Posted on January 21, 2020

Martin Luther King Jr’s Daughter Slams Kellyanne Conway for Claiming He Would Oppose Trump Impeachment

Alex Woodward, The Independent, January 20, 2020

The daughter of Martin Luther King Jr says she wishes Donald Trump‘s administration would “keep his name, and incorrect analysis, out of their conversations about current issues” after the White House’s muddled response to memorial events honouring the late civil rights leader.

Kellyanne Conway , counselor to the president, said she believes Dr King would not support the president’s impeachment and claimed that his “vision” did not include “Americans dragged through the process where the president is not going to be removed from office, is not being charged with bribery, extortion, high crimes or misdemeanours”.

On Twitter, the president also appeared to compare the anniversary of his swearing-in ceremony to celebrations honouring Martin Luther King Jr Day while he boasted about low unemployment numbers among black Americans.

He said: “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!”

Bernice King, Dr King’s youngest daughter, wrote in response to Ms Conway’s comments that “until a person commits to better understanding and then better understands my father’s teachings and methodologies, I REALLY wish they’d keep his name, and incorrect analysis, out of their conversations about current issues.”

The president did not have any public events scheduled for the federal holiday, but he made a brief unannounced visit to Dr King’s memorial in Washington DC, where an annual wreath-laying ceremony took place earlier in the day.

His campaign’s Twitter account also juxtaposed images of Dr King with footage of the president appearing with black Americans as part of a fundraising video.

Ms King, who has carried her father’s torch in the teachings of nonviolence and racial justice, said during an event honouring the holiday that “rising militarisation of police, the increase of nationalism as a response to the global immigration crisis, the resurgence of white supremacist groups” call for more than a single day to recognise Dr King’s legacy.