattern that hurts the most. In early 2017, on the weekend in which Americans recognize the Martin Luther King Day, Trump condemned Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) – who marched alongside MLK – before going after his congressional district as an area that’s “falling apart” and “crime infested.”
Benen thinks it’s all part of a divisive political strategy:
As we discussed last week, Trump operates from the assumption that the key to electoral victory is maximizing racial resentments and reaping the benefits of some Americans’ worst and most divisive instincts. In effect, the president sees value in ripping the country apart, confident that he and people like him will be left with the biggest chunk.
The Rev. Al Sharpton and Gov Larry Hogan (R-MD) in WaPo:
The Rev. Al Sharpton on Monday lambasted President Trump for his attacks on Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) and the majority-black district he represents, calling Trump’s remarks “bigoted and racist.”
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R), in a separate radio interview, said the president’s comments describing Baltimore as a “rodent-infested mess” were “outrageous and inappropriate.” But he stopped short of calling them racist.
But I think this is the red cape, with Trump the matador, the bull the liberals and NeverTrumpers – and his GOP cohort, however, reluctant, the crowd in the stands. This is to say, that red cape with incendiary words on them is meant to distract the potentially highly destructive bulls from actually inflicting any damage.
Listen, folks, all you pounding your keyboards in a frenzy, blood in your eyes and strategies all forgotten (been there, done that): STOP CHASING THE CAPE. Sure, his remarks are outrageous. Maybe devote the first, very short paragraph to a quick denunciation of his remark anytime one comes out.
But then don’t move on, but return! Remember Jennifer Rubin’s observations on Mueller’s testimony?
To spend hours of airtime and write hundreds of print and online reports pontificating about the “optics” of Mueller’s performance — when [Mueller] confirmed that President Trump accepted help from a hostile foreign power and lied about it, that he lied when he claimed exoneration, that he was not completely truthful in written answers, that he could be prosecuted after leaving office and that he misled Americans by calling the investigation a hoax — tells me that we have become untrustworthy guardians of democracy.
There’s substantial evidence that President Trump has committed crimes worthy of impeachment by the House and conviction by the Senate. Trump wants everyone to be distracted, to chase the latest outrage, rather than return to the substantial wounds, leaking pus, that he’s suffering. Those wounds should be the focus, not his latest gibberish.
And a word to the reporters participating in “Chopper talk,” the rapid-fire Q&A he does in the shadow of Marine One: Every single time one reporter must ask, “Sir, in the face of the evidence Special Counsel Mueller found and reported to the AG, when do you plan to resign from office?”
Just once per session. But every time. Not only will that infuriate him, but it’ll cause that question to echo around the country. Until he can offer up an answer that is neither gibberish nor full of lies, the question should be repeated.
Possibly by a reporter aching to move on to a new assignment, of course.
Does this sound political? Sure it does. But look at it from a free press angle. The free press chases truth, and if it’s not immediately available, they dig after it. The best ones win Pulitzer Prizes[1]. They are the hounds of democracy, and if someone doesn’t like that, then they need to go back to high school and take Civics again; I have no time for those apologists who will chatter on about it being harassment of the President. Before they can do that, they must address the evidence of his crimes, and that they do not dare do as Mueller and his team appear to have been quite thorough.
That’s why this isn’t political. It’s simply the free press doing its duty. Now it must follow through.
1 If you think the Pulitzer Prizes for journalism are only handed out to big time newspapers, think again: in 2017 The Storm Lake Times of Iowa took home a prestigious award for editorial writing.
