January 21, 2019: Vice President Pence Compares Trump to Martin Luther King Jr. - Really, He Did

 

1/21/19: Day 31 of the government shutdown. At three minutes after midnight, President Twitter Thumbs ends one day and begins the next with a tweet. He’s thinking about the sacrifices Martin Luther King Jr. made... 

Oh, hell, no. 

He’s thinking about himself, a process which consumes his every waking moment, because he’s a pathetic human being, with few real friends. “‘No President in modern times has kept more promises than Donald Trump!’” he tweets with childish joy. “Thank you Bill Bennett @SteveHiltonx.” 

No interracial checker-playing was allowed.

 

Pence says Trump is just like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

If you missed it, perhaps a ringing endorsement offered up by VP Pence, will help improve the president’s mood. On Face the Nation Sunday morning, Pence looked at what his boss had done, holding DACA kids hostage, making hundreds of thousands of federal workers go without pay, a history of insulting minorities, and said Donald J. Trump is just like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

“Honestly, you know,” he told Margaret Brennan, the host of the show, 

…the hearts and minds of the American people today are thinking a lot about it being the weekend we are remembering the life and the work of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. One of my favorite quotes from Dr. King was, “Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy.”

 

King, he added, inspired us to change. “You think of how he changed America, he inspired us to change through the legislative process, to become a more perfect union.” Pence paused to offer up a beatific smile. “That’s exactly what President Trump is calling on the Congress to do, come to the table in a spirit of good faith.” 

Luckily, time ran out before the VP could continue fawning, because he was just getting warmed up. 

“Trump is a hero to all patriotic Americans,” Pence would have claimed, “like Audie Murphy during World War II and Alvin York during World War I, except they didn’t have debilitating bone spurs.” 

“The president,” he’d add, “is leading the nation to greatness again, like George Washington crossing the Delaware, like Teddy Roosevelt taking on the Robber Barons, only if Teddy were on the side of the Robber Barons.” 

There’d be only one way to stop Vice President Jesus from going on and on about the greatness of his boss. His host would have had to hit him upside the head with a frying pan.

 

* 

TRUMP AND THE VP did make a trip to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in D.C. to “honor” his memory. 

They stayed six whole minutes. Trump gave a “speech” to a handful of surprised tourists and failed to mention Dr. King. 

 

REALITY CHECK: This is what Dr. King was fighting about: the lynching (Emmett Till, in 1955), the rioting at Old Miss (in 1962), when an African American tried to enroll, George Wallace blocking the door to the University of Alabama (1963), the murder of three civil rights activists trying to register African Americans to vote (1964) and the belated decision of the U.S. Supreme Court (1967), making interracial marriage legal. That doesn’t include battling Jim Crow laws that created separate blood banks, and separated the races in theaters, at swimming pools, in sports and even made interracial chess and checker-playing crimes. 

January 17, 2020: "The Arc of the Moral Universe" Can Be Bent Backward

 

1/17/20: Humanity alternately advances and retreats. With the governor’s house and legislature in Virginia controlled by Democrats for the first time in years, and new laws to restrict gun rights under consideration, a pro-gun rally is scheduled in Richmond on Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day. 

Leaving aside discussion of the Second Amendment, neo-Nazi groups are calling for their forces to converge on Richmond and stir up as much trouble as possible.

 

____________________ 

Bending the “arc of the moral universe” backward.

____________________

 

 

According to The New York Times extremists have been calling the planned gathering the “boogaloo.” In the white supremacist lexicon, that would be any event that might hasten the onset of a race war.

 

“The arc of the moral universe is long,” Dr. King once famously said, “but it bends toward justice.” Unfortunately, we need to remember that groups and individuals are often set on bending it backward. The F.B.I. recently arrested three members of a neo-Nazi group, The Base. The Times notes, “One of the men, Patrik J. Mathews, 27, a main recruiter for the group, entered the United States illegally from Canada….He was arrested along with Brian M. Lemley Jr., 33, and William G. Bilbrough IV, 19.” Mathews “was trained as a combat engineer and is considered an expert in explosives. The Canadian Army discharged him after his ties to white supremacists surfaced.” 

So, proof, I guess, that Trump is right. We do need a border wall. Then, again, Lemley is a U.S. Army veteran. So, forget the wall. 

And Mathews is Canadian, so, wrong border.

Mathews.

 

The F.B.I. also arrested Richard Tobin, a young New Jersey man, last November. Tobin was said to have been recruiting for The Base, luring recruits with promises they might get to kill black people with machetes.

 

* 

IN WORLD NEWS, bowing to climate change realities, the German government says it will phase out coal by 2038. A total of $44.5 billion will be set aside to compensate affected workers and companies.

BLOGGER’S NOTE (4/19/22): When I checked back for information, I learned that in November 2021, Tobin was sentenced to spend one year and one day in a federal prison for his plotting. I also discovered that he had hoped to kill Jews, as well as African Americans. 

Mathews and Lemley Jr. had already been sentenced, in October, to spend nine years in prison. In a separate trial, Bilbrough was sentenced to five years behind bars. One of their ideas had been to break Dylan Roof, the infamous Charleston, S.C. church shooter, out of jail. Now they can join him. In federal court, Mathews told the judge: 

“I’m not someone who hurts people. I’m not a mean person,” he said.

 

“I try to be people’s friends. I picked the wrong set of friends to do that. It’s one thing to be a friend, be a buddy. It’s another to get involved in illegal activity. It’s insane and all my fault.”

 

Moral of the story: Don’t pick neo-Nazis friends.

Vice President Goes Full-Suck-Up Mode: Compares Trump to MLK Jr.

The vice president decides fawning praise is just what the boss needs.

1/21/19: Day 31 of the shutdown begins. At three minutes after midnight, President Twitter Thumbs ends one day and begins the next with a tweet. He’s thinking about the sacrifices Martin Luther King Jr. made...

Oh, hell, no.

He’s thinking about himself—a process which consumes his every waking moment, because he’s a sad man, with few friends.

“‘No President in modern times has kept more promises than Donald Trump!’” he tweets with childish joy. “Thank you Bill Bennett @SteveHiltonx.”

Pence says Trump is just like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

And if you missed it, perhaps a ringing endorsement, offered up by VP Pence, helped improve the president’s mood for the day. On Face the Nation Sunday morning, Pence looked at what his boss had done— holding DACA kids hostage—making hundreds of thousands of federal workers go without pay—a history of insulting minorities at every turn—and said, you know, Donald J. Trump is just like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“Honestly, you know,” he told Margaret Brennan, the host of the show,

…the hearts and minds of the American people today are thinking a lot about it being the weekend we are remembering the life and the work of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. One of my favorite quotes from Dr. King was, “Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy.”

King, he added, “inspired us to change.” “You think of how he changed America, he inspired us to change through the legislative process, to become a more perfect union.” Pence paused to offer up a beatific smile before closing his stirring oration with a flourish. “That’s exactly what President Trump is calling on the Congress to do, come to the table in a spirit of good faith.”

*

LUCKILY, TIME RAN OUT before the VP could continue fawning, because he was just getting warmed up. I mean, we’ve seen this kowtowing before (see link below).

If he had had the chance he would have gone: “Donald J. Trump is to coaching Americans to strive for greatness as Bill Belichick is to getting the Patriots to the Super Bowl every year.”

There would have been no stopping the fool. “Trump is a hero to all patriotic Americans,” he would have said, “like Audie Murphy during World War II and Alvin York during World War I, if they had debilitating bone spurs.”

What Pence would do would be grovel verbally at Trump’s feet. “The president,” he’d add, “is leading the nation to greatness again, like George Washington crossing the Delaware, like Teddy Roosevelt taking on the Robber Barons, only if Teddy was on the other side, handing out tax breaks.”

“Trump,” Pence would insist in full suck-up mode, “could star as a male stripper, he’s so cut and well-built. If he grabbed Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez—or even Pelosi by the p-word—they’d both get a thrill.”

(Pence wouldn’t use the p-word. “Mother” would not be pleased if he dared.)

There’d be only one way to stop Vice President Pence from going on and on about the greatness of his boss. Someone would have to hit him upside the head with an iron frying pan.

POSTSCRIPT: The president and VP did make a trip to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in D.C. to “honor” his memory.

They stayed roughly six minutes and Trump gave a “speech” to no one in particular and failed to mention Dr. King by name.

Trump puts more effort into tweeting than that. 

As one African-American veteran put it on Twitter (I forgot to take down the exact quote): Trump might as well have driven past the Memorial and thrown the wreath out the window without bothering to stop.

And, in checking YouTube for a film clip, I came across this old one, where another Trump stooge compared Trump to MLK on health care.

You cannot make this up.

More of a reality check, below: This is what Dr. King was fighting about: the lynching (Emmett Till in 1955, for example), the riot at Old Miss in 1962, when an African American tried to enroll, George Wallace blocking the door to the University of Alabama the following year, the murder of three civil rights activists trying to register African Americans to vote in 1964, and the belated decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967, allowing interracial marriage to finally become legal.

That doesn’t include the fight to get African Americans into most schools, battles over Jim Crow blood banks, theater seats, swimming pools, sporting events and even laws banning the playing of interracial checkers. 

Martin Luther King Jr. fought against this:
Rosa Parks being arrested for illegal sitting.

And this...

And this...

And for this.