37 comments on “Seriously, Trump? John Lewis?

  1. And Trump is dumb/tone deaf enough to do so during the weekend of Martin Luther King Day. (was fortunate enough to have met Rep. Lewis at last year’s Comic-Con and chat with him for a couple of minutes. Very interesting, polite, and personally powerful man.)

  2. Trump is like that fish you catch everytime the bait gets near him, he can’t resist the bait even if he knows the hook is in there.

    1. Agreed. He’s an “equal opportunity attacker” whose immediate response to any real or perceived slight is to attack and diminish whoever attacked him — even if he loved them before. He praised-then-attacked everyone from President Obama to Megyn Kelly to Meryl Streep. Sadly, I suspect this will continue all through his presidency; and considering how much scrutiny and heat every president takes, he’s in for a long four years.

  3. Lewis was a great man, 50 years ago.

    Now he’s a partisan hack, who trades on his deeds back then to smear Republicans. Eight years ago he attacked John McCain by comparing him to George Wallace.

    Trump doesn’t attack at random. He hits back. Lewis’ attack on Trump was completely out of line for a member of Congress, and he should have been called on it.

    John McCain is also a genuine hero, who also suffered greatly for his country, and he doesn’t get any passes for his past deeds. And he shouldn’t. Neither should Lewis.

    1. All Trump is doing is showing both gross ignorance of history and his own thin skin.

      Defending either shows exactly who the partisan hack around here actually is.

      1. With all due respect, Mr. Thall, you’re showing your ignorance. Trump said NOTHING about Lewis’ history. His exact words: “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!”

        I think I now grasp the main reason so many of you hate him, and one of the few things I like about him: he hits back.

        When Lewis (a great man who has, in his latter years, become a vicious partisan hack on behalf of the party that arrested and beat him 50 years ago) slandered Trump, Trump didn’t cower and grovel, he hit back. And he did it in a way that did not discredit Lewis’ history (a mistake he made when he hit back at John McCain, whose own actions were as heroic as Lewis’ were).

        Your script calls for Trump (and all Republicans and conservatives) to bow their heads in shame and silently acquiesce when they are insulted and lied about. Well, that script ain’t working any more.

        Come up with a new one.

      2. “His exact words: “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!”

        Yes, he did say that. And ten years earlier, he said this:

        “It’s a great town and a great city. I’ve loved Atlanta for years.”

        He said that back when he was considering building a tower there.

        Again: He speaks highly of people until they criticize him and then ignores everything he said earlier to launch an attack. Or he says lousy things about people until they flatter him and then he likes them.

        My script doesn’t call for anything except someone who is consistent to have the highest office in the land. But you’re right about one thing: that script is obviously not working anymore.

        PAD

      3. Let me guess… When someone shouted “you lie!” to Obama, or when Fox called him the worst president in history after a single day in office, you said nothing.

        Don’t feed the troll, folks.

      4. For the record, Jay, I don’t count myself as EITHER conservative or liberal. I count myself as pure common sense.

        A man that spends all his time lashing out at people over the pettiest perceived slights imaginable, who lies blatantly and constantly about just about everything, degrades women, and who espouses hate in order to get ahead deserves the defense of no one.

        That you defend him and his repulsive behavior in any way, shape, or form tells me everything I could ever need to know about you.

        Your cause is irrelevant to me. This is just basic decency I’m talking about. I can deal with a president whose views don’t match my own. I despised W. Bush with a passion, but that wasn’t for his views… it was because he was a gigantic flaming moron, and I have a zero tolerance policy on stupid.

        I don’t care about any supposed “script” you imagine me to be expecting people to follow. I imagine you pulled that from the same place Trump gets his “facts”.

        Don’t bother responding. I won’t read it. I have no time for those that put their party over decency.

      5. Oh, Aaron, you’re losing it. You’re not only going all over the place, you’re doing so erroneously.

        1) When Congressman Wilson said to Obama “you lie,” Obama actually was lying. Obama said that ObamaCare would never cover illegal aliens. It does.

        2) Trump doesn’t spend “A man that spends all his time lashing out at people over the pettiest perceived slights imaginable.” A sitting Congressman with a HUGE public reputation declared Trump’s presidency “illegitimate.” Trump hit back by suggesting said Congressman focus on doing his job. And Trump is still getting a hëll of a lot done.

        3) I’m not defending Trump, I’m defending truth against BS. Trump is crass and vulgar and shameless and arrogant. But I do find it interesting how, if Trump is so horrible, why do his critics need to make up crap? One would think his actual flaws and actions would provide all the ammo needed to go after him.

        But let’s get back to Congressman Lewis. He said that Trump isn’t a legitimate president, and he’ll be boycotting the inauguration in protest, the first inauguration he’s missed since he was elected to Congress.

        Which is interesting, because in 2001 he boycotted President Bush’s inauguration because that president wasn’t legitimate, either.

        And in 2008, he compared John McCain and Sarah Palin to George Wallace.

        And in 2010, when ObamaCare was passed, Lewis led black members of Congress across the Capitol through Tea Party protesters. Lewis claimed that during that walk, he was spat upon and called the n-word. There were tons of cameras that recorded every instant of that walk. Andrew Breitbart put up a bounty of $100,000 for any footage that showed Lewis being spat upon or called the N-word. No one ever claimed that reward.

        50 years ago, Lewis was an incredibly courageous man who suffered greatly for a noble cause, and deserves to be lauded for that. But for the last 20 years, he’s been a bitter partisan hack who has used his moral standing to defend and advance the interests of the party that fought to keep him oppressed.

        If you think that his actions 50 years ago give him a lifetime pass from any criticism, no matter what he does, then I would then ask who else you extend such a tremendous courtesy to, and if there is anything Mr. Lewis could do that would make you rethink that lifetime pass.

    2. “Eight years ago he attacked John McCain by comparing him to George Wallace.”

      You really, REALLY need to get your news from somewhere other than right wing organizations and hate groups.

      Lewis did NOT compare McCain to Wallace. What Lewis DID say was that the campaign of McCain and Palin was evoking hatred (much like your boy Trump’s later would). He never said McCain was like Wallace; he said the campaign was stoking the fires of hatred and then held up the Wallace campaign as an example of another that had done so. Comparing the results of a campaign is not remotely like comparing one man to another. In terms of McCain himself, Lewis actually spoke very highly of McCain in earlier years.

      Now the fact that he attacked a campaign while speaking well of the man himself I’m sure seems like a contradiction to you. It’s really not; a contradiction would be Trump speaking glowingly about how wonderful an actress Meryl Streep was (“Meryl Streep is an excellent actress; she’s a fine person, too” he told Entertainment Weekly in 2015) and then declaring she was overrated as an actress because she dared criticize him.

      Yes, Trump hits back. And he needs to knock that šhìŧ off. He needs to stop attacking John Lewis and Alec Baldwin and Meryl Streep and people who criticize him because a President has to worry about more important things than who made fun of him this week. Which any reasonable person understands. Which is why you don’t understand it.

      PAD

      1. “Yes, Trump hits back. And he needs to knock that šhìŧ off. He needs to stop attacking John Lewis and Alec Baldwin and Meryl Streep and people who criticize him because a President has to worry about more important things than who made fun of him this week.”

        George W. Bush tried that approach. He kept silent to his critics for years, both in office and out. And he’s still hated and reviled.

        As far as McCain and the Wallace thing, I believe the term used is “dog whistles.” Lewis avoided making the explicit comparison, but EVERYONE KNOWS what he meant. When you say that McCain and Palin’s CAMPAIGN is acting like George Wallace, you’re saying that they’re doing it. McCain still hasn’t forgiven him for that.

        And as far as your advice that Trump should just ignore the outrageous attacks against him that are repeated and amplified ad nauseum… would you care to add in a suggestion that people stop making such false attacks against Trump in the first place? Because, of course, no one would ever say that since Trump didn’t deny them, they must be true…

        As far as these being a waste of Trump’s time, I bring up two points;

        1) Trump is still getting a lot done, even before he takes the Oath of Office, so it’s not that much of a distraction.

        2) Considering what you fear Trump will actually do as president, shouldn’t you be celebrating all this time and energy he’s dedicating to this silliness, and NOT carrying out his nefarious schemes?

      2. If they don’t like TRUMP hitting back after attacking him to make themselves seem important, perhaps they can practice all that glorious–yet seemingly, non-existant– Liberal tolerance and keep their comments to themselves for once?
        Getting hit by the bear might not hurt as much, if you’re not poking it with the branding iron.

      3. I find it impressive how conservatives who have spent eight years attacking Obama relentlessly–trying to stop him from accomplishing anything, challenging his right even to be president with false claims about his citizenship–now seem to come up with all sorts of ways to tell liberals that they should just shut up and stop criticizing Trump.

        The difference, of course, was that Obama didn’t waste time attacking them on Twitter.

        PAD

      4. Also for the record, Mr. Tea (and I pity you, foo), Trump WAS showing his ignorance of history. If he actually knew ANYTHING about Lewis, he’d know the man is a hero that stood up for civil rights and was REPEATEDLY beaten by the police. He never gave up.

        No reasonable person could EVER claim that he’s all talk, no action.

    3. Jay Tea: Trump said NOTHING about Lewis’ history. His exact words: “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!”
      .
      Bûllšhìŧ. Trump also said that Lewis was “all talk, no action”—a remark that you conveniently omitted.
      .
      What’s significant about that remark is not only how outrageously false it is, and how it is precisely Lewis’ history that falsifies it—a history that Trump either shows his ignorance of, or was deliberately trying to diminish. This is a history that includes having his skull cracked by police during the Bloody Sunday event at Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma when he marched Dr. King, a history that includes making himself a target by speaking at the podium after Dr. King during the March on Washington, a history that includes having to ask his parents’ permission to have Dr. King file a lawsuit against the university that barred Lewis from admission because he was still a minor, thus choosing to enter the Civil Rights movement and make himself a target before he was even a legal adult.
      .
      Nice try.
      .
      Jay Tea: I think I now grasp the main reason so many of you hate him, and one of the few things I like about him: he hits back.
      .
      You’re full of šhìŧ, Jay. The reasons for objections to Trump’s presidency are obvious and self-evident. He devoid of class, maturity, intelligence or human decency. For you to deliberately ignore all the evidence derived from his behavior makes you either willfully blind or a liar.
      .
      If Trump wanted to “hit back”, he could’ve done so by FALSIFYING John Lewis’ criticism, or at least by responding in a way that exhibited CLASS and INTELLIGENCE. Instead, his stock response is to make personal, ad hominem remarks that have NOTHING to do with the actual point of criticism that he’s responding to. For you to ignore this fact would seem to indicate that like the rest of Trump’s apologists, you’ve just drunk his Kool Aid and like to stick your head in the sand.
      .
      Jay Tea: And Trump is still getting a hëll of a lot done.
      .
      Like what? Like causing Boeing stock to plummet with a single, irresponsible tweet? Like taking credit for a General Motors investment project that he had nothing to do with? Revealing himself to be traitor by showing greater loyalty to a hostile enemy nation than to the 17 intelligence agencies charged with keeping us safe that revealed that nation to have committed what is essentially an act of war against us?
      .
      Jay Tea: 3) I’m not defending Trump, I’m defending truth against BS.
      .
      Oh please. Nothing you say exhibits any sort of objective detachment or fairness, let alone any ring of truth that can be supported by evidence or reason. You deliberately omitted a significant portion of Trump’s insult to John Lewis while claiming that your quote-mined version of the rant was his “exact words”, you pretend that said insult was not a reference to Lewis’ history, and in general, you deliberately ignore the despicable, outrageous behavior with which Trump persistently shows that he is unqualified to hold an office like the U.S. Presidency, pretending instead that objections to his Presidency are due to his “hitting back”, while deliberately ignoring the immature, classless and inane manner in which he does so.
      .
      You have zero credibility as a champion of truth, Jay.

    4. “Trump doesn’t attack at random. He hits back. Lewis’ attack on Trump was completely out of line for a member of Congress, and he should have been called on it.”
      .
      (1) Except he didn’t hit back at Lewis. Like the ignorant, emotionally stunted manchild that Trump is, he lashed out without knowing the first thing he was talking about and attacked the district Lewis represents and the people in it. He grossly mischaracterized both.
      .
      I know people who live in and around his district. I’ve been in his district more than a few times over the years. And you know what else? I know Republicans who live in that district who have said that Trump got it completely wrong.
      .
      Trump is an idiot. He’s also a racist, and he showed why and how he is here. He may not be the hood wearing type, but he’s still a racist of a more subtle nature.
      .
      Throughout the entire campaign, he talked about black communities and blacks in this country almost entirely by way of talking about high crime, poverty, drugs, etc. Trump knew nothing about the 5th district. He probably couldn’t have found it on a map if you put a gun to his head. But he looked at a black man who represents a district and assumed the worst of both it and its people based on nothing more than the color of that man’s skin.
      .
      If I wanted to attack John Lewis, I could easily do it. Trump should have been able to do it, but he instead chose to attack the people of the 5th District and to lie about the district John Lewis represents.
      .
      But I’m sure that’s A-O.K. in your book, because it seems that Trump lies are the new Gold Standard of facts and reality on the right these days.
      .
      (2) It was totally in line with what a member of Congress can say. And considering the things said and done by Republican Congressmen over the last eight years that you’ve defended, it’s beyond laughable to see you suddenly having to fan yourself and declare a case of the vapors over John Lewis.
      .
      (3) Hv nc dy, Jy. Y dsrvd ths mr thn jst bt nybdy.

  4. One worries that he’s announcing plans for the future of Atlanta, rather than describing the city as it is.

  5. I thought this was so self-evident, it wouldn’t need explaining, but I see I was in error.

    Donald Trump is, by all appearances, incapable of feeling shame.

    Considering his age (70) and his self-image (wildly successful), he is extremely, extremely unlikely to change that attribute.

    Attempting to make him feel shame is, at best, futile, and at worst, a same attempt at virtue-signalling to those already inclined to agree with you.

    In other words, this ain’t working. You might wanna try some new approaches.

  6. I have the right to critcize Peter David’s work. I have crossed a line, however, if by doing so I mock his physical appearance or insult his religion or am just otherwise uncivil. The reverse is also true. If I say I didn’t care for a PAD-written comic, he’s not “responding in kind” to call me a “loser who never published anything anyone’s read and doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

    A good woman said, “When they go low, we go high.” That should be advice for leaders regardless of party. Instead we have people justifying behavior that would get you fired in the private sector while saying that they voted for Trump because he’s an outsider who isn’t a politician. Well, I know few people in business who could survive long with Trump’s Twitter feed: “John should spend less time criticizing my presentation and more fixing his ffailed and horrible department.” HR would be drawing up termination paperwork within hours.

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