John Lewis-Trump Feud Gets Ugly in Georgia

County commissioner calls congressman a 'racist pig'
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 16, 2017 4:08 PM CST
John Lewis Feud With Trump Gets Ugly in Georgia
Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga.   (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

Donald Trump's feud with civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis of Georgia was making political headlines on Martin Luther King Day. (The background on the feud is here.) Coverage:

  • The New York Times explores how it further frays Trump's ties with an African-American community already wary of him. "I don't think we have ever had a president so publicly condescending to what black politics means," says a Duke professor.
  • A GOP county commissioner in Georgia's Gwinnett County, Tommy Hunter, is facing calls to resign after he wrote online that Lewis is a "racist pig." See the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
  • In a speech marking MLK Day, Lewis did not mention Trump, instead telling personal stories of his own civil rights battles and preaching non-violence. "The way of love is a better way," he said, per NBC News.
  • Michelle Obama tweeted her support of Lewis today.
  • Martin Luther King III met with Trump Monday, and while he praised Lewis, he also sought to tamp down the controversy. “Things get said on both sides in the heat of emotion. And at some point in this nation, we’ve got to move forward.” See the Los Angeles Times.

  • So far, nearly 28 Democratic members of Congress vow to skip the inauguration, reports the BBC.
  • A blogger at the liberal Daily Kos says Lewis went too far in saying Trump was not a "legitimate president." Democrats must admit it or face charges of hypocrisy, reads the post here.
  • Mike Pence is "so disappointed" in Lewis, he tells Fox News.
  • Trump slammed Lewis' Atlanta district as crime-ridden and "falling apart," and those who live there were surprised to hear it and eager to rebut the charge. See the Wall Street Journal.
  • Columnist Paul Krugman defends Lewis' original slam of Trump as "an act of patriotism." Read it in the New York Times.
  • Columnist David Weigel writes that Democrats, including Lewis, appear to have learned that "explosive rhetoric" of the sort mastered by Trump is the new normal. Welcome to the "New Rudeness," he writes at the Washington Post.
(More John Lewis stories.)

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