The damaging fact that Donald Trump got right about John Lewis
January 17
So here's what we now know:
* John Lewis has said the last two Republican presidents were illegitimate.
* John Lewis has attended just one inauguration of a Republican president since he was first elected to Congress in 1986: that of George H.W. Bush in 1988.
Trump, he of the often-erroneous tweets, actually
had this one right.
But what the revelation does do is make it more difficult to paint his opposition to Trump in anything but a partisan way. Democrats — Lewis included — have spent lots of time (and rhetoric) insisting that their objections to Trump are not rooted in simple disagreements over policy or the fact that he is not of their party. Their opposition to Trump, they insist, is centered on a nonpartisan belief/worry that he is far outside of the mainstream of political thought that governs the two parties and, as such, represents a clear and present danger to the nation and its citizens.
That could still be true! But Lewis's forgetfulness about not attending the inauguration of the 43rd president for the same stated reasons as his taking a pass on the inauguration of the 45th president — and the fact that both presidents are Republicans! — undercuts not only the “principled opposition” argument but also the “Trump is fundamentally different/worse than everyone who has come before” argument.
The more Democrats look like pure partisans blocking Trump solely because he is a Republican, the less success they will have in opposing him in a way that reaches beyond their party base. That's why Lewis's memory glitch is damaging.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by timosman
Connect With Us