WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said Saturday that he was “saddened” by the death of Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights icon that other members of his administration have hailed as a “giant” that has “changed America forever.”
“It’s sad to hear the news of civil rights hero John Lewis’s death,” Trump said on Twitter as his trailer returned to the White House from his golf course in Northern Virginia. “Melania and I pray to him and his family.”
The brief, low-key sentiment did not mention the animosity that developed between the two men when Lewis questioned the legitimacy of Trump’s 2016 election victory and the president attacked the Lewis district in Atlanta. Trump, however, is much less vocal in his tweet than others at the White House.
Honoring John Lewis: Flags reduced to part at the White House and the Capitol
Vice President Mike Pence Lewis, a “big man” and White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, praised his “incredible contributions” to the nation.
“John Lewis will be remembered as a giant of the civil rights movement whose selflessness and conviction rendered our nation into a more perfect union and his example will inspire generations of Americans,” Pence said in a statement.
Trump signed a proclamation ordering flags to fly mid-staff on Saturday, but revealed nothing about Lewis’ death until mid-afternoon. Four of his predecessors, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, as well as the leaders of Congress of both parties, did so much earlier.
Lewis, diagnosed with level IV pancreatic cancer in December, died at the age of 80.
Former presidents: Obama, Bush and lawmakers react to Rep. John Lewis
Lewis’s death comes at a sharp moment in the nation’s struggle as opposed to race relations, as Democrats have accused Trump of sizing long-standing divisions before the presidential election. As the protests continued after George Floyd’s death, Trump painted the protests with a broad brush, focusing on the violence that erupted in some cities and largely ignoring nonviolent marches.
Floyd, a black man, died in May after his neck got caught under the knee of a white Minneapolis cop.
Despite his cancer diagnosis, Lewis had shared his opinion on the protests, encouraging nonviolent protests and condemning the riots.
“I know your pain, your anger, your sense of depression and depression,” he tweeted on May 30. “Justice has been denied for too long. Riots, looting and fires are not the way. Sit down, stand up. Vote. Be constructive, not destructive.”
However, two days after that tweet, the federal government evicted nonviolent protesters from Lafayette Square, near the White House, minutes before Trump crossed the park to pose for a photo shoot at St. John’s Church. The episode was a watershed moment in Trump’s handling of occasions and prompted investigations and hearings.
After the incident, the Washington, D.C. government responded by noting that the “Black Lives Matter Plaza” protest zone portrays the organization’s call on 16th Street, not far from the White House. Lewis visited the site on June 7, the last time many others saw it in public.
More recently, Trump criticized NASCAR for its resolve to ban the demonstration of the Confederate flag on its occasions and signed an order to the federal statues, adding those honoring Confederate generals who were overthrown or vandalized.
More: Trump accuses protesters to demolish statues to ‘erase our history’ in Mount Rushmore’s speech
Trump said Friday that it would reduce a debatable federal housing standard to reduce discrimination. As he seeks to stop his erosion in the suburbs of the battlefields for his race opposite Democrat Joe Biden, Trump has said that “the suburbs will no longer be as we know them” if the rule, designed to combat housing segregation, is not weakened
While some have condemned Trump for not posting faster about Lewis’ death, others have encouraged him to walk lightly.
“As the country mourns the death of a national hero, say nothing,” California D Rep Karen Bass tweeted on Twitter. “Please don’t comment on Congressman Lewis’s life. Your press secretary issued a statement, keep it that way. Please, let us cry in peace.”
Trump left the White House Saturday to spend time on his golf course in Northern Virginia. As usual, there were a handful of supporters and groups at war who kept symptoms outdoors at the club. On Saturday, some had symptoms that caught the eye on Lewis’ legacy.
“We’re in trouble,” a sign said, images of newspapers traveling with the president, a reference to one of Lewis’s best-known quotes.
In 2017, Trump held Lewis, accusing him of being “everyone speaks Array… No action, no results,” after the congressman said he would approve Trump and Trump’s inauguration an illegitimate president because of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Lewis served for more than 3 decades in Congress and organized the 1963 march in Washington with the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“He believed that in all of us, there is a skill of wonderful courage, a preference to do the right thing, a will to love everyone and make them greater the rights God has given to dignity and respect,” Obama said in his over Lewis’s death. “And it is because he has realized the most productive of all of us that he will continue, even after his death, to serve as a beacon in this long adventure towards a more productive union.”
More: Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights icon who began pushing for racial justice in South Jim Crow, died
To say that Trump and Lewis had a controversial date would be to fall short.
“I don’t see this president-elect as a valid president,” Lewis told NBC’s “Meet the Press” a week before the January 2017 inauguration. “I think the Russians helped this man get elected and destroyed Hillary Clinton’s candidacy.”
Trump responded by tweeting an attack on Lewis’ record in Congress, saying he “spends more time repairing and helping his district, which is in a terrible state and collapsing.”
In the years that followed, Lewis refused to attend the occasions Trump planned to attend, and added the opening of a civil rights museum in Jackson, Mississippi.
“I think his presence would mock everything other people have tried to do to redeem America’s soul and make america a better place,” Lewis said in December 2017.
Trump has been criticized for his handling of the death of political enemies in the past, especially Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican who died in 2018. The White House has been heavily criticized by veterans teams and others for raising the flag for two days. after McCain’s death. A few hours later, amid the protest, the flags were lowered again.
Months later, Trump introduced a prolonged attack on McCain on one occasion designed to highlight the economy. Trump said of McCain that he “never enjoyed it much” and complained that he “didn’t” get “a” thank you “from McCain’s circle of relatives for his role in the senator’s services because of Trump. aircraft used as Air Force Two to send McCain’s frame to Washington.