'The View' Host Behar: 'Outrageous and Stupid to Call a Black Person a Racist'
“The View” co-host Joy Behar said on Monday that “it’s outrageous and stupid to call a black person a racist” in response to President Donald Trump’s recent tweets condemning Democratic Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings.
“I’m trying to clarify. I’m just trying to make it clear to the audience who you are talking about. Because Elijah is the black man,” Behar said.
“[Trump is] calling the black man the racist. I mean, I don’t think people understand that particularly. It’s outrageous and stupid to call a black person a racist.”
Behar’s remarks come in the wake of a series of Trump tweets in which the president criticized Cummings for failing to “clean up” his “disgusting, rat and rodent infested” Baltimore congressional district.
“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,” the president wrote.
“His district is considered the Worst in the USA,” Trump added.
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……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 27, 2019
….As proven last week during a Congressional tour, the Border is clean, efficient & well run, just very crowded. Cumming District is a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess. If he spent more time in Baltimore, maybe he could help clean up this very dangerous & filthy place
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 27, 2019
Trump’s comments were widely panned in the establishment media, with many denouncing the sharp critique as racist.
The president predictably returned to Twitter to address the backlash.
“There is nothing racist in stating plainly what most people already know,” Trump tweeted. “Dems always play the race card when they are unable to win with facts.”
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 28, 2019
The president did not just defend himself from the racism charge, however. He went a step further, accusing Cummings of being a racist.
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 28, 2019
While Trump continued to decry the “mess” of Cummings’ district, he offered no explanation for why the Maryland Democrat was “racist,” prompting Behar’s incredulous response.
Cummings, for his part, also defended himself, saying in a tweet Saturday, “Each morning, I wake up, and I go and fight for my neighbors.”
Mr. President, I go home to my district daily. Each morning, I wake up, and I go and fight for my neighbors.
It is my constitutional duty to conduct oversight of the Executive Branch. But, it is my moral duty to fight for my constituents.
— Elijah E. Cummings (@RepCummings) July 27, 2019
Cummings went on to tout his record on fighting poverty, mentioning a hearing he recently held “on the skyrocketing prices of prescription drugs and the financial hardships that families across the nation, and in Baltimore, are facing.”
Just yesterday, I held a hearing on the skyrocketing prices of prescription drugs and the financial hardships that families across the nation, and in Baltimore, are facing.
— Elijah E. Cummings (@RepCummings) July 27, 2019
The Maryland representative did not explain, however, how he’s helped create solutions in his own district.
Just like Trump did not explain why Cummings was a “racist.”
And just like Behar did not explain why calling a black person racist is “outrageous and stupid.” (The definition of “racist” is “a person who believes in racism, the doctrine that one’s own racial group is superior or that a particular racial group is inferior to the others.”)
As with many Twitter-inspired spats, none of the participants in this dispute came out looking great.
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