Over the weekend, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan responded to President Trump's unflattering description of Baltimore as "a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess" with a rather tame statement about The Charm City, courtesy of his spokesperson.
"Baltimore city is truly the very heart of our state, and more attacks between politicians aren’t going to get us anywhere,” the statement read.
He didn't mention the president, and disappointed Maryland Democrats demanded more out of him. Hogan has blasted the president before, and this was no time to be shy, they argued.
Succumbing to the pressure, Hogan released a much stronger rebuke of Trump's tweets on Monday.
“Enough is enough,” Hogan said on WBAL-AM’s “C4? show. “People are completely fed up with this kind of nonsense. Why are we not focused on solving the problems and getting to work? ... Quite frankly, what is the president doing? What is the Congress doing?”
The tweets are “outrageous and inappropriate," he added.
Perhaps that will be enough to appease Democrats.
Trump critics waged a similar pressure campaign against Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC). After all, it was his one of his "best friends" who was the specific target of Trump's criticism. In his last message for Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), the president called him "racist." Cummings, as chairman of the House Oversight Committee, defended Meadows at a February hearing when Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) suggested he was racist. The chairman interjected to say his friendship with Meadows had nothing to do with the color of their skin. Media expected Meadows to do the same for Cummings.
With that emotional exchange in the rear view, plenty of people are looking at Meadows, wondering if or when he’ll do his colleague the same courtesy. (He tweeted after Trump’s attacks on Cummings were well underway, but only to praise the president’s new pick for director of National Intelligence.)
For now, we’ll just have to wait and see.
There were a few Republicans, too, like Mia Love, who implored Meadows to "do the right thing" and say something.
It was just an hour or so later that Meadows sent former Sen. Rick Santorum a text message, which he allowed him to read on air on CNN.
"No one works harder for his district than Elijah," Meadows texted Santorum. "He's passionate about the people he represents, and no, Elijah is not a racist. I'm friends with both President Trump and Chairman Cummings. I know them both well and neither is a racist."
Trump's feud with Cummings and other Maryland lawmakers began after the chairman attacked border patrol agents at last week's Oversight hearing over the conditions at the U.S.-Mexico border. The president suggested the congressman focus on his own struggling district instead.
Rep, Elijah Cummings has been a brutal bully, shouting and screaming at the great men & women of Border Patrol about conditions at the Southern Border, when actually his Baltimore district is FAR WORSE and more dangerous. His district is considered the Worst in the USA......
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 27, 2019
....As proven last week during a Congressional tour, the Border is clean, efficient & well run, just very crowded. Cumming District is a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess. If he spent more time in Baltimore, maybe he could help clean up this very dangerous & filthy place
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 27, 2019