Michelle Obama Praises 'Lethal Ladies' STEP Team after Donald Trump Spoke out about 'Infested' Baltimore
On Saturday morning, President Donald Trump took aim at Representative Elijah Cummings' Baltimore, Maryland district by posting a Twitter rant attacking the area’s alleged appearance.
Representative Elijah Cummings has been quite vocal and critical of President Donald Trump’s administration especially the immigration center at the Southern Border. Cummings’ district includes most of Baltimore.
WHAT TRUMP SAID
Retaliating against the rep Trump, 73, chose to attack his district in a Twitter rant. The president claimed that the district was “FAR WORSE and more dangerous” and “considered the Worst in the USA......”
Trump also claimed that “a Congressional tour” had actually revealed that “the Border is clean, efficient & well run, just very crowded.” He then compared the center against Baltimore calling the city a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested [sic] mess.”
FORMER FIRST LADY SHARES A POSITIVE POST ABOUT BALTIMORE
The president added that if Cummings had “spent more time in Baltimore, maybe he could help clean up this very dangerous & filthy place.” Saturday also happened to be National Dance Day and former First Lady Michelle Obama, 55, appeared to be calling out Trump with a positive post about the district.
Hours after the president’s rant, Obama shared a throwback video of a Baltimore STEP crew called the Lethal Ladies. She captioned the post: “On #NationalDanceDay, I'm shouting out the Lethal Ladies, a Baltimore STEP team who I saw perform back in 2017. I’m so proud of you all—and everyone who’s dancing today!”
The first lady, however, didn’t direct her post to Trump. People who condemned the president directly were Cummings and CNN anchor Victor Blackwell.
CNN ANCHOR LASHES OUT AT TRUMP
Blackwell grew up in West Baltimore. On-air he gave an emotional response to the president telling him exactly why he disagreed and was hurt by his rant.
The news anchor highlighted all the times that Trump had used the words “infested” to describe a place he didn’t like. He also noted how whenever the president used the word it was directed at “black and brown people.”
At one point Blackwell had to pause for a few seconds as he fought back tears before continuing. The news anchor stated: “The president says about Congressman Cummings’ district that no human would want to live there.”
He passionately added:
“You know who did, Mr. President? I did, from the day I was brought home from the hospital to the day I left for college, and a lot of people I care about still do.”
BALTIMORE REP AND MAYOR RESPOND TO TRUMP
With the hashtag wearebaltimore trending on Saturday, Cummings (an African American) responded with a tweet saying: "Mr. President, I go home to my district daily. Each morning, I wake up, and I go and fight for my neighbors. It is my constitutional duty to conduct oversight of the Executive Branch. But, it is my moral duty to fight for my constituents."
Baltimore's Mayor Jack Young also reacted with a tweet condemning Trump’s words.