Trump slams civil rights icon over remarks

President-elect Donald Trump began a long holiday weekend that honours slain black civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr by blasting another African-American activist and politician who said he doesn’t see Trump as a “legitimate president”.Democratic Representative John Lewis, of Georgia, had said on a segment of Meet the Press released by NBC on Friday that he thought hacking by Russians had helped Trump, a Republican, get elected in November.US intelligence organisations have accused Russia of cyber attacks on the Democratic National Committee and distributing hacked e-mails from senior Clinton aides in an effort to influence the US election.Lewis said that he does not plan to attend Trump’s January 20 inauguration, the first time he’d missed such an event since being elected to the House in 1986.Lewis, who represents a district in the southern state of Georgia that includes Atlanta and surrounding areas, was the most high-profile Democratic lawmaker to boycott Trump’s inauguration.At least eight House Democrats have publicly stated they will not be attending Trump’s swearing-in at the US Capitol next Friday, with several indicating their absence will be an act of political protest.Yesterday Trump tweeted that Lewis was falsely complaining about election results and instead “should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime infested)”.“All talk, talk, talk – no action or results. Sad!” Trump tweeted.Lewis, who has been a civil rights leader for more than half a century, was beaten by police during a march he helped lead in 1965 in Selma, Alabama, drawing attention to hurdles for blacks to vote.He protested alongside King that day and on other occasions.“I believe in forgiveness,” Lewis said in the segment about Trump.“I believe in trying to work with people,” Lewis said. “It’s going to be very difficult. I don’t see this president-elect as a legitimate president.”Supporters of Trump see him as a brash person who tells things as they are.The president-elect’s comments about Lewis came ahead of an anti-Trump march in Washington headed by the Reverend Al Sharpton.The protest by about 2,000 marchers kicked off a week of rallies planned by dozens of groups against Trump before, during and after the inauguration.DisruptJ20, which is working with Black Lives Matter and other protest groups, said they are planning to disrupt balls celebrating the inauguration in Washington.Trump won the presidency with less support from black and Hispanic voters than any president in the last 40 years, only 8% and 28% respectively, polling data has showed.Several of Trump’s fellow Republicans criticised his tweet.Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska tweeted that “John Lewis and his ‘talk’ have changed the world”.Neoconservative critic Bill Kristol tweeted: “It’s telling, I’m afraid, that Donald Trump treats (Russian President) Vladimir Putin with more respect than he does John Lewis.”