Civil rights icon and veteran Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., declared Sunday there is "no doubt" President Donald Trump is a racist, condemning his admonition to four minority congresswomen to “go back” to their countries.
In a stunning rebuke on ABC News’ “This Week,” Cummings said Trump’s week-long twitter attack on Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashid Tlaib of Michigan, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts brought up “very very painful” memories of racism he faced in the 1960s.
“Do you believe he’s a racist?” host George Stephanopoulos asked.
“I believe he, yes, no doubt about it,” he responded. “I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt… When I think about what he said to these young ladies who are merely trying to bring excellence to government, and trying to make sure that generations yet unborn have an opportunity to experience a true democracy, it takes me back.”
Cummings recalled an incident near his Baltimore home in 1962 when he and others tried to integrate a community pool.
“As we did march toward that pool over the course of six days I was beaten, and all kinds of rocks and bottles thrown at me,” he said. “Interesting thing is that I heard the same kind of chants, ‘go home, you don’t belong here.’ And they called us the N word over and over.”
“When the president says this it brings up the same feelings I had over 50 years ago, it’s very, vey painful, extremely divisive,” he added. “I just don’t think this is becoming of the president…the leader of the world. We can do better than that.”
And he urged: “our Republican friends have to stand up… say ‘Mr. President you’re absolutely wrong.”
Trump on Sunday continued his diatribe against the four congresswomen known as “the squad,” tweeting they are “not capable of loving our country.”
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