Twitter Explodes After Trump Aide Claims GOP Never Questioned Obama’s Legitimacy

“You didn’t have Republicans questioning whether or not Obama legitimately beat John McCain in 2008,” Reince Priebus Says

In a stunning display of hypocrisy, President-elect Donald Trump’s chief of staff, Reince Priebus, claimed on Sunday that Republicans never questioned the legitimacy of President Barack Obama. 

Appearing on ABC News’ “This Week,” Priebus was responding to Congressman John Lewis’ recent remarks, in which he said Trump will not be a legitimate president because Russia hacked the election to help him win. Trump responded by attacking Lewis, a civil rights icon, on Twitter, sparking massive outrage. 

Trump, of course, was the main architect of the racist lie known as the birther movement, which claimed Obama was born in Kenya and therefore not a legitimate president. Nevertheless, Priebus called Lewis’ remarks “insanity” and “irresponsible,” even demanding that Obama “step up” and put a stop to claims that Trump isn’t legitimate. 

“I think the administration can do a lot of good by telling folks that are on the Republican side of the aisle, ‘Look, we may have lost the election on the Democratic side, but it’s time to come together,'” Priebus said. “You didn’t have Republicans questioning whether or not Obama legitimately beat John McCain in 2008.” 

On NBC’s “Meet The Press,” Chuck Todd reminded Priebus that Trump “spent five years questioning Obama’s legitimacy.” 

“Do you understand why there are going to be some who look at your criticism of John Lewis and say, that’s hypocritical coming from somebody who works for Donald Trump?” Todd said. 

Priebus eventually responded by calling the birther movement “an old argument about where the President was born,” adding that it “has nothing to do with whether or not, in a democracy in the United States, whether Donald Trump won the election and whether it was legitimate.” 

Here’s how Twitter responded.