President Donald Trump has doubled down on his condemnation of Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and the city of Baltimore.
Cummings, who chairs the House Oversight and Reform Committee and is a vocal critic of the president’s, recently expressed his disdain of the Trump administration’s treatment of migrants at detention centers at the U.S.-Mexico border.
In response, Trump attacked the congressman with an unsubstantiated allegation of corruption, denigrated the city of Baltimore and defended his immigration policies:
Trump’s comments about Baltimore are not corroborated by available data. Although the city does have some of the highest rates of violent crime in the U.S., it isn’t considered the most dangerous city in the nation.
Business Insider also reported last year that Baltimore’s economy was average when compared to other large cities in the U.S. Among the 40 largest metro areas in the country, Baltimore’s economy ranked 26th.
Trump has faced intense backlash for his criticism of the black congressman and his characterization of Cummings’ majority-black district as a “rodent infested mess.”
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) decried Trump’s remarks as “racist” and the Baltimore Sun’s editorial board skewered the president for his comments, saying it was “better to have some vermin living in your neighborhood” than to be one.
The hashtag #WeAreBaltimore trended on Twitter over the weekend as residents new and old pushed back against Trump’s censure and expressed their affection for Charm City.
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) also defended Cummings against Trump’s latest tirade on Monday:
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article misstated Nancy Pelosi's title; she is speaker of the House, not House majority leader.