Residents of Baltimore are working to showcase the best that their hometown has to offer, just days after President Trump described the city as a "a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess."
Trump's epithets came amid a Twitter tirade against Baltimore's congressional Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), who chairs the House Oversight Committee and has been a staunch critic of the president.
"His district is considered the Worst in the USA," Trump added. "If he spent more time in Baltimore, maybe he could help clean up this very dangerous & filthy place." The president also took a hit at residents of Baltimore.
Cummings dismissed the president's critique, saying in a tweet "each morning, I wake up, and I go and fight for my neighbors."
The city, moreover, has soundly rejected the president's characterization.
"People are furious, of course. People know that Baltimore is not how [Trump] describes it," Greg Tucker, the co-founder of the forthcoming website We Are Baltimore told Cheddar. "Indeed Baltimore has challenges. Indeed Baltimore has suffered years of underinvestment in critical neighborhoods… yet too often Baltimore is characterized solely by our worst elements."
"We Are Baltimore," which was in the works before Trump's tweets, will aggregate stories from residents and thriving local businesses to counter the negative narrative of the city.
It will "provide a definitive platform where we can aggregate and amplify the many positives, the many assets of Baltimore," Tucker added.
In a statement, Baltimore's Mayor Bernard C. Jack Young also slammed the president for using "hurtful and dangerous" rhetoric to "denigrate a vibrant American City."
Trump is "a disappointment to the people of Baltimore, our country, and to the world," Young added.
The president's invocation of rodents and infestations to describe a city that is more than 60 percent black was widely rebuked as using racist terms that have been historically used to demonize minorities.
Civil rights icon Reverend Al Sharpton said from a press conference in Baltimore on Monday that Trump had attacked the city in "the most bigoted and racist way."
"He has a particular venom for blacks and people of color," Sharpton said. "He doesn't refer to any of his other opponents or critics as infested."
Trump said "Democrats always play the Race Card" and criticized Sharpton as a "a con man, a troublemaker" on Twitter ahead of the press conference. He also doubled down early Monday morning on his critique of Cummings, who has represented Maryland's 7th congressional district since 1996. "25 years of all talk, no action!" Trump tweeted.
Several 2020 Democratic presidential candidates including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) — whose campaign is headquartered in Baltimore — condemned Trump's remarks.
Yet the most scathing rebuke came from the Baltimore Sun's editorial board, which wrote "Better to have some vermin living in your neighborhood than to be one."
Trending on Twitter over the weekend was #TrumpIsARat.
In a statement to Cheddar, Twitter confirmed that Trump's tweets do not violate the platform's rules regarding the use of dehumanizing language.
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The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate by a quarter-point Wednesday and projected it would do so twice more this year as concern grows at the central bank about the health of the nation’s labor market. The move is the Fed’s first cut since December and lowered its short-term rate to about 4.1%, down from 4.3%. Fed officials, led by Chair Jerome Powell, had kept their rate unchanged this year as they evaluated the impact of tariffs, tighter immigration enforcement, and other Trump administration policies on inflation and the economy. The only dissenter was Stephen Miran, the recent Trump-appointee.
After a late-night vote and last-minute ruling, the Federal Reserve began a key meeting on interest rate policy Tuesday with both a new Trump administration appointee and an official the White House has targeted for removal.
The Trump administration has issued its first warnings to online services that offer unofficial versions of popular drugs like the blockbuster obesity treatment Wegovy.
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The Trump administration has asked an appeals court to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s board of governors by Monday, before the central bank’s next vote on interest rates. Trump sought to fire Cook Aug. 25, but a federal judge ruled late Tuesday that the removal was illegal and reinstated her to the Fed’s board.
President Donald Trump's administration is appealing a ruling blocking him from immediately firing Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook as he seeks more control over the traditionally independent board. The notice of appeal was filed Wednesday, hours after U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb handed down the ruling. The White House insists the Republican president had the right to fire Cook over mortgage fraud allegations involving properties in Michigan and Georgia from before she joined the Fed. Cook's lawsuit denies the allegations and says the firing was unlawful. The case could soon reach the Supreme Court, which has allowed Trump to fire members of other independent agencies but suggested that power has limitations at the Fed.
Chief Justice John Roberts has let President Donald Trump remove a member of the Federal Trade Commission, the latest in a string of high-profile firings allowed for now by the Supreme Court.
