Rep John Lewis: Trump Is Causing a ‘Growing Sense of Hopelessness’ in America

Sunday on MSNBC’s “PoliticsNation,” Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) said President Donald Trump was causing a “growing sense of hopelessness today in America.”

Partial transcript as follows:

SHARPTON: How do you, John Lewis, the civil rights icon, see race in America today under Donald Trump?

LEWIS: Well, I tell you this, you’re right. I grew up in a time when President Kennedy was president I had an opportunity to meet with him on two occasions, to meet with President Johnson on two occasions, to meet with every single president since President Kennedy. There was a great sense of hope, a greater sense of optimism. And there is a growing sense of hopelessness today in America. I run into people saying, ‘Congressman, I feel so down.’ I say ‘don’t be down.’ They say ‘I need a hug.’ I say ‘I need a hug too.’ We have to give people hope. We have to be going someplace. We can’t go backward.

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