A CNN panel tried to explain the difference between President Trump’s criticisms of Baltimore and 2020 hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders on the network Monday.
Trump singled out Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings and the 7th District, calling him a “brutal bully” and describing his black-majority district as a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess.” The president, who has tripled-down on this recent attack, has faced accusations of racism for the remarks.
Crazy Bernie Sanders recently equated the City of Baltimore to a THIRD WORLD COUNTRY! Based on that statement, I assume that Bernie must now be labeled a Racist, just as a Republican would if he used that term and standard! The fact is, Baltimore can be brought back, maybe……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2019
In self-defense, the president pointed out on Twitter that Sanders “recently equated the City of Baltimore to a THIRD WORLD COUNTRY!” back in 2015.
CNN’s Jake Tapper showed the tweet from the president and the clip of Sanders from the corresponding press conference and said, “There is a difference.”
“Of course,” Jen Psaki said. “I think everybody should be focused on helping people in the inner city of Baltimore get the help they need. People would like more jobs, they’d like healthcare, they’d like all sorts of benefits that the government could certainly support. But there is a commonality and a pattern with President Trump here and I think that is important context. He’s not attacking the Republican governors of eight of the poor states in the country that are predominantly white. He’s not attacking them. He’s not attacking white Republicans who oversee states in rural communities that also have high levels of poverty.”
Multiple panelists then pointed to Kentucky and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“Because they’re not attacking him,” former GOP Sen. Rick Santorum followed up. “The reality is — and contrary to what you’re saying. The president has done a lot, if you look at African-American poverty and wages and Hispanic wages and poverty, he has done a great job.”
