Ever since John Lewis told Chuck Todd that he doesn’t consider Donald Trump a “legitimate president,” acolytes of the traffic-cone-colored, tiny-fingered dingleberry have streamed out of the woodwork to come for the civil rights hero and political icon.
As soon as the president-elect heard the remarks, the troll-in-chief tweeted this:
Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to......
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2017
mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results. All talk, talk, talk - no action or results. Sad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2017
Soon after, Trump supporter and world-class race-baiter Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) told a radio station, “I have long contemplated just going to the floor and saying, ‘John Lewis, thank you for your contribution to civil rights during the civil rights era. I would appreciate if you’d contribute something since then. It’s been a half a century.’”
Maine Gov. Paul LePage, whose history of racist remarks makes Steve King look like Mahatma Gandhi, followed up on a local radio station by offering Lewis an erroneous lesson on civil rights (Yes, you heard that right. The governor who said that black men smuggle heroin into his state so they can impregnate Maine’s pure white girls tried to teach John Lewis a lesson on civil rights), saying:
You know, I will just say this: John Lewis ought to look at history. ... It was Abraham Lincoln that freed the slaves. It was Rutherford B. Hayes and Ulysses S. Grant that fought against Jim Crow laws. A simple thank-you would suffice.”
Even football icon Jim Brown jumped into the fray, along with Martin Luther King III, whose notable achievements include carrying his father’s DNA and a head the size of a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade float.
While Lewis’ supporters have rightfully defended his record based on his bravery and courage, no news outlet has yet presented an unbiased, objective view of Lewis’ career to see how it stacks up against the careers of his detractors. Instead of slinging mud and arguing with heartfelt emotion, I have decided to compare and contrast Lewis’ accomplishments with those of the people who have taken shots at him.
1960s
Donald Trump:
- Was an “unremarkable” but “privileged” student at the New York Military Academy.
- Was removed from his senior command post as a senior.
- Received five draft deferments for the Vietnam War, including one for “bad feet.”
- Was admitted to Wharton by a “friendly” admissions officer, although no one remembers him on campus.
Jim Brown:
- Set the National Football League’s single-season rushing record and led the Cleveland Browns to an NFL championship.
- Was considered the greatest running back ever to play football.
- Formed the Negro Industrial and Economic Union to stimulate investment in black business.
- Was accused of of assaulting and molesting an 18-year old woman. Brown was acquitted after he said he didn’t beat her up or have sex with her. She later gave birth to his daughter.
- Was charged with assault and attempt to commit murder after he allegedly tossed his model-girlfriend off the balcony of a second-floor apartment.
Steve King:
- Received three Vietnam War draft deferments.
Paul LePage:
- Worked in a bakery after he left home at 11.
- Was rejected from every college for poor test scores and an inability to speak English clearly, until a powerful family interceded for him at Husson College.
Martin Luther King III:
- Was chilling.
John Lewis:
- Was firebombed, attacked by an an angry mob and beaten by Ku Klux Klan members as one of the original Freedom Riders who successfully challenged segregated interstate transportation laws.
- Became chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
- Was one of the “Big Six” who planned the largest civil rights protest in American history.
- Was the youngest speaker at the March on Washington.
- Helped prod Congress to create the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
- Organized a protest march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., to fight for voting rights.
- Had his skull fractured by white supremacists while marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
1970s
Donald Trump:
- Worked for his father’s company.
- Lived off a trust fund set up by his father.
- Borrowed $1 million from his father for his first “big deal.”
- Married his first wife.
- Was sued by the U.S. Department of Justice for racial discrimination.
Jim Brown:
- Was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
- Starred in 12 movies.
- Was arrested for beating and choking his golfing partner.
Steve King:
- Dropped out of college.
- Started a dirt company.
Paul LePage:
- Worked for a lumber company owned by his first wife.
Martin Luther King III:
- Lived with his mama.
John Lewis:
- Became executive director of the Voter Education Project, which registered millions of voters.
- Worked in the Carter administration organizing volunteers.
- Led ACTION, the U.S. government’s domestic volunteer agency.
- Headed Americorps, the national service program to eliminate poverty.
1980s -1990s
Donald Trump:
- Was a pro wrestler.
- Borrowed so much money from his daddy, he owed his father $14 million when Daddy died.
- Received an inheritance of $40 million when his father died.
- Married his second wife.
Jim Brown:
- Was charged with rape and assault in 1985. A judge dismissed the case.
- Founded Amer-I-Can, dedicated to stopping gang violence.
- Was charged with assaulting his wife. The case was dismissed.
- Was charged with making terrorist threats to his wife.
Steve King:
- Became state senator.
- Moved dirt.
Martin Luther King III:
- Was arrested for fighting his sister in a Winn-Dixie.
- Was elected to lead the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Didn’t do anything.
John Lewis:
- Was elected to the Atlanta City Council.
- Was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
- Fought Bill Clinton on welfare reform and invasion of Haiti and opposed the first Gulf War.
- Sponsored the bill that made Martin Luther King Jr. Day a holiday.
2000-Present
Donald Trump:
- Married his third wife.
- Made a reality show.
- Grabbed pussies.
- Advocated kicking Muslims out of the country.
- Energized the neo-Nazi white supremacist movement.
- May or may not have enjoyed a Russian “golden shower.”
- Mocked disabled reporters.
Jim Brown:
- Worked with gangs and youth groups.
- Served a six-month sentence for beating his wife.
Steve King:
- Was elected to Congress.
- Said that racial profiling was OK because the people rioting in Ferguson, Mo., were all of the “same continental origin.”
- On live TV, said that white people were more responsible for civilization because they contributed more than the other “subgroups.”
- Tried to defund the Harriet Tubman $20 bill.
- Keeps a Confederate flag on his desk, even though he was born in, has spent his entire life in and represents Iowa—a state that was on the Union side.
- Said of President Barack Obama’s apology for slavery: “There’s nothing to apologize for.”
Martin Luther King III:
- Publicly fought with his siblings about who had the right to profit from their father’s legacy.
- Met with Donald Trump.
Paul LePage:
- Said he had a binder with pictures of all the drug dealers in Maine, and 90 percent were black or Hispanic.
- Actually had a binder with pictures of all the drug dealers in Maine, and most of them were white.
- Said people of color are the enemy, and you “have to shoot at the enemy.”
- Said in 2016:
These are guys with the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty—these types of guys—they come from Connecticut and New York, they come up here, they sell their heroin, they go back home. Incidentally, half the time they impregnate a young white girl before they leave, which is a real sad thing because then we have another issue we have to deal with down the road.
John Lewis:
- Was one of the first to endorse the candidacy of Barack Obama.
- Introduced the bill that created the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
- Said of gay marriage: “I fought too long and too hard against discrimination based on race and color not to fight against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.”
- Was arrested in Sudan protesting the genocide in Darfur.
- Was arrested for demonstrating at the U.S. Capitol for immigration reform.
- Led a sit-in on the floor of Congress to protest Republicans’ refusal to address gun control laws.
- Has served in Congress for 29 years and received more than 70 percent of the vote totals 13 of the 14 times he has been re-elected.
I won’t draw any conclusions. Look at the tale of the tape and judge for yourself. I will only say this:
If Lewis asked for time on the floor at the next session of Congress, ambled to the podium on knees that still bear the scars of white supremacy, and, when it was his turn to speak, pulled down his pants, squatted and sprayed putrid diarrhea all over the podium and floor and into the mouths of members of the U.S. House of Representatives, he’d still have more class, grace and dignity than Trump, Brown, LePage and both of the above Kings combined.
When Donald Trump was draft-dodging and licking the silver spoon in his mouth ...
Before Paul LePage had a full grasp of the English language ...
While Steve King was partying in his college fraternity ...
As Jim Brown was slapping any woman who dared raise her voice at him ...
While MLK III was still sucking breast milk ...
John Lewis was laying his life on the line for us. All of us.
The only difference between him and the whitewashed idea of Martin Luther King Jr. that those detractors so willingly embrace with reverence and awe is that John Lewis is still alive. He survived. Lewis has done more for people than any of these blowhards ever will. We live in a country founded on the premise that “All men are created equal.” The key word is “created,” because any examination of the facts can lead only to one conclusion:
John Lewis is better than they are.