On Saturday, the media painted President Donald Trump as a racist for tweeting about the disastrous conditions in the district in West Baltimore represented by Democratic Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-MD).
"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," Trump posted in a series of tweets on Saturday morning. "As proven last week during a Congressional tour, the Border is clean, efficient & well run, just very crowded. Cumming[s’] 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."
CNN's Victor Blackwell claimed on-air that the president was referring to black and brown people when he touched on Baltimore's rat "infestation."
Others in themediawere quick toechoBlackwell's racially charged claim. However, in 2018, Baltimore was again rated as one of the "Rattiest Cities" in the nation by pest control company Orkin.
Patchreported:
Charm City is once again among America's "Rattiest Cities," according to a new report from pest control company Orkin, although it has shown progress in each of the past two years. Baltimore comes in at No. 9 on the company's 2018 rankings released Monday.
This is the fourth year that Orkin has compiled the rankings, which are based on the number of rodent treatments the company performed from Sept. 15, 2017 to Sept. 15, 2018. It includes both residential and commercial treatments.
Baltimore dropped one slot from last year, when it was ranked eighth; two years ago it was No. 6 on the Orkin list. The city has undertaken several rat control measures, including the issuance of municipal garbage cans to contain waste.
Moreover, "Baltimore had the worst homicide rate among the nation's 50 largest cities last year and the second-highest violent crime rate overall, according to new data from the FBI," The Baltimore Sunreportedin 2018.