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This is John Lewis. Because of something he did a very long time ago, he’s better than you. He is above common courtesy and civility. He can insult you. He could poison puppies. He could even kill you. And you are not allowed to dare question any of it. Well, over the weekend he picked a fight with Donald Trump. Trump had the temerity to respond and now Lewis wallows in victimhood.

Lewis did something admirable fifty years ago and has been living off of it ever since. Lewis uses it as a shield when he picks fights. He uses it as a shield when he hurls insults. He retreats to it after he throws stones.

Thing is, this was about one thing- money.

John Lewis cast the first stone when he called Trump’s Presidency illegitimate.

Democratic Rep. John Lewis (Ga.) said in an interview that he does not consider President-elect Donald Trump to be a legitimate president. In a preview clip of an interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd set to air Sunday on “Meet the Press,” Lewis said his view on Trump’s presidency is attributed to Russian meddling in the presidential election, which he called a “conspiracy.” When Todd asked Lewis if he planned to try work with Trump to pass legislation, Lewis said he believes in forgiveness but that Trump is not legitimate. “It’s going to be very difficult,” Lewis said. “I don’t see this president-elect as a legitimate president.” Todd asked Lewis to explain his position. “I think the Russians participated in helping this man get elected, and they have destroyed the candidacy of Hillary Clinton,” Lewis said.

He offered not a “smidgen” of evidence for this assertion, of course, but let’s be clear. He started it. Trump being Trump, he fired back:

Trump’s responding set off a flurry of harrumphs and what I want to point out is the manner in which they are characterized:

Policy.Mic

Donald Trump just attacked civil rights hero John Lewis on Twitter

And there’s lots more

Trump blasts civil rights icon John Lewis in Twitter attack

Trump Attacks Rep. Lewis, Who Said He Wasn’t ‘Legitimate President’

Disappointingly, Michael Steele jumped on Trump:

“John Lewis has a walk that very few people in this country – least of all Donald Trump – have ever walked. So you have to respect that and pay attention to that in a real sense,” he added.

True, but few remember that Donald Trump was the recipient of the Ellis Island Award and he was in some pretty good company:

Lewis’s history doesn’t give him the right to unfairly assault a President-elect. Trump broke no laws. He did not cheat. And Trump did not start this fight. He was attacked by Lewis. Fighting back seems to be out of order for Republicans. But let’s get to the motivations of the attack.

Delegitimize Trump and 2. Money.

Seemingly within seconds, democrats were fund raising off the incident, complete with the race card:

Democrats are fundraising off of comments made by President-elect Donald Trump attacking Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.). In an email sent Saturday night with the subject line “what Donald Trump said,” the Georgia Democrat wrote that the president-elect attacked him on Twitter and said he was “all talk” and “no action.” “I’ve been beaten bloody, tear-gassed, fighting for what’s right for America. I’ve marched at Selma with Dr. King. Sometimes that’s what it takes to move our country in the right direction,” Lewis said in the email. “We refuse to stop now. We’re not done fighting for progress. We’re ready for the next four years.”

Lewis then asked people to chip in to help the Democrats “stand up to injustice.”

When John Lewis was beaten marching for civil rights, he was beaten by democrats. There’s this little nugget

He went on to say the majority of Americans thinks the country is headed in the wrong direction. He said he remembers when segregation was “the law of the land that ordered our society in the Deep South.”

Yes, Americans do think the country is going in the wrong direction- under obama, that is. Lewis continues to profit from his assault on Trump:

Hours after President-elect Donald Trump took to Twitter to blast civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis, labeling the Democrat’s Atlanta district as a “crime infested” area that is in “horrible shape,” Lewis’ 1999 memoir sold out on Amazon.

As of Saturday evening, the retailer was temporarily out of stock of Lewis’ 1999 biography, “Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement.”

Again, the fact that Lewis cast the first stone is completely ignored. It is no coincidence that Lewis chose Martin Luther King weekend to pick a fight with Donald Trump. The purpose is now clear. I have the greatest respect for what Lewis did 50 years ago, but these actions today are nothing but purely cynical politics and he is not immune to criticism.

Politics ain’t beanbag.