In a new amplification of his vile and bigoted attacks on Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), President Donald Trump baselessly called the chair of the House Oversight Committee a "racist." Then, egregiously exacerbating this insult, Trump demanded that Cummings thank him.
The whole screed followed his attack, beginning Saturday, in which the president insulted Cummings' Maryland district as "infested" and said, "No human being would want to live there." When observers pointed out that this attack was obviously racist, just like his previous attacks on Democratic congresswomen of color, Trump lashed out at Democrats for playing the "race card" — right before he called Cummings "racist" with no explanation:
If racist Elijah Cummings would focus more of his energy on helping the good people of his district, and Baltimore… https://t.co/Qco3AGoiwI— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1564341500
Under the Trump Administration, African American unemployment is the lowest (best) in the history of the United Sta… https://t.co/y0GM8Y3Mvz— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1564342475
Trump frequently tries to take credit for the unemployment rate, but employment trends have mostly followed the same trajectory seen under President Barack Obama. 
U.S. unemployment rate since 2009. The dividing line shows the month Trump was inaugurated.And in fact, as I argued on Friday, the costly policies of the Trump administration actually seem to have had little beneficial impact on the economy thus far.
Meanwhile, there's something particularly disturbing about the president insulting a black member of Congress, disparaging his home, and then demanding that he thank him for the unemployment rate in the African-American community.
But while the attacks show Trump's obviously racist instincts, they also highlight his fear. The president doesn't like the fact that Cummings has real oversight power on his administration and can expose his abuses of power. Just this past week, his committee subpoenaed records of text messages and emails from Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.
