Attacks on Cummings

Trump claims — without evidence — that attacks on Cummings, Baltimore have fueled African American support

By QUINT FORGEY

President Donald Trump on Tuesday asserted that scores of black Baltimoreans and African American supporters have expressed gratitude in recent days for his unrelenting attacks on the city and Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings.

Trump also accused political leaders in Baltimore, a city governed largely by Democrats, of stealing and mismanaging federal funds, although he offered no evidence to back up either allegation.

“I’ve received more phone calls than I think on any other subject of people from Baltimore and other cities corruptly run by Democrats, thanking me for getting involved,” Trump told reporters outside the White House.

“Those people are living in hell in Baltimore. They’re largely African American,” he said. “You have a large African American population, and they really appreciate what I’m doing. And they’ve let me know it. They really appreciate it.”

Trump’s comments mark his fourth consecutive day of sharply criticizing the living conditions in Baltimore and Cummings, the Democratic chairman of the powerful House Committee on Oversight and Reform, which has launched several investigations into the administration.

The president's rhetoric has been widely condemned by congressional Democrats and 2020 White House candidates who have accused him of racism.

“People have called from Baltimore, thanking me so much. There's all that money that’s been spent — over 20 years has been stolen and wasted by people like Elijah Cummings," Trump claimed Tuesday. A spokesperson for Cummings did not immediately return a request for comment.

"The African American people have been calling the White House. They have never been so happy as what a president has done,” Trump said, adding: “They're so happy that I pointed out the corrupt politics of Baltimore. It's filthy, dirty. It's so horrible, and they are happy as hell."

Trump’s approval rating is consistently lowest among African Americans in every survey of the American electorate. A Quinnipiac University poll released Monday showed 84 percent of black voters disapproved of his job performance and only 6 percent approved. By 80 percent of black voters believe Trump is a racist, the poll found, while only 11 percent do not. Overall, 56 percent of voters believed that and 23 percent don't, according to the poll. The survey of 1,306 voters nationwide had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.

A spate of surveys from POLITICO, FOX, CBS and USA Today also found voters more likely than not believe Trump is a racist or that he tweeted racist sentiments recently about members of Congresswomen of color. The polls show African Americans share this view most strongly compared to any other demographic group.

The president on Saturday leveled his first series of broadsides against Cummings, describing the lawmaker’s predominantly black congressional district — which is based in Baltimore — as “a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess” and charging that “no human being would want to live there.”

The insults continued steadily through Monday evening, when Trump wrote online that “billions of dollars” in federal aid to Baltimore have been “stolen or wasted” over several years.

“Ask Elijah Cummings where it went,” he tweeted. “He should investigate himself with his Oversight Committee!”