NJ's Cory Booker Says Trump's Twitter Jab At Him Is 'Racist'

NEWARK, NJ — President Donald Trump is using the imaginary threat of a suburban “invasion” in the form of low-income housing to rally up voters using fear – and it’s blatantly racist, according to U.S. Sen. Cory Booker.

On Wednesday morning, Trump fired out a tweet that mentioned Cory Booker by name, although he misspelled it as “Corey Booker.”

The president wrote:

“The ‘suburban housewife’ will be voting for me. They want safety & are thrilled that I ended the long running program where low income housing would invade their neighborhood. Biden would reinstall it, in a bigger form, with Corey Booker in charge! @foxandfriends @MariaBartiromo”

Trump’s tweet came on the heels of several posts about Sen. Kamala Harris, who earned the nod as Joe Biden’s running mate on Tuesday.

It hasn’t been the first time that Trump has butted heads with Booker. Previously, the president has accused Booker – the former mayor of Newark – of “running the city into the ground.” He’s also mocked Booker’s so-called “Spartacus” moment, when the senator threatened to release pre-approved documents regarding Brett Kavanaugh's past on the third day of the judge's U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings.

For his part, Booker hasn’t been a big fan of Trump, either, blasting his record on issues such as tax reform, immigration and the environment.

The two briefly came to terms on criminal justice issues on the First Step Act, which shortens mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenders. But apparently, the president still has a chip on his shoulder when it comes to Booker.

Trump’s Wednesday tweet got a swift and sharp social media reply from the senator, who acknowledged the president’s spelling gaffe with his own “error.”

Booker later issued a more serious reply to Trump’s tweet via a campaign email, calling it “blatantly racist.”

“Trump is literally trying to scare suburban voters by the mere thought of low-income families moving into — or in his words, invading — their neighborhood,” Booker charge. “That's about as ugly as it gets.”

The senator continued:

“This country has a deeply painful history of housing discrimination. In 1969, [my] own parents relied on the help of a white couple posing as them in order to purchase their home in what was a predominantly white suburban New Jersey neighborhood. Their ability to purchase that home forever impacted [my] life in a positive way, but not every family has that opportunity.”

“This president is using racist dog whistles and misogynistic tropes to rally up his base and create fear,” Booker concluded. “It's not only divisive, it's dangerous.”

Booker’s past experiences with housing issues were a central spoke in his 2020 presidential campaign, which he ended in January.

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