*Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), a vocal Trump critic, said he told Trump in a meeting on Wednesday that the way he’s describes African-American communities is “insulting.”
During Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, he frequently pushed the propaganda that black neighbors are in the worse shape than they have ever been.
“Look how much African-American communities are suffering under Democratic control. To those, I say the following: What do you have to lose by trying something new, like Trump?” Trump asked on the campaign trail in August. “You’re living in poverty. Your schools are no good. You have no jobs. Fifty-eight percent of your youth is unemployed. What the hell do you have to lose?”
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Cummings told the Baltimore Sun that he reminded the president how damaging those comments were, saying, “I want you to realize that all African-American communities are not places of depression and where people are being harmed. When we hear those words about carnage and we are living in depressed situations, I told him it was very hurtful.”
In an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Cummings said Trump acknowledged the issue with his phrasing and said he would change the language he uses to describe black communities.
“He shook his head and said, ‘You got a point there, you’re absolutely right, I’m gonna change that language.’”
The Maryland congressman and Trump met to talk about lowering prescription drug prices. It’s a topic that Trump previously said he wanted to sit down with Cummings to discuss after hearing him speak about it on television.
“He wanted it, but we called, called, called, and I can’t make a meeting with him. Every day, I walk and say, ‘I would like to meet with him,’ because I do want to solve the problem,” Trump said at a news conference last month. “He probably was told by [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer ― or somebody like that, some other lightweight ― he was probably told, he was probably told, ‘Don’t meet with Trump. It’s bad politics.’”
Cummings denied canceling any prior meeting with Trump, and told the Baltimore Sun that Wednesday’s meeting was productive.
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