Trump Attacks Civil Rights Leader John Lewis On MLK Weekend

Ford Watkins, Staff WriterOn Saturday, days before the inauguration, Donald J. Trump did what he seems to do best. He made a fool of himself, and consequently made the news.  And yes, it sparked from Twitter.  The president-elect gratingly attacked Representative John Lewis for comments Lewis made in an interview.Lewis said "I don't see Trump as a legitimate president."  He then mentioned the Russian hacking in the 2016 election.This week, Trump did agree that Russian hacking did interfere with the 2016 election, but claimed it could not have, and did not, alter the outcome of the election.  When Trump heard Rep. Lewis' comments, he did what any classy, normal, and sane politician would do.He took it to Twitter.Trump tweeted this on Saturday: "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. All talk, talk, talk - no action or results. Sad!"Trump did this in a series of two tweets, thus the multiple periods.  He referred to Lewis as "all talk, talk, talk" and "no action or results."  Now, Trump must have forgotten, or was uninformed, that John Lewis is a major civil rights activist.How much of a civil rights activist is John Lewis?  Well, to start, he was a Freedom Rider.  He spoke at The March on Washington, and led Bloody Sunday.  One time, he was horribly assaulted by police in Selma, Alabama, and nearly died.  To top it off, he's written 7 books on the civil rights movement, including his National Book Award-winning March: Volume Three.Rep. John Lewis is the congressman for the 5th district in Georgia.  Trump said in his tweet "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)"There are a few problems with that statement.  The 5th district's average household income is $48,000, which is higher than Georgia's average.  Also, 9 out of 10 residents graduated high school and/or furthered their education after high school, and 4 out of 10 have a bachelor's degree. Compared to other cities, I would not call that falling apart.  Crime in the district has been down in the past couple years, as well.To show the "crime-infested" comment is not exactly true, The New York Times did research showing that our country's 25 biggest cities showed significant climbs in murder rates, and Atlanta was not one of them.Trump seemed to also forget the time of these cyber attacks.  What a way to kickstart MLK weekend with his inauguration coming up.I think the way Donald Trump worded his tweet enraged a lot of people as well, maybe without them even knowing it.  "Crime-infested" sounds like the 5th congressional district of Georgia is just a little dot on his map of America, and he does not care about them.  If you want to see change, then take a trip down to Atlanta, come back, and start pumping out regulations and legislations helping teenagers get off the street!  And yet, you would rather blame one of the most prominent civil rights activists ever?Trump has tarnished his presidency before starting it.  However, Trump is not only making himself look bad, but the party he is affiliated with, the GOP.  Trump is not a Republican.  All he wants is attention, which is exactly why he ran for president, which is exactly why he made those comments about Hispanics, which is exactly why he hired and fired more campaign managers than any campaign had before.  It is also why he said Obama's birth certificate is "fraud" and why he continued to degrade women in his interviews.Ironically, Trump has done exactly what John Lewis said.  He has continued to delegitimize his role as president.  There is still hope, however.  The great people of America, and the Electoral College, the most fair voting system in the world, claimed Donald J. Trump as our next president.  We have spoken, and that's that.*Opinion/Editorial articles are the opinion of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Crier as a staff.