If you thought the petty grievances of the left could not get any more trivial, think again.

High on outrage but low on substance, More than 40 Democrats have announced that they will not attend President-elect Trump’s inauguration. After calling for a recount, trying to change the Electoral College vote, and smearing Trump with false intelligence information, liberals will now sit on the sidelines scowling like a third-string quarterback whose talents are more suited for the bench.

Congressman John Lewis spearheaded the effort, calling Trump an illegitimate president and suggested that “the Russians participated in helping this man get elected, and they helped destroy the candidacy of Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonBarr criticizes DOJ in speech declaring all agency power 'is invested in the attorney general' Virginia Democrat blasts Trump's 'appalling' remark about COVID-19 deaths in 'blue states' The Hill's Campaign Report: Biden asks if public can trust vaccine from Trump ahead of Election Day | Oklahoma health officials raised red flags before Trump rally MORE.” Never mind the fact that President Obama himself said, “[T]he votes that were cast were counted, they were counted appropriately.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Trump issued a fairly mild response to Lewis’s off-base partisanship: “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 the election results. All talk, talk, talk – no action or results. Sad!”

In true form, the media was apoplectic. The headlines screamed, “Trump disparages John Lewis! Trump rips John Lewis! Trump slams John Lewis!” Using every synonym in the thesaurus they could find for the word “attack,” the media reverse-characterized the altercation between Lewis and Trump.

To be clear, Trump did not attack Lewis. Lewis attacked Trump by falsely and erroneously calling him illegitimate. Trump did not respond with ad hominem labels but legitimate substantive critiques of a sitting congressman’s record.

But liberals quickly pounced on Trump with faux outrage. How dare Trump critique the political record of a civil rights icon? In the view of leftists, Lewis’ valiant work on behalf of civil rights in the 1960s makes him immune from accountability to the people in Georgia’s 5th District who elected him.

On the contrary, while we ought to respect and commend Lewis for his fight for equality, we in no way have to cede political accountability. Though the liberal fact checkers will tell you otherwise, Trump accurately pointed to the crime problems in Lewis’ district. Atlanta is ranked 14 in the list of U.S. cities with the worst violent crime.

There was also the time that Lewis and his Democratic counterparts boycotted the inauguration of President Bush, claiming that Bush was not “the true elected president.” Many Democrats cry illegitimacy whenever the political outcome does not fit their liberal agenda.

Ironically, Lewis’s boycott of Trump’s inauguration comes at the same time Martin Luther King Jr.’s niece, Alveda King, announced, “I voted for Mr. Trump, [but] my confidence remains in God, for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” And the same day that Martin Luther King Jr.’s son took the time to come to Trump Tower and meet with the president-elect, acknowledging that he believes Trump’s intent is to reach out to all Americans.

But as the King family calls for unity amid an intensely hot partisan climate, many Democrats insist on division. This should come as no surprise, though, because for some Democrats, party comes before country.

Kayleigh McEnany is a Donald Trump Donald John TrumpBarr criticizes DOJ in speech declaring all agency power 'is invested in the attorney general' Military leaders asked about using heat ray on protesters outside White House: report Powell warns failure to reach COVID-19 deal could 'scar and damage' economy MORE supporter. She is a CNN political commentator who recently received her Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School. She graduated from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and also studied politics at Oxford University .

The views of Contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill.