President Donald Trump continues to face criticism for calling Rep. Elijah Cummings’ (D-MD-07) home city of Baltimore a “rat and rodent infested mess.”
As Battleground State News reported Tuesday, Trump wasn’t far off the mark as Baltimore was ranked the ninth “rattiest city” in America in 2018.
“As proven last week during a Congressional tour, the border is clean, efficient and 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 and filthy place,” Trump wrote on Twitter over the weekend.
….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
Some in the Midwest, however, might be surprised to learn that their own cities are actually more rodent-infested than Baltimore.
Detroit, Michigan, for instance, was ranked the sixth rattiest city in 2018, according to Orkin. The pest control company ranks metro regions by the number of new rodent treatments performed annually. Grand Rapids and Flint both made the top 50 list, ranking 39th and 50th, respectively.
Cleveland, Ohio was ranked the eighth rattiest city in America—one spot higher than Baltimore, and five spots higher than its ranking the previous year. Columbus moved up six spots on the list between 2017 and 2018, and was ranked the 25th rattiest city in the nation, while Dayton occupied the 48th spot on the list.
For the fourth year in a row, Chicago was ranked the rattiest city in America.
Heightened rodent activity in Midwest cities is partially due to the cold temperatures, Orkin explains.
“During the colder months, rodent activity increases as these pests seek shelter in warm areas with readily-available food and water. In fact, the National Pest Management Association reports rodents enter an estimated 21 million homes in the U.S. each winter,” the company said in a press release.
The full ranking can be viewed here.
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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of Battleground State News, The Ohio Star, and The Minnesota Sun. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Background Photo “Cleveland Skyline” by Tim Evanson. CC BY-SA 2.0.
