Mr. President, I feel the need to call you out on your latest Twitter tirade, this one against yet another politician “of color.”
House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings is one of the smartest, most astute and erudite members of Congress. Yet you have decidedĀ yet again to go after this fellow in a Twitter rant that questions the quality of life in his Baltimore congressional district.
Your latest rant — not unlike the one you launched against those four Democratic congresswomen (all of color, of course) — was intensely personal.
Oh, and I also noticed you decided to verbalize some alleged concern about President Obama’s “book deal.” You want the Justice Department to probe that matter ā¦ which also happens to involve the nation’s first African-American president? Is that right?
Give me a break!
I don’t object so much that you have decided to use Twitter as a forum to make policy pronouncements. That’s your call. What is troubling, though, is that you do so without informing your staff. You catch them flat-footed, unable to respond cogently on what flies into cyberspace from your (allegedly) smart phone.
You also seem hell bent on castigating individuals such as Chairman Cummings and the four members of The Squad in intensely personal terms.
If you would limit your Twitter use to making positive pronouncements, well, that’s one thing. The good jobs numbers are fine. The budget deal that takes the government shutdown threats off the table for two years also is worth commenting on; one can debate the merits of the deal, certainly. Hey, I’d even accept your use of Twitter to argue for your side of the argument.
This constant haranguing, harassment and hassling of politicians — particularly those who, um, represent ethnic and racial minorities is seriously frightening to me.
You were elected to represent all Americans, Mr. President. Your constant use of Twitter to split the nation along racial, ethnic and partisan lines is disturbing in the extreme.
You vowed to cut back on your Twitter use. You pledged to “unify” the country. You said you would act “more presidential.”
On those key pledges, Mr. President, you are zero for three. You are not making America great again.