Donald Trump fired back Saturday at Democratic Rep. John Lewis of Georgia after the civil rights leader-turned-lawmaker questioned the legitimacy of Mr. Trump’s presidential victory in a recent interview.
“Congressman John Lewis 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,” Mr. Trump said in a series of tweets posted from his official Twitter account Saturday morning.
“All talk, talk, talk - no action or results. Sad!” the president-elect tweeted.
Mr. Trump’s comments were made in apparent response to remarks Mr. Lewis said during an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” with respect to his decision to boycott next week’s presidential inauguration, the first time he’ll miss a swearing-in since being elected to Congress in 1986.
“I don’t see this president-elect as a legitimate president,” Mr. Lewis told “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd in an excerpt from the interview published Friday. “I think the Russians participated in helping this man get elected and they helped destroy the candidacy of Hillary Clinton.”
“You cannot be at home with something that you feel that is wrong,” he said. “I think there was a conspiracy on the part of the Russians and others to help him get elected. That’s not right, that’s not fair, that’s not the open democratic process.”
SEE ALSO: John Lewis says Trump is not a ‘legitimate’ president
Mr. Trump’s subsequent Twitter reaction was quickly rebuked on social media by individuals who disagree with his assessment that Mr. Lewis is “all talk,” particularly given the congressman’s pivotal role as a civil rights leader starting in the early 1960s.
Mr. Lewis, 76, helped organize the 1963 March on Washington where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream Speech,” and two years later suffered a fractured skull at the hands of police during a demonstration in favor of voting rights for African-Americans.
“This is not talk,” Sen. Ron Wyden, Oregon Democrat, wrote in a tweet directed toward Mr. Trump on Saturday morning that included a photograph of Mr. Lewis participating in the the historic Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965.
Mr. Lewis “is an America hero,” Mr. Wyden tweeted.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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