April 13, 2017
Jeffrey Lord, a political commentator for CNN and political strategist in Pennsylvania, compared President Donald Trump and Martin Luther King Jr. while on the network's "New Day" program on Thursday morning.
“Think of President Trump as the Martin Luther King of health care,” Lord said to Symone Sanders, a CNN political commentator and former press secretary for Bernie Sanders as he ran for the Democratic presidential nomination.
“Oh, Jeffrey,” Symone Sanders responded. “Jeffrey.”
Lord, participating via Skype from Harrisburg, elaborated.
“When I was a kid, President Kennedy did not want to introduce the civil rights bill because he said it wasn’t popular, he didn’t have the votes for it, etc.,” he said. “Dr. King kept putting people in the streets in harm’s way to put the pressure on so that the bill would be introduced. That’s what finally worked.”
Lord, an avid Trump supporter who joined the Reagan administration after graduating from Franklin & Marshall College in 1973, caught flak from Symone Sanders, who said there's no comparison to be made between the two.
"Jeffrey, you do understand that Dr. King was marching for civil rights because people that looked like me were being beaten," she told Lord. "Dogs were being sicked on them. Basic human rights were being withheld from these people merely because of the color of their skin.
"So let's not equate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize winner, to the vagina-grabbing President Donald Trump."
Lord then took to Twitter, quoting MLK's famous "Letter from Birmingham Jail."
"Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate
— Jeff Lord (@realJeffreyLord) April 13, 2017
...is forced to confront the issue." MLK Letter from a Birmingham Jail.
— Jeff Lord (@realJeffreyLord) April 13, 2017
He was met with some resistance from his followers on the issue.
@realJeffreyLord Equating Trump blackmailing Democrats to MLK marching for civil rights is a new low for you! Shame on you! #resist #RESISTANCE
— Michelle ❄ (@MichelleSkime) April 13, 2017
@MichelleSkime Let MLK speak for himself on creating a crisis to force negotiation. https://t.co/40Kxigc4kd Know your history.
— Jeff Lord (@realJeffreyLord) April 13, 2017
Trump has threatened to withhold payments to insurers in hopes of getting Democrats to negotiate on a new plan, according to the Wall Street Journal.
House Republicans, fearing that their health care bill wouldn't get enough votes to pass through the Senate, pulled it in late March.
