The first National Holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. was observed in 1986. President Reagan issued a Presidential Proclamation to mark the day, as has happened every year since. Until now. For the very first time in 40 years a U.S. President has failed to issue a Proclamation for this day, something Presidents do as a matter of course for federal holidays. This is no instance of ‘oops’ or ‘I forget.’ Nor was it merely petty. The Nobel Peace Prize is in the news again – King got one and Trump hasn’t. (and never will) No, this is part of a larger Trumpian malevolence. It’s payback and personal! ‘Vengeance is MINE sayeth The Trump’ and he’s out to erase King’s legacy with it.
Don’t get me wrong. There’s a boatload of petulance involved here. But it goes beyond that. Let’s start with the here and now and this article from Meidas Touch News. which as I’ve said points out this is the first time a President hasn’t issued a MLK Day Proclamation:
At the time of publication, there is no Martin Luther King Jr. Day proclamation from Trump posted on the White House’s official website, its social media accounts, or in the Federal Register. These proclamations are usually signed days in advance of a holiday and even if Trump signed one late, his administration isn’t making the proclamation public in a timely manner. Therefore, for all intents and purposes, Trump is skipping the presidential emphasis on the MLK holiday.
The linked article does go on to note the ‘proclamations process’ seemed to be working last week. Although without any fanfare a couple were released. One was about semi-conductors. Another was about minerals (albeit no mention of Greenland) so whatever staff tends to such matters was on the job churning stuff out. One can be sure that ‘just because’ some drafts of a 2026 MLK proclamation were written and forwarded to Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. For PR reasons if nothing else she would have taken the folder into the Oval Office to show Trump, with a recommendation on which one to go with. It’s not hard to imagine the cussing out he gave her! This lack of Trump doing anything to honor King was no accident.
If anything Trump made a point of DIS-respecting King and Civil Rights. Trumpt-Dumpty did after all sign an order about ignoring Juneteenth, and saying that unlike in the past and on other federal holidays fees would not be waived at National Parks today. So hell yes Trump knew what he was doing – or rather NOT doing. Thinking about it I shouldn’t be surprised. There had long been a bust of King on a table in the Oval Office. Suddenly one day it was GONE. Trump had it taken out. It made the news but with so much other stuff kind of faded from folks minds. It was written off as racism mixed with petulance. What you’d expect from Trump.
The petulance doesn’t stop there. Some of it has barely been mentioned but damned well should be now. Let’s start with one that revealed Trump’s massively fragile ego after the sun fell on his first Inauguration Day. Remember Sean Spicer going out in a too-big for him suit ANGRILY castigating the press for saying Obama had a bigger crowd? Ten years later Trumpty’s not been able to let it go and move on. The thing is, King ASLO beat him on the crowd size thing! Even though I was very young I remember that epic “I have a dream” speech he gave from the Lincoln Memorial. This article from Buzzfeed shows images from that day, along with comparisons to Trump’s crowds. I urge you to take a look, and also take note of Trumpty’s whining lies about having drawn more people than King did.
So, there’s that. But there’s more petulance than crowd size envy of King and Obama. There’s also the whole Nobel Peace Prize thing which was ‘bigly’ news last week. Everyone talks about Trump’s jealousy that Obama was awarded the honor and he hasn’t been. For a stone cold racist (just like his KKK dad) like Trump that really burns. What doesn’t seem to come up however is King, yet another black man was awarded the prize Trump has grown to covet even more than having sex with his oldest daughter. Again I remind you of Trump’s racism and the fact that two BLACK MEN have been awarded arguably the most prestigious prize an individual can receive. No wonder he hates them both.
If you’re wondering why Trump didn’t start dissing King in his first term the answer is simple. Don’t think for one second ever transactional Trump took a look and decided if he played it right he could make enough inroads with black men in 2024 to help him get re-elected. Had he done things (a few of which I’ve mentioned)to He knew months before voting started in 2020 he was toast but as we know he was already looking ahead to 2024. ‘Downgrading’ King as an iconic figure in American history wouldn’t have allowed Trump to pull the not large but surprising number of black male votes he got in 2024. Despite Trump’s claims the margin was very thin and he needed those votes!
Yet despite what I’ve written, this is more than petulance. It’s another chapter in Trump’s ‘Book of Vengeance.’ Trump’s vindictiveness is legendary and for all his clear mental decline he’s still able to remember those who have slighted him. Without King the Civil Rights Act along with the Voting Rights Act wouldn’t have become law. Neither would another law, one about FAIR HOUSING. That law would bit Trump’s father, and him too in the ass. The feds had them dead-to-rights on discriminatory housing practices over fifty years ago. They would have been convicted and they knew it.
However white collar crimes have always been a hassle to prosecute. It takes time to lay out the case in a way juries, which are mostly made up of regular folks and not accountants and MBAs will understand. So, as is often the case with rich people the government settled and the Trumps were forced to sign a Consent Decree and accept some serious federal monitoring to ensure they didn’t go back to screwing over black people and other non-white folks. THAT cost Trump’s dad, and ultimately HIM money. Without King’s efforts and influence the Fair Housing Act likely would never have passed.
King cost the Trump Org and therefore Trump MONEY. And more than a little. That my friends is the REAL source of Trump’s ramping up of insulting King and his legacy. When activist Charlie Kirk spoke about how the Civil Rights Act was a huge mistake it was music to Trump’s ears. Trump has been all about re-writing, WHITE WASHING history ever since January 6. Right now it seems Trump believes the most he can get away with is petulant acts and finding official ways to ‘downgrade’ this holiday. But make no mistake. Trump is looking for a way to remove MLK Day as a national holiday altogether. Meidas Touch summed it up quite well:
Taken together, the absence of an MLK Day proclamation, after four decades of uninterrupted presidential recognition, represents not just a symbolic omission, but a calculated choice, a clear political statement that MLK and his fight for equality and justice and his opposition to white supremacy and bigotry have no place in Trump’s current MAGA movement.
Trump spouts hate and lies. King spoke of love and justice/equal rights for all. Trump is no more fit to have shined King’s shoes than he is Obama’s. What just KILLS him deep inside is he knows it. There are so many quotes King left to inspire us to be our better angels. I’m reminded of one that says ‘Just as darkness can’t drive out darkness and that only light can do so, Hatred can’t drive out hatred and that only love can do so.’ As with John Lewis who marched across the Edmund Pettis Bridge with King I feel shame over feeling hatred I have felt, and finding it so hard to forgive.
I know that to properly honor them both I’ll have to find a way to do so. Once again, I am reminded of my duty to try. I know others experience the same conflicting emotions. Still, around the country and the free worlds Martin Luther King Jr. is being remembered and honored. The only place where it isn’t is Trump/MAGA world. But you know what? There are a lot more of US than there are THEM. In the end, King’s vision will be the one that prevails.
Trump told us to inject bleach to battle the virulent COVID virus. King said we should inject love to battle the virulent viruses of racism and injustice in general. I say Dr. King’s prescription of love is the way to go.
Friends, I know everyone begs you for money. I promise, among all those asking for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a group of old, disabled people, except for one writer in his mid-50s. The rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the chance to keep telling the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
