WASHINGTON. President Trump is the focus of leftist ire for stating the obvious: Baltimore is a rat-infested armpit under the control of ineffectual, virtue-signaling Democrats. Worse still, the President focuses on one Baltimore Democrat in particular – Rep. Elijah Cummings.

A popular bumper sticker among Baltimore’s citizens.
When everyone’s a racist, no one is
Many in the media were quick to declare Trump a racist for his modest suggestion that Cummings refocus his attention on the very real problems inside his crumbling district. That the needs of his constituents are more pressing than playing the clownish carnival barker for his party’s manufactured Russia-collusion hoax. Or as a scold over conditions in immigration detention centers created under the administration of the nation’s first African-American president.
Baltimore & Cummings: Democrat grifters peddle racism and broken cities
A CNN talking head even broke out in tears while telling his network’s dwindling audience that Trump’s use of the word “infested” is proof of his racism. You see, it’s a term our media betters call a “dog whistle”, or a coded message of racism.
All the above is part of a longstanding war of words over words themselves – and who controls their meaning. A decades-old conflict waged in the name of political correctness.
Oceania USA
In his novel “1984,” George Orwell’s begins his cautionary tale about a socialist utopia with the following sentence:
“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”
That sentence gives the reader an introductory glimpse into a dystopic society under the sway of Big Brother. And that society isn’t bound by reality. Nor by time as governed by the celestial mechanics of an ordered solar system.
More than this, it says that all in that society must live by that unreality. And the clocks in every Oceanian home reminds them of this – every day at precisely thirteen o’clock.

O’Brien (Richard Burton) discuses the finer points of Big Brother’s version of political correctness with Winston Smith (John Hurt) in the 1984 screen adaptation of George Orwell’s “1984.” Screen capture.
Winston Smith, the story’s protagonist, refuses to comply with the unreality of Big Brother’s socialist utopia. And so, a party enforcer named O’Brian is sent to torture the rationality right out of Smith.
“O’Brien held up his left hand, it’s back towards Winston, with the thumb hidden and the four fingers extended. ‘How many fingers am I holding up, Winston?’ And if the party says that it is not four but five – then how many?’ The word ended in a gasp of pain.”
O’Brien’s various acts of cruelty eventually snap the reason right out of Smith’s head. Four fingers now equal five… or whatever Big Brother declares.
The story’s chilling ending describes the efficacy of O’Brien’s skillful nudging of Winston Smith’s mind.
“He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.”
O’Brien by other means

Rep. Elijah Cummings. Photo: 2017 AFGE Legislative Conference via flickr, https://www.flickr.com/photos/afge/34803733083/in/photostream/.
Political correctness is a lot like the menacing O’Brien. Rather than physical torture, it enforces its power by use of feigned outrage and equally feigned moral superiority. That contrived moral preeminence comes with a license to condemn those who describe reality for what it is as heinous reprobates. And the worst of these ne’er-do-wells are branded racists.
This grants Elijah Cummings a license of sorts. He isn’t required to explain why the people of his district live in what pest control company Orkin describes as one of Americas “rattiest cities.” Nor is he required to explain why crippling poverty grips the people of his district where progressive Democrats have been in control of Baltimore for decades.
Without impeachment, Democrats revert back to political correctness
Meanwhile, those in the media who condemn President Trump for his accurate description of Baltimore talk out of both sides of their duplicitous mouths.
The Baltimore Sun, for instance, ran a scathing editorial critical of Trump’s critique of Cummings’ sham virtue:
“The White House has far more power to effect change in this city, for good or ill, than any single member of Congress including Mr. Cummings. If there are problems here, rodents included, they are as much his responsibility as anyone’s, perhaps more because he holds the most powerful office in the land.”
The Sun forgets that Trump is not Big Brother. The good citizens of Baltimore, not Trump, govern themselves. They just aren’t very good at it. The fact that Elijah Cummings is currently serving his 13th term in the US House of Representatives is all the proof you need.
Ironically, the dire reality of Democrat misrule was the very subject of a previous Baltimore Sun editorial.
“In short, the Democratic Party, at every level — local, state and federal — remains completely ineffectual and continues to fail the people of Baltimore at every turn. This is no new development. The fact is that the Democratic Party has failed Baltimore and every other major American city for the last 50 years. What were once the shining examples of American progress have become abandoned shells inhabited primarily by those who do not have the means to move elsewhere.”
Does this mean we should now construe the word “ineffectual” as a dog whistle designed to stir the sleeping mongrel of racism? Perhaps one of CNN’s on-screen personalities will work up some tears while pondering that very question.
Giving them the finger

President Donald Trump. Photo: Gage Skidmore via Wikipedia.
You see, Trump is not hated by the left’s PC guardians in corporate media because he is “conservative.” He is hated for so easily trouncing the tyranny of political correctness with a tweet and a smile.
And polls show the American people are as disdainful of political correctness as is their president.
As the only politician in America elected by all the people, President Trump uses his bully pulpit in mock salute to Orwell’s O’Brien. Holding up his hand, it’s back towards the virtue-signaling left, with the thumb hidden and middle digit high, Trump asks:
“How many fingers am I holding up?”
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Top Images: President Donald Trump. Photo by Army Sgt. Amber I. Smith,
Department of Defense. (Inset) Rep. Elijah Cummings. Photo: US Congress.
