Donald Trump tore into civil rights legend John Lewis for questioning the legitimacy of the Republican billionaire’s White House victory, intensifying a feud with the black congressman days before the national holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr. and as the first African-American president prepares to leave office.
Trump tweeted on Saturday that Lewis, D-Ga., “should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results.”
The incoming president added: “All talk, talk, talk – no action or results. Sad!”
Lewis, among the most revered leaders of the civil rights movement, suffered a skull fracture during the march in Selma, Alabama, more than a half-century ago and has devoted his life to promoting equal rights for African-Americans.
The weekend clash highlighted the sharp contrast between how many African-American view Trump’s inauguration compared with Barack Obama’s eight years ago.
It also demonstrated that no one is untouchable for scorn from a president-elect with little tolerance for public criticism. Trump has found political success even while attacking widely lauded figures before and after the campaign — a prisoner of war, parents of a slain U.S. soldier, a beauty queen and now a civil rights icon.
Lewis, a 16-term congressman said Friday that he would not attend Trump’s swearing-in ceremony at the Capitol this coming Friday. It will mark the first time he skipped an inauguration since joining Congress three decades ago.
“You know, I believe in forgiveness. I believe in trying to work with people. It will be hard. It’s going to be very difficult. I don’t see this president-elect as a legitimate president,” Lewis said in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” set to air Sunday.
“I think the Russians participated in helping this man get elected. And they helped destroy the candidacy of Hillary Clinton,” Lewis said.
Lewis’ spokeswoman, Brenda Jones, declined to respond to Trump and said the lawmaker’s “opinion speaks for itself.”
“We as a nation do need to know whether a foreign government influenced our election,” she said.
U.S. intelligence agencies have said that Russia, in a campaign ordered by President Vladimir Putin, meddled in the election to help Trump win. After spending weeks challenging that assessment, Trump finally accepted that the Russians were behind the election-year hacking of Democrats. But he also emphasized that “there was absolutely no effect on the outcome of the election including the fact that there was no tampering whatsoever with voting machines.”
Democrat Clinton received 2.9 million more votes than Trump but lost the Electoral College vote.
Lewis’ Democratic colleagues quickly came to his defense Saturday.
“Let us remember that many have tried to silence @repjohnlewis over the years. All have failed,” tweeted House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
The Democratic Party of Georgia called on Trump to apologize to Lewis and the people of his district.
“It is disheartening that Trump would rather sing the praises of Vladimir Putin than Georgia’s own living social justice legend and civil rights icon,” state party spokesman Michael Smith said.
Trump’s assertion that Lewis’ district is “falling apart” and “crime infested” is hard to prove.
Georgia’s 5th Congressional District includes the Atlanta metro region, which has a large African-American population. The district is considered one of the nation’s fastest growing areas, but its crime and poverty rates are higher than the national average.
The district has an 8.2 percent unemployment rate and the median household income is about $48,000, according to the Census Bureau.
The area also covers part of the upscale Atlanta neighborhood of Buckhead, along with the headquarters for Fortune 500 companies such Coca-Cola and Delta Air Lines, Emory University, Georgia Tech, several historically black colleges and universities and the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, one of the world’s busiest.
(AP)
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22 Responses
Trump is a lowlife. His ego is out of control. His rhethoric is sickening. He is 70 years old, yet acts like a rich spoiled insolent child. Anoyone with a sense of decency should be revolted by this vile man.
The Democrats are undermining our democracy. They can’t accept Trump’s victory. The most Putin did is expose them and tell us what we needed to know. It’s their fault for putting out such a bad candidate who belongs in jail. Trump will not hold back and he gives them what they deserve to hear and the Democrats should shut their mouths already.
Coming from Atlanta, Mr. Lewis certainly knows a thing or two about illegitimates.
I love how this guy who resides in a town that just stopped using outhouses last year and skates by on the fact that hes black all of a sudden has something to say about our democratically elected prez.
Why are you guys posting liberal media garbage
Sore loser Dems need to realize that their “identity politics” helped nobody. This cry-baby mentality needs to stop already. Blaming Russia and everyone but themselves, shows just how out of touch they are. Hopefully, they will be put out of their misery and continue to lose elections until they are relegated to history.
Trump is an embarrassment to this nation, completely undignified.
Has anyone seen Lewis’ resume and academic background? Does he have a high school diploma?
Typical A.P. story.
John Lewis a congressman has the audacity to state that D.J. Trump is an illegitimate President and therefore will not attend the inauguration. Trump responds in (finally someone willing to stick up for themself) and because John Lewis is black, we are told that Trump should apologize.
look what’s happened to so called “news” reports today. there used to be a clear distinction between “news” and “opinion”. the editorial pages always contained “opinion” and the rest of the paper had “news”. today the lines are blurred. this AP reporter telling us about a dispute between Trump and a Georgian Congressman goes one step further and interjects his personal opinion and picks the Congressman as the “good guy” and Trump as the “bad guy”. mr reporter: i’m not asking for your opinion. just tell me the “news” and i’ll make up my own mind. FAKE NEWS, indeed!
The one who is really “illegitimate” is fraud like you Mr.Lewis.
Um, for those criticizing mr. Trump, did you notice that Lewis fired the first shot with his inanity, that Lewis comes from a hellhole of a district, and that you seem to believe that anyone who “was at selma” gets an automatic and undeserved pass to be a racebaiter or idiot?
Trump would only be legitimate had he been born in Africa and falsified his Birth Certificate, like Obama.
Trump would only be legitimate had he assisted the CIA Mafia in finding evidence that Russia hacked the election.
Trump would only be legitimate had he received massive contributions from Saudi Arabia to manipulate the election, like Hillary.
Trump would only be legitimate had he received millions of dollars from China in order to control the election, like Hillary.
Trump would only be legitimate had he committed all that fraud and rigged voting machines in his own favor, like Hillary.
Trump would only be legitimate had he had an 18-wheeler-load of corruption, murders and lies, like Hillary.
Tome to retire. Seems like dementia has taken over your brain Get w the picture. Try to say these words. They ARE your reality. Praise the Lord. President Donald J Trump
Trump stop!
I know they say we all look alike but you have a picture of Elijah Cummings congressman from California not Congressman Lewis.
Maybe you guys need to change it before the snowflakes have a meltdown because a Jewish news website put the wrong picture.
Lewis’ claim to fame was his walk with MLK in the last millennium.
He had his head bashed in at the time, and whatever brain matter he possessed before was left on that Alabama bridge.
What good has he done in the last half century, and I mean for his own people? How many of them has he gotten jobs for; how many has he enrolled in college; how many unwanted pregnancies has he prevented; and how many have left Welfare due to his efforts?
Meanwhile, his own district in Atlanta is one of the crime and murder capitals of the USA.
Lewis is just an old wind bag, who is interviewing embalmers, while still mumbling something incoherent in the Congress.
I don’t agree with Congressman Lewis’s contention that Trump’s presidency is “illegitimate”, but I cannot understand the vile things some of the commenters are saying about him. He’s wrong about illegitimacy, but so what. I was once wrong about something, and I suspect many commenters were likewise once wrong.
And let me be clear. I am a registered Democrat and unregistered liberal. I accept that Trump was duly elected, and while Russia tried to influence the outcome of the US presidential election, I don’t think Trump owes his victory to the Russian efforts. Trump is a despicable human being, a spoiled child of 70. I expect horrible things to come out of his administration, and I will be glad if and when he proves me wrong.
rt and crazykanoy are far more dangerous than mr. Lewis
Much as I dislike Trump he is 100% correct this time. Mr. Lewis went and publicly picked a fight with Trump. Trump responded in kind without even personally attacking Mr. Lewis. Rather he attacked his job performance. What is there for Mr. Lewis to be upset about or expect an apology?
He asked for it.
Besides lacking basic human decency Trump also has no grasp of reality.
From the Atlanta Journal Constitution:
The district that Trump described as in “horrible shape” includes Emory University and Morehouse College, as well as Spelman College and Georgia Tech. The Coca-Cola headquarters is just one of that district’s many, high-profile corporate residents. Lewis represents Midtown’s shiny residential high-rises and the pricey Intown neighborhoods filled with renovated homes, the Beltline and Ponce City Market.
Number one your name crazy suits you since you no nothing
The congressman lied he said same thing bu bush perhaps it’s time for him to go. Since he’s the racist fascist. Demanding that the dnc have no Whites on it only Ellison and black radicals