Donald Trump wants to ban Muslims from entering the United States. He separated thousands of poor families at the border and tossed kids into concentration camps. He stripped families apart and deported them by the thousands. He defended neo-Nazis and white supremacists after they killed Heather Heyer and injured scores of others. He was raised in an environment of absurd wealth, was taught no sense of personal responsibility or empathy, and tells lies from sunup to sundown. He is the epitome of white privilege and racism.
Yet, despite all of that, Vice President Mike Pence—with a straight face—appeared on CBS News’ Face the Nation on Sunday to compare Trump to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose birthday will be celebrated on Monday as a national holiday.
Pence was attempting to sell Trump’s dead-on-arrival proposal for border security and to reopen the federal government, which has been shut down for nearly a month. He talked about a “humanitarian and security crisis” at the border, which didn’t seem to be much of a crisis until Democrats took control of the House.
And somehow, in Pence’s brain, or in the brain of whoever convinced him that this ridiculous stunt was a good idea, the spreading of fear and xenophobic paranoia about immigrants seeking a better life relates to the life’s work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Folks, the gaslighting has now reached interstellar dimensions.
“I think it is an act of statesmanship on the president’s part to say, ‘Here is what I’m for.’…We believe it provides a framework for ending this impasse, securing our border, and reopening our government,” Pence said.
“I didn’t hear you say which Democrats are supporting it though,” host Margaret Brennan interrupted.
Pence dodged the question.
He continued: “I think what the American people saw the president do yesterday was say, ‘I want to set the table for us resolving this issue in a way that achieves his objectives to secure the border, end the humanitarian and security crisis, end the government shutdown, but also to bring together the Democrats’ priorities to accomplish that. That’s what the American people expect us to do.”
Then, he actually went there:
“And honestly, you know, the hearts and minds of the American people, they are thinking a lot about it being the weekend where we remember the life and work of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. One of my favorite quotes from Dr. King was [looks down at notes], ‘Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy.’”
That was a line from Dr. King’s historic “I Have a Dream” speech delivered at the Lincoln Memorial during a march on Washington in 1963. It has absolutely nothing in common with Donald Trump or his pathetic, grifting, misogynist, homophobic, and racist administration.
“You think of how he changed America,” Pence continued, referring to Dr. King. “He inspired us to change through the legislative process to become a more perfect union. That’s exactly what President Trump is calling on Congress to do: Come to the table in the spirit of good faith. We’ll secure our border and we’ll reopen the government. And we’ll move our nation forward as the president said yesterday to even a broader discussion about immigration reform in the months ahead.”
Here’s a better idea: Instead of using Dr. King’s words to justify a racist, billion-dollar grift over a nonexistent border wall, how about you just resign.
Watch (Pence’s idiotic comments start around 3:28):