US President Donald Trump brushed off accusations of racism Monday to step up his war of words with prominent black and minority left-leaning leaders, branding his latest target a “con man.”
Rejecting criticism that he is stoking America’s smouldering racial divisions, Trump attacked African-American civil rights activist Al Sharpton.
“Al is a con man, a troublemaker, always looking for a score. Just doing his thing,” Trump tweeted, adding that Sharpton “Hates Whites & Cops!”
He struck out after Sharpton one of the best known, if controversial, black figures in US politics — expressed support for Baltimore, a majority black city near Washington that has also come in for a presidential bashing.
Over the weekend, Trump described Baltimore as a “rat and rodent infested mess” unfit for humans and blamed this on Elijah Cummings, the Democrat who represents much of the city in Congress.
Cummings, who is black, heads the House Oversight Committee, one of the powerful bodies mounting politically sensitive probes into everything from Trump’s Russia connections to tax records.
Sharpton told reporters in Baltimore that Trump “has a particular venom for blacks and people of color.”
“He can say what he wants. Call me a troublemaker. Yes, I make trouble for bigots,” Sharpton said.
Source: Guardian Newspaper.
