Cheap Seats 2019Who’s the Racist? - 07/31 
By Rich Trzupek
Absurd is hardly a strong enough word. Ridiculous? No, that doesn’t capture it. Ludicrous? Maybe. How about: “absurdly, ridiculously, ludicrous?” That’s getting closer to the mark, but one still struggles to find the adjectives strong enough to describe the way liberal Democrats and their allies in the MSM are trivializing racism in 21st century America.
At issue is the purported Racist in Chief’s latest appalling hate crime: pointing out that great swaths of the once thriving city of Baltimore are violent, rat-infested, dumps and daring to imply that elected officials should be held accountable for the hot mess.
It’s not that anything President Trump said about the Charm City was untrue, nor that the principle that the folks running Baltimore are responsible, but it’s rather that anything the Prez says is racist. Why? Because he’s a racist and anything racists say is racist. But what makes him a racist? The racist things he says of course.
And so goes what passes for logic on the left these days, cause and effect circling round and round each other in an infinite loop until a combination of friction and inertia makes one’s head explode a la the fate of the head robot in the “Mudd’s Women” episode of the original Star Trek. Let us pause before that happens to consider a few relevant facts.
If Baltimore is not the worst run city in America, it is certainly among the worst. According to the Washington Post, fourteen Baltimore neighborhoods have lower life expectancies than North Korea and eight are doing worse than Syria.
After paying the city a visit in 2015 Bernie Sanders, was quoted by the Baltimore Sun as saying: “Anyone who took the walk that we took around this neighborhood would not think you’re in a wealthy nation. You would think that you were in a Third World Country.”
Baltimore is infested with rats. According to Orkin Pest Control, who tracks such things, Baltimore is the ninth most rat-infested city in the United States. (Chicago, by the by, has been number one for the last four consecutive years – ain’t you proud?)
Is Baltimore a filthy mess? The Baltimore Sun thinks so. From an April editorial published by the Sun:
“Food containers, balled up clothes, paper, banana peels, plastic bags and tons of other pieces of litter line the shoulders of roads, pile up in alleys and are strewn across fields and yards. Not only is it unsightly and contributes to a rodent problem, but it can create a glum and gloomy feel in a time when the city is already facing self-esteem issues because of high crime and the scandal surrounding the University Maryland Medical System and Mayor Catherine Pugh, who’s now on an indefinite leave, and her Healthy Holly books. If anything, the city needs a major scrubbing to help restore some of its faith and image.”
Is Baltimore a dangerous city in which to live? It’s more dangerous than living in Baghdad, but that’s not saying all that much these days. Incredibly, it’s more dangerous than living in Chicago! The FBI reports that Baltimore had the highest homicide rate in the nation in 2018.
So, what exactly is incorrect or racist when the President tweets: “Rep. Elijah Cummings has been a brutal bully, shouting and screaming at the great men & women of Border Patrol about conditions at the Southern Border, when actually his Baltimore district is FAR WORSE and more dangerous. His district is considered the Worst in the USA. If he spent more time in Baltimore, maybe he could help clean up this very dangerous & filthy place.”
There has been exactly one Republican mayor of Baltimore since 1947, Theodore McKeldin who served a term from 1963 to 1967. Every other mayor has been a Democrat. Is it racist to point that out too? Is it racist to point out that Cummings and his fellow Dems own this failure of a once great American city?
If Dems and libs want to see who the real racists are they shouldn’t be looking on Pennsylvania Avenue NW. They ought to glance in the mirror.
E-mail: rich@examinerpublictions.com
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