Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) took note of Martin Luther King Day Monday by tweeting that if civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was alive today he would “be marching not only for civil rights & protecting voting rights, but to urge Members of Congress to accept their responsibility to save the U.S. from a dangerous man who has no respect for our Constitution & no concern for strengthening our democracy.”
She claimed that Martin Luther King Jr. would’ve encouraged everyone “to march for the impeachment of Donald Trump.”
If MLK was alive today, he'd be marching not only for civil rights & protecting voting rights, but to urge Members of Congress to accept their responsibility to save the U.S. from a dangerous man who has no respect for our Constitution & no concern for strengthening our democracy
— Maxine Waters (@RepMaxineWaters) January 15, 2018
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would have encouraged every responsible human being to march for justice, to march for peace, and most of all, to march for the impeachment of Donald Trump. #ThankYouMLK50
— Maxine Waters (@RepMaxineWaters) January 15, 2018
Rep. Waters has been calling for President Trump’s impeachment since before he was even sworn in as president.
Martin Luther King Jr.’s niece Alveda King, however, was supportive of President Trump. In an appearance on Fox on Saturday, she defended him against claims that he was racist.
“Racism is just a word that’s being bandied and thrown about and thrown at the president, in my opinion, unjustly,” King said. “President Trump is not a racist.”
She pointed to her own experience working with President Trump, saying he has acknowledged her uncle’s legacy.
“I’ve been with the president recently quite a bit, and when he signed the legislation [proclamation] making the historic site, Martin Luther King site, in Atlanta, Georgia a national park,” she said. “It was introduced by Congressman John Lewis, and that, believe it or not is one thing the two of them did together.”
“But what is so outrageous,” she said, “to call a man a racist, who continues to acknowledge the significant work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Reverend, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., my uncle, in a positive way. And he puts his money where his mouth is. He puts his energy behind it.”