As Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Elijah Cummings is is a position to actually harm Donald Trump. Accordingly, Trump spent the weekend trashing him. A typical tweet:
Why is so much money sent to the Elijah Cummings district when it is considered the worst run and most dangerous anywhere in the United States. No human being would want to live there. Where is all this money going? How much is stolen? Investigate this corrupt mess immediately!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 27, 2019
That inspired his witless lemmings to shrieky choruses agreeing that Cummings is probably the Worst. Congressman. Ever. A typical tweet:
According to Orkin Pest Control, Baltimore is one of the most rat-infested cities in America. Thank you Elijah Cummings. Great job.
— MARK SIMONE (@MarkSimoneNY) July 29, 2019
That didn’t have the expected effect, though. Almost immediately, The Donald came under fire from Republicans, too, who pointed out that Congress doesn’t do pest control and all-but-unanimously vouched for Cummings’ work ethic and character.
What do you know? The First Felon was rescued by Al Sharpton, who grandiosely announced that he was going to Baltimore — Cummings’ district. Heh … one cynical opportunist rescued by another cynical opportunist.
MICHAEL STEELE & I TO HOLD A PRESSER IN BALTIMORE TO ADDRESS TRUMP’S REMARKS & BI-PARTISAN OUTRAGE IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY
Participating in an already scheduled conference on the Black Economic Agenda, Sharpton & Steele to Decry Trump’s remarks about Baltimore & its Leadership pic.twitter.com/Y1Eriisshb
— Reverend Al Sharpton (@TheRevAl) July 29, 2019
Trump naturally shifted his sight from Cummings to Sharpton.
I have known Al for 25 years. Went to fights with him & Don King, always got along well. He “loved Trump!” He would ask me for favors often. Al is a con man, a troublemaker, always looking for a score. Just doing his thing. Must have intimidated Comcast/NBC. Hates Whites & Cops! https://t.co/ZwPZa0FWfN
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2019
Right. Ol’ Al and The Donald are buddies who go to the fights together, and “got along well.”
Well, yeah — they’re both amoral con artists.
Does anybody remember the Tawana Brawley scandal? W-a-a-a-y back in 1987 she was 15-years old and at the center of sensational rape claims — that 6-white men, including a police officer, had raped her, smeared her body with feces, and written slurs all over her body.
When civil rights activist Al Sharpton, with attorneys Alton H. Maddox and C. Vernon Mason, began handling Brawley’s publicity, the case quickly became highly controversial. Sharpton, Maddox, and Mason generated a national media sensation. The three said that officials all the way up to the state government were trying to cover up defendants in the case because they were white. They further suggested that the Ku Klux Klan, the Irish Republican Army and the Mafia had conspired with the U.S. government in the alleged cover up. Harry Crist Jr., a police officer who committed suicide shortly after the period when Brawley was allegedly held captive, became a suspect in the case.
As it played out, it developed that Brawley had made-up the entire story, that she was merely another screwed-up kid who ran away and then fabricated a sensational story to cover-up her bad behavior.
Sharpton was successfully sued for libel, and spent years evading payment.
Cummings has invested the civil rights movement with dignity — and Sharpton is the cynical, amoral opportunist who makes so many whites wary of race activism. But Donald Trump, who is not exactly a nuanced thinker, can’t tell the difference and prefers the company of the latter.