By Christine Condon Baltimore Sun Aug 05, 2019
Many a morning, 58-year-old Millie Jefferson finds herself outside her home in West Baltimore, sweeping her front steps and picking up trash on her block. Monday, she had some unexpected visitors.
Dozens of volunteers gathered near her home on North Fulton Avenue and started bagging garbage and weeding, too. They were inspired by Scott Presler, a Republican activist from northern Virginia who started a social media campaign to help clean up Baltimore’s 7th congressional district in the wake of President Donald Trump’s tweets about it last month.
“We can’t do it alone,†Jefferson said. “It makes me feel good to see that there are still some good people and good communities that want to see better.â€
The volunteers donned gloves and wielded rakes and weed wackers as they combed through trash dumped in the neighborhood and hacked away grasses peeking through the sidewalks. Beneath a pop-up tent, they signed a poster with the words “Americans Helping Americans."
“I’m thankful that [Trump] brought attention to Baltimore,†said Presler, a conservative commentator with several hundred thousand followers on Twitter. “It’s important to know that although we are the best, freest, greatest country in the world, we still have our problems, and we can’t look at the world just through rose-colored glasses.â€
The Republican president’s tweets drew widespread criticism for their attacks on Democratic U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings and his congressional district, which the president described as a “rodent infested mess.â€
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