What is the timeline of Donald Trump's comments about African American politicians like Maxine Waters and Elijah Cummings?
Executive summary
Donald Trump’s public attacks on African American politicians — notably Rep. Elijah Cummings in 2019 and Rep. Maxine Waters across multiple years — have been widely reported as racialized and inflammatory; for example, Trump called Cummings’s majority-nonwhite Baltimore district “disgusting” and “rodent infested” in July 2019 [1] and repeatedly labeled Waters “crazy” and “low IQ” while mocking her statements beginning at least in 2018 [2] [3]. Available sources do not provide a single comprehensive timeline covering every comment; reporting and primary statements span 2018–2025 in the documents provided [1] [2] [3] [4] [5].
1. 2018 — The escalation: heckling comments, “crazy” and “low IQ” attacks
The earliest documented cluster in these sources comes from mid‑2018, when Rep. Maxine Waters said Trump administration officials should be heckled in public; Trump responded by calling her “crazy” and attacking her character, and he also used the epithet “extraordinarily low IQ” in social media posts referencing Waters [3] [2]. Those exchanges set a template: Waters would criticize the president publicly on policy and behavior, and Trump answered with personal insults rather than policy rebuttals [3] [2].
2. 2019 — The high‑profile assault on Elijah Cummings and his district
In July 2019, Trump escalated to targeting Rep. Elijah Cummings and the Baltimore district Cummings represented, tweeting that the district was “disgusting,” “rodent infested,” and “very dangerous & filthy,” language that U.S. press characterized as an attack on a majority‑nonwhite district and prompted renewed charges of racism [1]. Coverage ties those tweets to a broader pattern in which Trump mocked Black congressional leaders and their constituencies [1].
3. 2020–2025 — Continued back-and-forth, claims of broader racial animus
Across the following years, Waters remained a prominent critic of Trump, accusing him of actions that could “stoke civil war” and repeatedly framing his conduct as dangerous; reporting in 2025 records Waters saying Trump sought to incite civil war through policies including firings and health‑care cuts [4]. Waters’ camp and allied outlets also labeled Trump’s repeated comments about Black leaders and districts as evidence of racial hostility [5] [4]. Available sources do not catalog every Trump tweet or remark in 2020–2025 but show persistent antagonism between the president and these members of Congress [4] [5].
4. 2025–2025 reporting and partisan framing: statements, counters, and institutional responses
By 2025 and into 2025–2026 press cycles, Waters was issuing statements calling Trump’s actions racist and urging institutional responses; for example, a House press release quotes her saying Trump “clearly hates Black people” and condemning his “appalling disparagement of the late Elijah Cummings” in connection with federal policing and other disputes [5]. Media reporting also continued to label earlier Trump remarks at Cummings as racist and to cite them when covering subsequent clashes [1] [4].
5. How sources characterize motive and impact — competing perspectives
Mainstream outlets in this set (Los Angeles Times, CNN references) frame Trump’s language about Cummings and Waters as racially charged and political attacks [1] [6]. Some opinion or advocacy pieces included in the results argue Trump’s criticisms reflected substantive policy critiques about district conditions [7], while press releases from Waters’ office frame his conduct as evidence of hatred toward Black people [5]. The material supplied shows clear disagreement: critics call the language racist and demeaning [1] [5], whereas some commentary defends Trump as pointing to governance failures in those districts [7].
6. What the provided sources do not show
The documents here do not offer a single, exhaustive chronology of every Trump comment directed at Waters, Cummings, or other African American politicians; they do not include full tweet archives, exact dates for every interaction beyond the 2018–2019 highlights, nor do they present exhaustive rebuttals by Trump for every cited claim (available sources do not mention a comprehensive timeline) [1] [2] [3] [4] [5].
7. Bottom line for readers
Reporting in these sources documents a persistent pattern: Trump used personal attacks and demeaning language toward prominent Black members of Congress, with the July 2019 tweets about Elijah Cummings and the 2018–2019 barbs at Maxine Waters the most clearly documented flashpoints [1] [2] [3]. Interpretations diverge: some sources treat the comments as racially motivated insults with political intent [1] [5], while others argue they reflected critiques of local governance [7]. For a definitive, day‑by‑day timeline you will need a complete archive of Trump’s public statements and social posts beyond the select reporting compiled here (available sources do not mention such an archive) [1] [2] [3].