United States President Donald Trump in a series of tweets during the weekend pushed back on accusations of instigating racism yet again after he took an aim at Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings, a high-profile critic of his administration whose district covers much of the majority-black city of Baltimore, on Saturday.
"There is nothing racist in stating plainly what most people already know, that Elijah Cummings has done a terrible job for the people of his district, and of Baltimore itself. Dems always play the race card when they are unable to win with facts. Shame!," the President tweeted.
"If racist Elijah Cummings would focus more of his energy on helping the good people of his district, and Baltimore itself, perhaps progress could be made in fixing the mess that he has helped to create over many years of incompetent leadership. His radical "oversight" is a joke!" he added.
"Under the Trump Administration, African American unemployment is the lowest (best) in the history of the United States. No President has come close to doing this before! I also created successful Opportunity Zones. Waiting for Nancy and Elijah to say, 'Thank you, Mr. President!'" he said.
The President on Saturday and Sunday sent more than a dozen tweets assailing Cummings and the city of Baltimore.
The weekend started with Trump describing the country's 30th largest city and surrounding areas as a "very dangerous and filthy place" where "no human being would want to live," and it ended with Trump calling Cummings -- the son of sharecroppers in South Carolina -- a "racist."
It marked the second time in three weeks that Trump with his 'racist' comments targeted prominent lawmakers, including Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley.
Trump's comments against Cummings were labelled to be "racist" by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who had also backed the four POC (People of Colour) Congresswomen who were at the receiving end of Trump's Twitter tirade recently.
However, continuing his rant against Cummings, the President used the hashtag "#BlacksForTrump2020" in one of the posts targetting Cummings. "Elijah Cummings spends all of his time trying to hurt innocent people through "Oversight." He does NOTHING for his very poor, very dangerous and very badly run district! #BlacksForTrump2020."
Trump has previously rejected accusations of being a racist by claiming that he does not have "racist bone" in his body. "Those tweets were NOT racist," he said while referring to his statements against the Congresswomen.
( With inputs from ANI )