Former FBI Director James Comey occupies a curious place in modern American politics, having become a living symbol to many of law and order’s struggle against President Donald Trump. Trump abruptly fired Comey last May, but he remains relevant to millions of Americans because of his refusal to just go away quietly, having alleged that the president had tried to exert what was at best legally questionable control over the FBI while Comey led it.
Concurrent to his rise to fame, Comey was revealed to have long maintained a Twitter account under a pseudonym and after the big reveal, he eventually switched to tweeting under his own name.
He often pulls quotes from history to make his points on social media, and he did so on Martin Luther King Jr. Day this Monday.
Staying away from issuing any specific condemnation of the president — something he rarely does anyway — the former FBI Director wrote:
‘On MLK day, I like to read his Letter From Birmingham Jail, which still resonates: “Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away… and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation…”’
It’s not healthy for the former FBI Director to be in at least in as much of a moral leadership position as the very president of the United States.
Trump didn’t type up his own personal message, but he did record a video message posted to the official White House Twitter account on Monday.
In that message, he said:
‘Dr. King’s dream is our dream. It is the American Dream. It’s the promise stitched into the fabric of our Nation, etched into the hearts of our people, and written into the soul of humankind. It is the dream of a world where people are judged by who they are, not how they look or where they come from.’
Watch the Martin Luther King Jr. Day video message from the president for yourself below.
“Dr. King’s dream is our dream. It is the American Dream. It’s the promise stitched into the fabric of our Nation, etched into the hearts of our people, and written into the soul of humankind.” pic.twitter.com/tyUZGTecDY
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 15, 2018
Trump’s comments are ironic considering his documented history of support for racist causes.
For instance, he infamously rose to power on the strength of his incendiary claims that populations of Mexican immigrants harbor large numbers of criminals and a wall should be put up in between the United States and Mexico.
He also claimed, again without merit, that a ban on Muslims entering the United States is reasonable and worked to implement that ban upon taking office last year, although courts repeatedly worked to stop his efforts.
Considering these items, the president is in no way in a position to speak about the importance of accepting people for who they are. The United States has been the leader in doing just that for a long time, but that all changed under Trump, who seems as interested in making America look more like his and his followers’ fantasies as he is with anything else.
Check out Twitter’s response to the former FBI Director who seems to exemplify more of the qualities of a president than our actual president below.
Featured Image via Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images
