Democratic Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings criticized President Trump for what he considered to be a week of inappropriate comments directed toward some members of Congress, during a Sunday morning appearance on This Week with George Stephanopoulos.
Responding to whether he thought the president was a racist, Cummings responded, “Yes, no doubt about it.”
Discussing the members of four liberal congresswomen who comprise “the squad,” Cummings defended them against many of the comments Trump has made, including that they should “go back” to where they came from.
Cummings further claimed that he had had conversations with members of his community that say they are scared of the president. He said, “No matter where I go, what I’m hearing over and over from my constituents is ‘Please, save our democracy.’ … I have never in my total of 37 years in public service ever heard a constituent say they were scared of their leader … of the president of the United States.”
Trump defended his remarks as “not racist,” claiming instead that if Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts were unhappy with the United States, they were “free to leave.”
Regarding whether he felt that “the squad” was fueling the political rhetoric, Cummings said, “Not really. I talked to all of them … they’re coming into a body they’ve never served in before. But they come in with common sense and with a commitment to do the right thing. And so, again, they live and they learn and that’s part of life.”
