Cummings declines Baltimore HUD tour with Ben Carson

HUD Secretary Ben Carson holds news conference in Baltimore

As if to prove President Donald Trump’s points about his ineffectiveness as a leader, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) skipped out on an offer to tour a Baltimore Housing and Urban Development (HUD) facility with HUD Secretary Ben Carson.

The tour was Wednesday and Cummings was reportedly given an invitation to join the tour on Tuesday, an invitation he declined.

Asked about Cummings being absent, Carson had no explanation but said it may have been a scheduling issue.

Carson is actually a former Baltimore resident. He was a renowned pediatric neurosurgeon at the city’s Johns Hopkins Hospital, so he has insights into the city that many leftists crying racism over Trump’s recent tweets do not have.

Acknowledging that there are “good parts” to Baltimore and good people, Carson said, “There are problems and we can’t sweep them under the rug.”

He continued, “It’s sort of like if you have a patient who has cancer. You can dress them up and put a suit on them and you can try to ignore it, but that cancer has a devastating effect.”

Carson said his experience as a doctor in Baltimore showed him just how badly the city was suffering. He revealed that the large number of infested buildings in the city often led to serious health problems among residents, especially children.

“We had large numbers of people with asthma because of the mold and some of the environmental issues [here], so, you know, that was a problem for me,” Carson said, “and it stayed on my mind a lot and somehow … I end up as the Secretary of HUD and [now] we can actually deal with these issues.”

To fix the problems in Baltimore, Carson said people need to stop the “animosity” towards each other and “work together.”

Carson said he’s been in contact with Trump recently over the issues in Baltimore, which flies in the face of those saying the president is not sincere in pointing out issues in the city.

“I’ve talked to the president over the last couple of days about what [we can] do for Baltimore,” Carson said. “He’s very willing to work with people here in Baltimore, including with Elijah Cummings.”

He went on to say that the president’s “emphasis is on the people.”

Carson also praised the Trump administration for making great progress on the economy and issues like prison reform. He said the results of the administration can already be seen throughout the country and Baltimore will be positively affected too.