In a recent interview, Donald Trump refused to speak on the legacy of Rep. John Lewis — and it is all because Lewis skipped his inauguration back in 2017. When Axios’ Jonathan Swan asked Trump how he thinks history will remember the civil rights icon, he said, “I don’t know. I really don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know John Lewis. He chose not to come to my inauguration…I don’t, I never met John Lewis, actually, I don’t believe.”
When asked if he thought Lewis was impressive, he said, “Uh, I can’t say one way or the other. I find a lot of people impressive. I find many people not impressive."
He continued, “He didn’t come to my inauguration. He didn’t come to my State of the Union Speeches, and that’s okay, that’s his right. And again, nobody has done more for Black Americans than I have. He should have come. I think he made a big mistake. I think he should have come.”
When Swan asked, “But taking your relationship with him out of it, do you find his story impressive, what he’s done for this country?” Trump responded, “He was a person that devoted a lot of energy and a lot of heart to civil rights, but there were many others also.”