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DonViejo

(60,536 posts)
Fri May 25, 2018, 08:57 AM May 2018

Steve Bannon Becomes the Latest 'No, Dr. King Is Really a Republican' Troll Monster - by Toure'


Yep—the alt-right former Trump aide is the latest to claim Martin Luther King for their side. He’d be ‘proud’ of Trump. O-kaayyyy…

TOURÉ
05.25.18 4:51 AM ET

There is not much that makes vomit rush up to the back of my throat faster than this: Steve Bannon quoting Dr. Martin Luther King. I’m nauseous just thinking about it now. On Wednesday, Bannon said in an interview on the BBC, “If you look at the polices of Donald Trump, anybody—Martin Luther King—would be proud of him, what he’s done for the black and Hispanic community for jobs.”

Yes, the Prince of Darkness said the King of Peace would be proud of The Donald. We are through the looking glass, y’all. This is absurdist gaslighting meant to twist reality into making Trump palatable to black voters. He’s using the ghost of King to somehow approve of GOP policies. The right loves to use King, to say “King would agree with us.” It’s a way of advertising to blacks and absolving themselves of racism. And it’s a tactic that truly makes me sick.

In no imaginable way would King be proud of Trump, a man whose campaign and presidency have been marked by rhetoric and policies that have led more than half of Americans to think he is racist. Trump has played to white entitlement and victimhood, he has comforted white supremacists, he has demeaned, disrespected, and dehumanized black and brown people, and he has ignored blacks in need. He is the opposite of everything King stood for. To me, when they use his name and ascribe an affinity for their policies to him, it feels like a political version of Weekend at Bernie’s, where the right holds up the dead, limp body of King, waving his soft arms around to make it look as if he supports their ideas.

But, typical of how the right uses King, Bannon’s declaration of support from King requires a hyper-reductionist vision of him. It leaves King as nothing more than a cheerleader for jobs. Surely King would notice that the black unemployment rate is at or near the lowest rate in recorded history, just under 7 percent, but it’s more than double the white unemployment rate, just over 3 percent. This is evidence of the racism King sought to battle—it stems from inequality and exacerbates it. But hey, once someone is dead you can have them say whatever you want them to.

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https://www.thedailybeast.com/steve-bannon-becomes-the-latest-no-dr-king-is-really-a-republican-troll-monster?ref=home
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Steve Bannon Becomes the Latest 'No, Dr. King Is Really a Republican' Troll Monster - by Toure' (Original Post) DonViejo May 2018 OP
Dr. King would not be part of a party that welcomes Nazis and KKK...and makes separates immigrant Demsrule86 May 2018 #1
The parties were different back then... Wounded Bear May 2018 #2

Demsrule86

(68,347 posts)
1. Dr. King would not be part of a party that welcomes Nazis and KKK...and makes separates immigrant
Fri May 25, 2018, 09:30 AM
May 2018

children from parents and losing thousands of them no doubt to human trafficers...makes detained immigrants where 'yellow' insignias... nope he would despise the GOP as all decent folks do.

Wounded Bear

(58,436 posts)
2. The parties were different back then...
Fri May 25, 2018, 10:17 AM
May 2018

Frankly, it wouldn't surprise me if MLK was a Republican in the 50's/60's. Back then, Dems were the party of Jim Crow in the South. Eisenhower was a moderate Repub by today's standard, and actually quite progressive in many ways. It wasn't until Kennedy/LBJ that the Dems became the party of civil rights.

But, it doesn't matter. King is remembered for his public stands on issues, not some outdate party label.

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