President Donald Trump made a surprise trip to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial on Monday to honor the civil rights leader.
READ MORE: Concerns of public safety prompt cancellation of annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day vigil
Hours before Trump flew to Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Summit, he joined Vice President Mike Pence at the National Mall to visit King’s monument. The White House shared a video of Trump’s visit to his Twitter page.
#MLKDay pic.twitter.com/ZCrkxtlQjb
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 21, 2020
Kellyanne Conway, who serves as counselor to Trump, debriefed reporters on the visit and said that Trump “agrees with many of the things that Dr. Martin Luther King stood for and agreed with for many years, including unity and equality,” reported CNN.
Conway also brought up Trump’s impeachment proceedings and implied that King would not be happy.
“When you see the articles of impeachment that came out, I don’t think it was within Dr. King’s vision to have Americans dragged through a process where the President is not going to be removed from office, is not being charged with bribery, extortion, high crimes or misdemeanors,” Conway said, according to CNN. “And I think that anybody who cares about ‘and justice for all’ — today or any day of the year — will appreciate the fact that the President now will have a full-throttle defense on the facts. And everybody should have that.”
Trump took to Twitter to point out that the King holiday falls on Jan. 20, the same day he took office three years ago.
“It was exactly three years ago today, January 20, 2017, that I was sworn into office. So appropriate that today is also MLK jr DAY. African-American Unemployment is the LOWEST in the history of our Country, by far. Also, best Poverty, Youth, and Employment numbers, ever. Great!” Trump tweeted.
It was exactly three years ago today, January 20, 2017, that I was sworn into office. So appropriate that today is also MLK jr DAY. African-American Unemployment is the LOWEST in the history of our Country, by far. Also, best Poverty, Youth, and Employment numbers, ever. Great!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2020
Somehow the president was able to salute Dr. King and big up himself, somehow connecting himself with “The Dreamers” regal legacy. Twitter was not letting that slip by without a quick reminder of far a distance 45’s commitment to justice and King’s legacy is from one another.
hey remember when you and your Klansman father were fined by the federal government in 1973 for refusing to rent any of your crappy apartments to black people? good times, right? now what were you saying about Martin Luther King my dude
— Jeff Tiedrich (@itsJeffTiedrich) January 20, 2020
Traditionally, U.S. presidents spend the King holiday with their sleeves rolled up, taking part in service projects to commemorate the “day of service.” No service projects are on Trump’s calendar, according to CNN. U.S. presidents have typically observed the holiday publicly, making remarks or attending events honoring the day.
While not doing any of those things, Trump continued his own tradition. This is not his first MLK Day at the memorial, he visited it last year also.
Meanwhile, Black Twitter had plenty to say about a tweet from the FBI honoring King.
Today, the FBI honors the life and work of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. A quote from Dr. King is etched in stone at the FBI Academy’s reflection garden in Quantico as a reminder to all students and FBI employees: “The time is always right to do what is right.” #MLKDay pic.twitter.com/UKMLAAZw5w
— FBI (@FBI) January 20, 2020
“Today, the FBI honors the life and work of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. A quote from Dr. King is etched in stone at the FBI Academy’s reflection garden in Quantico as a reminder to all students and FBI employees: “The time is always right to do what is right,” the FBI tweet reads. It ends with the hashtag #MLKDay.
READ MORE: Marc Lamont Hill slams Trump surrogate as ‘mediocre Negro’
“Oh really?” pondered clap-back king and Temple University Professor Marc Lamont Hill.
“Your headquarters is named after J. Edgar Hoover, who used all of his resources to not only destroy King’s reputation, but to get him to kill himself. If you want to “do what is right,” you should denounce Hoover’s attacks on The Black Freedom Movement and rename the building,” Hill tweeted in response.
Your headquarters is named after J. Edgar Hoover, who used all of his resources to not only destroy King’s reputation, but to get him to kill himself. If you want to “do what is right,” you should denounce Hoover’s attacks on The Black Freedom Movement and rename the building. https://t.co/Buxsq4nQne
— Marc Lamont Hill (@marclamonthill) January 20, 2020
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