Former President Donald Trump is known for making grandiose proclamations, but his comments on Tuesday night at Mar-a-Lago might catch a lot of Black people off guard.
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During the joint campaign event with North Carolina Lt. Governor Mark Robinson, Trump compared the gubernatorial candidate to our most famous Civil Rights icon. “First, it was the voice,” Trump said about Robinson. “I said, ‘That voice is good.’” He added, “And then, I said, ‘You know what, I swear, I think you’re better than Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’”
Apparently, Robinson didn’t love the comparison. Trump shared, “I wasn’t sure if he was happy about that because Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was great. And I think he didn’t like that comparison, but he accepted it.”
Now, you’re probably thinking: Robinson didn’t want to be compared to such an incredible icon because he’s humble. But the Lt. Gov’s previous comments on the Civil Rights Movement provide an alternative (less generous) explanation.
During a podcast interview in 2018, Robinson said the Civil Rights Movement was a “communist plot to subvert capitalism.” He also said, “so many freedoms were lost during the Civil Rights Movement that shouldn’t have been lost.” So he’s not exactly a fan of Dr. King’s work.
Facebook posts from an account that appears to belong to North Carolina Lt. Gov. also suggest that Robinson just might have a problem with his own people.
“Someone asked me if I considered myself part of the ‘African-American’ community. I told them NO!” reads a Facebook post. “They asked me why and I said, ‘Why would I want to be part of a “community” that devalues it’s fathers, overburdens it’s mothers, and murders its children by the millions? Why would I want to be part of a “community” that sucks from the putrid tit of the government and then complains about getting sour milk?’”
The post and Robinson’s comments on the podcast were first reported on by WUNC North Carolina Public Radio.
“It’s bad enough Donald Trump endorsed and campaigned alongside Mark Robinson, a notorious extremist who disparaged the Black community and trashed the Civil Rights Movement,” said DNC National Press Secretary Sarafina Chitika, in a statement, “but now he’s bringing him back out on the campaign trail. When Trump said that Robinson – a man who claims the Civil Rights Movement was a shadowy subplot to ‘subvert capitalism’ that made Black Americans worse off – is ‘better than Dr. Martin Luther King,’ he insulted and disrespected generations of Black Americans who have fought tirelessly for their rights.”
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