President Donald Trump went after civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton on Monday, in addition to launching a third day of racist attacks on Twitter against Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.).
Trump called Sharpton “a con man” and “a troublemaker” and claimed that he “hates whites & cops,” after Sharpton tweeted Sunday night that he was going to Baltimore following Trump’s weekend attacks.
On Saturday and Sunday, Trump posted a series of racist tweets against Cummings and his majority-black congressional district in Baltimore, calling it “a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess” and a “very dangerous & filthy place.”
Trump again targeted “King Elijah’s Baltimore Fail” on Monday, blaming Cummings for crime in the city.
A fierce Trump critic, Cummings chairs the House Oversight Committee, which is among several congressional committees investigating Trump and his administration.
The president has regularly unleashed racist attacks against people of color, particularly critics and opponents of him, part of a long history of racism.
Sharpton responded to Trump’s attacks Monday.
“I do make trouble for bigots,” he tweeted. “If he really thought I was a con man he would want me in his cabinet.”
At a press conference in Baltimore later Monday morning, Sharpton pointed out that many white lawmakers have attacked Trump, yet he has not referred to their communities as “infested.”
In response to Trump’s attacks, Sharpton said, “he can say what he wants.”
“I will keep making trouble for bigots,” he continued, noting his opposition against Trump’s previous racism, such as calling for the execution of the falsely convicted teenagers of color known as the Central Park Five in 1989 and promoting the birther movement against then-President Barack Obama.
Trump’s Monday morning rant did not note Sunday’s deadly mass shooting in California. He briefly mentioned it as it was unfolding late Sunday.
Hours later, Trump claimed 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was “racist,” taking comments Sanders made in 2015 about poverty and income inequality out of context.
During a visit to the city after the death of teenager Freddie Gray while he was in police custody, Sanders made the comparison to argue how the city illustrated larger economic inequality across the United States.
“Anyone who took the walk that we took around this neighborhood would not think you’re in a wealthy nation,” he said at the time, according to The Baltimore Sun. “You would think that you were in a Third World country.”
This story has been updated with additional tweets from Trump and comments from Sharpton.