The Slatest

Maine Gov. LePage Says Civil Rights Hero John Lewis Should Thank GOP for Ending Slavery

Maine Gov. Paul LePage greets the crowd before a Donald Trump speech on Aug. 4 in Portland, Maine.

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Paul LePage, the half-cocked uncle who always ruins Thanksgiving and also happens to be the Republican governor of Maine, tells it like he sees it, and how he sees it is usually a bit racist. Sometimes more than a bit. That makes him a hero to a handful who, like the two-term governor, are pretty fired up to, at last, take their bigotry out for a spin in the new Trump-infused America where acts of racism are no longer racist.

It will not surprise you that LePage is a Trump guy. And with Trump’s looming presidency, LePage, now completely freed from any semblance of the previously burdensome restriction on being despicable out loud, had this to say to a local Maine radio station about civil rights icon and Georgia congressman John Lewis, who has tangled with President-elect Trump ahead of his Inauguration.

How about John Lewis last week? Criticizing the president. You know, I will just say this. John Lewis ought to look at history. It was Abraham Lincoln that freed the slaves. It was Rutherford B. Hayes and Ulysses S. Grant that fought against Jim Crow laws. A simple ‘thank you’ would suffice.

Way to go, Maine.