John Lewis (far right) with Martin Luther King, Selma
Congressman John Lewis is a civil rights icon, famously known for marching in Selma with Martin Luther King, for being beaten and arrested, for having never stopped fighting for equal rights before the law for every person in America.
Congressman Lewis was asked in recent days what he thought about the imminent inauguration of the man who would be President.
Congressman Lewis declared that this man is no legitimate president, and he would not attend his “Inauguration.”
Nor shall I.
Nor will I watch or listen to a word of what this man from the golden tower on Fifth Avenue has to say at his so-called Inauguration.
But I’ll be in Washington the very next day afterwards.
I will join women from across the nation who shall protest this man’s legitimacy as President and how he hopes to mislead a nation from this nation’s promise of equal rights for all and the constitutional obligation to promote the general welfare.
The Washington Post suggests that to challenge the “legitimacy” of Citizen Donald Trump is “partisan.” But, it’s not. The Post’s characterization, that this is “partisan,” disregards the stubborn facts.
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin contrived a cyber-hacking agit-prop campaign to help Donald Trump become President while, perhaps, keeping mum about Mr. Trump’s sexual indiscretions and embarrassing financial disclosures. FBI Director James Comey knew this while the election was ongoing. There were alleged communications between representatives of Mr. Trump and the Russians during the presidential campaign. Mr. Trump, however, suggested it might be some overweight hacker sitting at home, and not Russia that hacked and interfered in our election. The intelligence community has since confirmed that Russia interfered.
Nor was Russia the only meddler. FBI Director Comey disclosed just days before we voted that he was re-opening an “investigation” into Secretary Hillary Clinton when there was no probable cause to do so. The very same investigation had been closed months earlier on the Director’s say-so. The only possible reason for Director Comey to renew the “investigation,” and to make such an extraordinary announcement in the closing days of an election was to disadvantage Secretary Clinton. Mr. Comey is now under investigation by the Justice Department’s Inspector General for this interference. Some are now calling for Mr. Comey’s resignation; I demanded he resign when I appeared on CNN days before the vote. I believed that his resignation could signal to voters that Mr. Comey had wrongly interfered. This dramatic though belated admission presented a razor thin possibility of restoring some aspect of fair play to the election.
The Fox Network issued a false report that the Justice Department was going to indict Secretary Clinton right after the election was over; it was entirely false; Fox admitted this; but only after the electoral damage had been done.
Some insist what citizens see and hear does not affect how they vote.
This is astonishing when you consider we daily analyze how a candidate’s statement, action or disclosure affects whether he or she will win or lose an impending election.
Citizen Trump held his first press conference since the election, in a circus like atmosphere, to bash the press, in other words, to suppress free expression, to stem any criticism of Mr. Trump’s legitimacy, and that included running down the intelligence community’s embarrassing findings about Russia’s interference.
Trump meets any criticism, first, with a shower of half truths and lies, and next, he attacks whomever is credited with making the allegation Trump abhors.
Mr. Trump, twitting tweets, for the most part, has unsurprisingly devoted his latest series of 140 character assaults, in an attempt to bully Congressman Lewis to back off, but the Congressman has seen and suffered worse bullies including Eugene “Bull” Connor, infamous for his racial intolerance in Selma.
With our hard work and good fortune, Mr. Trump will sooner or later be seen for who he is, a latter day “Bull” Connor, an enemy of the people and the nation, and we shall restore this nation to its original promise subverted by Mr. Trump. After all, most people did not support his election.
That’s some small part of why Mr. Trump is not my President. What about you?