In 2017, Representative John Lewis (D., Ga.) said that he didn’t see President-elect Donald Trump as a “legitimate president.” Newt Gingrich is now saying the same thing about President-elect Joe Biden. Lewis argued that Russian interference in the 2016 election made Trump illegitimate. Gingrich argues that the Left’s unfairness toward Trump over the last four years, including Lewis’s boycott of Trump’s inauguration, justifies his refusal to recognize Biden now. Gingrich also throws in some (false) allegations about the conduct of the election.
In both cases, though, there is something pitiful about the gesture. Lewis’s refusal to attend Trump’s inauguration didn’t make Trump any less the president. Biden will be president, too, whether or not Gingrich recognizes it. His recognition isn’t necessary for the system to function.
And he’s not serious about it anyway, any more than Lewis was. Is he calling for an armed insurrection against the illegitimate president? For the Armed Forces to ignore any commands Biden gives after January 20? Is he saying he won’t consider himself by any legislation Biden signs into law?
No, no, and no. He’s not even foreclosing the possibility of supporting bipartisan legislative deals over the next four years. As in the case of the late Representative Lewis, he doesn’t really mean anything except that he’s mad.