CNN host Don Lemon denounced Republicans on Monday for their praise of Martin Luther King Jr. after supporting a “racist” man like President Trump.
“One Republican after another apparently hoping that you’ll forget their support for a president who used race to pit Americans against each other,” said Lemon.
Lemon then went on to quote Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” and how he lamented “shallow understanding” and “lukewarm acceptance.”
“Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection,” said King.
Lemon cast King and Trump as representing two “opposite” extremes: love and hate.
“Donald Trump created an environment where white supremacists and conspiracy theorists overran the Capitol of the United States of America. He used race to divide us from the very beginning,” Lemon said. “All of that is the opposite of what Dr. King stood for, what he died for more than 50 years ago,” he later added.
“One Republican after another apparently hoping that you’ll forget their support for a president who used race to pit Americans against each other.”
– CNN's @DonLemon discusses "empty tweets quoting Dr. King's words" by Trump allies whose record are in conflict to MLK's legacy. pic.twitter.com/T2IPQeBghO
— CNN Tonight (@CNNTonight) January 19, 2021
Earlier on Monday, “The View” co-host Sunny Hostin also scolded Republicans for their praise of Dr. King.
“We saw an insurrection in our nation’s Capitol. We saw that there are people just like Dr. King said that would much rather have white supremacy rather than this multiracial democracy that he wished for,” said Hostin. “So, I would say that in order for us to really live out his legacy, his dream, is that we must demand truth before unity. I saw today, unbelievably, in my view, Ted Cruz, Kayleigh McEnany, Ronna McDaniel, Melania Trump, quoting Dr. King, tweeting Dr. King. Those are the same people, like Melania Trump with this birther lie, Ted Cruz challenging the Electoral College. Kayleigh McEnany over and over again with her propaganda. How dare they. How dare they try to quote Dr. King on the celebration of his birthday when they enabled, enabled a racist president causing this insurrection and attack on our democracy. So while we have some progress, we just have such a long way to go.”
Lemon recently suggested Trump voters have sided with the KKK and Nazis.
“If you are on that side, you need to think about the side you are on. I am never on the side of the Klan. Principled people, conservative or liberal, never on the Klan’s side. Principled people, conservative or liberal, never on the Nazi’s side.”
“Principled people, conservative or liberal, never on the side that treats their fellow Americans as less than, that says that your fellow Americans should not exist. That says your fellow Americans should be in a concentration camp, or sides with slavery, or sides with any sort of bigotry,” Lemon added.
Related: CNN Anchor: Everyone Who Voted For Trump Sided With ‘The Klan,’ ‘Nazis,’ Rioters