“Illegitimate” — Too Strong A Word?

Fred Campbell:  “You wrote that Martin Luther King, Jr. ‘would have been appalled today at the illegitimacy of our incoming president.’  You know this is not true.  You are acting no better than the birthers that tried to discredit Obama.  I voted for Hillary as well but we have to admit we lost.  There are only certain ways Trump would be an illegitimate president: (1) He is not qualified.  Although he appears to be a pompous ass, he certainly meets the qualifications set out in the Constitution.  (2) Voting was rigged.  There have been no credible accusations that any ballots were tampered or any precincts hacked.  (3)  You can hate on the Electoral College all you want but it’s laid out in black and white print. . . . You wrote several columns throughout the last eight years ripping into people for attacking and trying to delegitimize our President.  Now you are doing the same.  I don’t like it either but it’s time to fight his policies and stop whining.”

☞ I totally agree on #1, #2, and #3 and don’t think I said otherwise. But I disagree that John Lewis is (or I am) acting no better than the birthers who tried to discredit Obama.

Leading the charge to delegitimize Obama for being born in Kenya — based on NOTHING credible and with NO practical worldwide consequence even if it HAD been true — is different from raising alarms with regard to a sustained, coordinated, unprecedented attack on our democracy by ex-KGB agents that it now seems, based on both circumstantial evidence and some serious albeit not yet confirmed investigative work, Trump may even have been aware of, that could destabilize the world order.

No?

That said, unless or until he is impeached or resigns, he will be our president and we should all hope for his success — I do — and support initiatives he may undertake that we believe are constructive.  I disagree with my friends who argue we should block essentially everything he tries to do — even things we previously supported — as the Republicans did with Obama. As is well known, this was their explicit strategy to try to keep Obama from having a successful presidency.)  First of all, it is a horrible, virtually treasonous thing to do, if you ask me, flouting the will of the people and needlessly hurting the entire country.  But second, we Democrats would just  not be very good at it.  Where we failed miserably at directing the nation’s justifiable anger over Washington’s gridlock at the G.O.P., where it belonged, does anyone doubt the skill and impact with which Trump and the Republicans would — rightly — pin the blame on Democrats?

One can fairly argue, I think, as Fred does above, that “illegitimacy” is the wrong word to use. Martin Luther King, Jr., might well have chosen more judicious words, perhaps quoting exclusively from Republicans in characterizing the President elect.  But however he would have expressed himself, I do think he would not have been silent.  And I do think he would have been appalled.

Meanwhile: the beat goes on. Air Transat To Test Taxiing System That Could Save Costs, Bring Down Emissions.