A white Georgia Republican is accusing Representative John Lewis, a Civil Rights icon, of being a “racist pig” for announcing his refusal to attend Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Tommy Hunter, a high-ranking commissioner on the Gwinnett County Board, blasted Lewis on Facebook, though he has since deleted the posts on the social media site.
“John Lewis is a racist pig,” Hunter posted on Saturday, according to a screengrab from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “There ain’t one political pundit that didn’t say on November 9 that this would be Demonrats EXACT response to Trump winning. Like I heard Rush, I believe say, Demonrats DO NOT live in reality. They believe polls were right and THE REAL VOTES were wrong. What a bunch of idiots.”
Then, on Sunday, he wrote, “Lewis’ district is drawn to keep him in power. His wins are all illegitimate.”
That last post was probably in reference to the fact that Lewis said last week that he does not consider Trump to be a “legitimate” president because of the Russian hack that affected the presidential election.
Hunter has since taken down the Facebook posts and admitted that they were “probably an overreaction out of aggravation.”
“While I am grateful for what the Congressman did in Selma and other times during the civil rights movement, you get respect by showing respect,” he told the Journal-Constitution. “He is using his fame as a way to continually divide the races and in this case standing on the very much unsubstantiated claim that the guy I voted for (Trump) is racist and only won because of Russians hacking the election — which, of course, we all know didn’t occur.”