Kenny Phipps

John Lewis/Illegitimacy of Trump

 

Many on the left and right have decried Representative John Lewis’ (D-GA) assertion that President Donald Trump is not a legitimate president, claiming that partisanship should take a backseat to ensuring the peaceful transition of power and demonstrating public support for our democracy.

Lewis was justified in labeling Trump an illegitimate president, and the rest of the nation should join him. There are several reasons for this to be true.

Primarily, Trump only defeated democratic candidate Hillary Clinton thanks to the Electoral College, a vestigial institution with roots in slavery and oppression that should have been abolished long ago. The majority of the voters in this country did not choose our President-Elect, lest we forget.

Another oft-overlooked argument in defense of Lewis’ statement is the influence of so-called “fake news.” These false news stories, spread in part due to websites like Breitbart, run by Mr. Trump’s senior advisor Stephen Bannon, aided Mr. Trump’s victory immensely. “Fake news” is a misnomer, disguising what the articles really were and continue to be: diabolical propaganda.

A more sinister test of the Trump’s legitimacy (or lack thereof) is unfolding even now: the state-sponsored Russian hacking and subsequent release of information during the months leading up to November 8. The FBI and CIA have publicly agreed these cyberattacks were intended to subvert our democratic process and win Trump the highest office in our government. They went just to the edge of saying the order came directly from Vladimir Putin himself, a despot with numerous human rights violations and a penchant for exerting his power in whatever way best suits him.

Even after a “united front of top intelligence officials and senators from both parties” continued their assertion that Russia was directly involved in aiding Trump’s election, the President-Elect refused to accept undisputed national intelligence. Any legitimate president would not defend a tyrannical foreign leader instead of embracing empirical evidence and the statements of top American officials. It is simply unpatriotic and against everything the presidency should stand for.

The common argument against Lewis’ statement is that, despite these overwhelming facts, it is more important to show support for a peaceful transition of power; however, it is even more dangerous to our democracy to refrain from calling out the transgressions of the incoming government. Without a legitimate president, a peaceful transition of power serves only to further dismantle our cherished and essential institutions and usher in an administration lacking real authority. The reaction should be resistance, not complacency.

When examining Mr. Trump and his actions, the debate should not be over whether John Lewis, a giant among men, was correct in labeling him as illegitimate. It should be over why we assumed he was ever legitimate in the first place.

 

Quote from NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/05/us/politics/taking-aim-at-trump-leaders-strongly-affirm-findings-on-russian-hacking.html

 

 

Jacob Rogers

@jacob_rogers01

 

President Donald Trump is the legitimate president. Period.

 

Rep. John Lewis, a Democrat from Georgia and civil rights icon, said Jan. 14 to NBC’s Meet the Press, that then President-elect Trump was not “a legitimate president.” Lewis cited evidence of Russian interference in the election.

 

“I think the Russians participated in helping this man get elected, and they helped destroy the candidacy of Hillary Clinton,” said Lewis in the interview.

 

There is absolutely no problem with the congressman raising questions about the interference. The intelligence community is in agreement that the Russian government played a role in the election; however, it creates a slippery slope and erodes away the idea of accepting the outcomes of elections.

 

On Jan. 6, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a statement saying “Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election.”

 

After these reports were leaked to the public Trump trashed the intelligence community. As usual, he has to make outrageous claims through Twitter — yes tweets — even implying they were doing the same thing as Nazi Germany. Trump does not get a pass on that absurd and offensive claim.

 

But nonetheless, Trump won the electoral college in the election and was duly elected as the next president of the United States. Trump officially won 304 votes. Secretary Clinton won 227. The remaining electoral votes were for other people, many of whom did not even run.

 

The issue with Lewis saying Trump is not legitimate is that we need to have faith in the basics of our republic. A majority of Americans did not vote for Trump, but the Constitution clearly states that a majority of electors actually elect the president.

 

Did Russian hacking of the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee emails hurt her? Probably. But there is no evidence that it changed the outcome of the election. It would just be speculation to say it cost Clinton the presidency, something that is not and should not be enough to take down the other candidate, even if that person is Trump.

 

The respect for the Office of the President must be upheld and protected from erosion. That also includes being protected from the people who hold that very office. Trump has used his office in the past two weeks to push his agenda. It’s up to anyone who opposes his agenda — a majority of Americans — to push back and fight for what they believe in.

 

It would be unfair to not mention Trump’s hypocrisy in all this. Trump himself called into question President Barack Obama’s birthplace. He even sent a “team of investigators” in 2011 to look into the issue. They came back with no credible evidence.

 

I voted for Clinton. But I would stand and shake the hand of Trump if he were to walk into the room I am in right now. While I do not agree with all his ideas, it’s important to respect the office and idea of the president. Undermining the president, instead of peacefully demonstrating will hurt all of us down the road.