Hunter S. Thompson once dedicated a collection of his writing this way: "To Richard Milhous Nixon, who never let me down."
Thompson, of course, hated Nixon and savaged him relentlessly for years. The dedication amounted to a tongue in cheek thank you for all the ripe material the corrupt and ultimately disgraced president provided him with.
Now it would seem we have another man entering the White House who will, never let us down.
Friday, Georgia congressman John Lewis taped a segment for Sunday's edition of NBC's, "Meet the Press." During his interview he told host Chuck Todd he would not be attending the inauguration of Donald Trump next Friday. Lewis, who has spent 30 years in the house, said it would be the first inaugural ceremony he has skipped during his time in office. He also told Todd the reason he'd be absent is because he considers Trump's coming presidency, "illegitimate." He explained he feels that way because of Russian interference in the November election.
This being the 21st century, Lewis' interview hit the internet and reached the president elect almost immediately after he gave it.
In the following few hours Donald J. Trump had three choices. One, he could respond in a measured tone, disagreeing with the congressman's opinion in a firm, yet civilized manner. In other words he could be presidential. Two, he could say nothing at all. Hey, let's face it, Don Trump is going to be sworn in as President of the United States on Friday whether John Lewis is there, or not, so why give the man a second thought. Or, finally, Trump could be--well--his usual petty and brute stupid self.
It didn't take long for us to figure out which of those paths El Don would take. This morning at 6:50am and again at 7:07am he sent out two tweets. When run end to end they read:
"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 election results. All talk, talk, talk--no action, or results. Sad!"
One of the first push backs to the Trump tweets was a social media post from a wag who included a Chamber of Commerce quality photo of Atlanta's skyline. The text read, "The hell scape of John Lewis' district."
Yeah, it seems Don took it for granted Lewis' home turf is some sort of southern fried monster slum where the natives are running completely amok and the infra structure is collapsing as quickly as, in his own peculiar view, America's primacy is.
What Trump apparently didn't know, or care about, is the Georgia 5th district encompasses three quarters of Atlanta, including downtown, the airport, and a few upscale suburbs including the oh so fashionable Buckhead.
Nine out of ten residents in the district have, at minimum, a high school degree. Four of ten have graduated from college. So we're not talking about an educational wasteland. Unemployment is a little over 8% and one in six people there live under the poverty line. The city ranks 14th in the nation when it comes to violent crime. Those numbers aren't great, but they're certainly not indicative of a devastated war zone which Trump painted the area to be. In short, Lewis represents a typical modern metropolitan congressional district which includes both the poor and the wildly successful.
In addition, Brother Trump chose the weekend of Martin Luther King Day to accuse Congressman Lewis of being all talk--no action, or results. He seems completely unaware Lewis was deeply involved in the civil rights movement, was arrested 45 times for his participation in it, and got his head busted open on a bridge in Selma, AL at the era's height of police violence. All that was during a time when young Donald's father was teaching him how to discriminate against African Americans who were applying for apartments at various Trump properties.
As far as results go, the passage of the voting rights act and John Lewis' very presence in the congress of the United States for the last three decades is testimony to him getting things done.
Meanwhile reports have surfaced Trump's pick for National Security advisor, Michael Flynn was on the phone with the Russian ambassador five different times the day Barack Obama levied sanctions against the Russkies for attempting to interfere with the election. After the fifth and final call, Vladimir Putin announced there wouldn't be Russian reprisals to the penalties.
It doesn't take a YouTube conspiracy theorist, to speculate why. Especially since the word is already out Trump will lift the sanctions right after he takes the oath of office. In some circles such a policy decision could be described as payment for services rendered.
Yes, thanks to Donald Trump the next four years could well be a national and global disaster. But, given what we know about him, all of us will have to admit we'll never be at a loss for words when it comes to talking about the evil fuck's lack of moral character and his policies. Indeed, in that regard, as he proved today and Thompson once said, he'll never let us down.
sic vita est
1-14-17
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