Harry Houdini, one of the greatest illusionists ever, couldn’t have pulled off the magic that President Trump accomplished over the weekend.
Channeling fellow native New Yorker Jimmy Breslin, Mr. Trump created quite a show of smoke and mirrors by characterizing Baltimore as a city of “rats and rodents.”
He drew the ire of a sitting Republican governor; two major African-American voices, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings and the Rev. Al Sharpton; and Michael Steele, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee and former Maryland lieutenant governor.
All because Mr. Trump called Baltimore a cesspool.
Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis and the nation’s capital should be so lucky.
Mr. Trump said on Day 1 of his 2016 election victory that “inner cities” were on his priority list. Weeks later, he named renowned surgeon Ben Carson, an former rival for the Republican nomination, to run the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which urban and rural areas depend on for federal bucks.
Now, who really played the race card? Mr. Cummings, who sees his job as a Democrat, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and a senior member of Congressional Black Caucus, as the overseer of the “black, brown and minority communities?”
What Mr. Cummings should do is go back home to Baltimore, grab a megaphone and tell all who will listen to press the “black, brown and minority communities” to demand of their leaders better teaching and learning solutions, to rip the boards off neighborhood housing, and for safe neighborhoods. Tell him you want to be safe, not merely “feel safe.”
As for Mr. Sharpton, who accused the president of spewing “venom” on “black, brown and minority communities?”
Tell the good reverend to galvanize houses of worship against the “evil” bloodletting, terrible schooling and highly addictive government handouts that overwhelm “black, brown and minority communities.”
It isn’t easy giving instructions to Mr. Sharpton. I once suggested or recommended to him that, instead of blaming President George W. Bush for New Orleans’ post-Katrina plight, why not establish a bus-capade for “black, brown and minority communities” so the unemployed and underemployed could help rebuild the city and help our own “black, brown and minority communities.” In one ear and out the other.
Meanwhile, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican and chairman of the National Governors Association, distanced himself from Mr. Trump’s opinion of Maryland’s largest city, Baltimore, which used to be one of America’s blue- and white-collar powerhouses.
These days, Baltimore is infested with crime, poverty, unemployment, troubled schools and “rats and rodents” of the political sort.
Neither the District nor Detroit, neither St. Louis nor Chicago is a shining city on a hill. Mr. Trump, however, has shone a spotlight on them and Baltimore. Now is the time to grab Mr. Trump’s double-edged Twittersword by the hilt and fix troubled “black, brown and minority communities.”
Set up the table(s), be seated and prove yourself a leader, as Mr. Trump has with his Twitter spotlight. It’s that simple — unless the mirrors’ reflections are obstructed by partisans blowing smoke.
⦁ Deborah Simmons can be contacted at dsimmons@washingtontimes.com.
• Deborah Simmons can be reached at dsimmons@washingtontimes.com.
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