The irony of Donald Trump’s inauguration on Martin Luther King’s birthday

In the first quarter of a new millennium, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is specifically poignant for some people, as it falls on inauguration day (47th (and 45th) of President-elect Donald J. Trump. The incoming chief executive has appropriated elements of King’s legacy to further his own MAGA agenda while undermining the core principles of equality and humanity that King sought to embed within the framework of American society.

“I just never understood. How a man who died for good Could not have a day that would Be set aside for his recognition” —from “Happy Birthday,” a song released in June 1981 by Stevie Wonder.

Before he had a change of heart, his last vice president, Mike Pence, cited King’s words to promote his boss’s quest to build a wall across the southern border. Due to King’s alleged ties to communists and especially his opposition to the Vietnam War, it took several years for his birthday to be recognized as a national holiday. The above song by Stevie Wonder became a rallying point in the campaign for its approval, and by 1983 President Ronald Reagan officially signed it into existence.
Since its inception, it has come to be designated as a national day of service, i.e., a period during which people are encouraged to volunteer and improve their communities.
This year, the plot thickens. As the passing of President Jimmy Carter, whose professional decisions closely reflected the faith-based precepts King espoused, has mandated that American flags be displayed at half-staff for 30 days from the date of his demise on Dec. 29. This formality, an honor bestowed on all former presidents, has raised the ire of the incoming president.

“The Democrats are all ‘giddy’ about our magnificent American flag potentially being at ‘half mast’ during my inauguration,” Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social. “…Because of the death of President Jimmy Carter, the flag may, for the first time ever during an inauguration of a future president, be at half mast,” he continued. “Nobody wants to see this, and no American can be happy about it. Let’s see how it plays out,” Trump said.

The ultimate sacrilege?
“Attributing to a great figure like that gives the words a lot more weight, so I think it’s always going to be true that King is always going to be a source of a lot of quotes even by people who, if they had been alive when he was alive, would probably be opposing him.” —Clayborne Carson of the King Research and Education Institute, Stanford University.

2025 started off with a bang, as a former Army staff sergeant, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, killed a score of revelers on a New Orleans street in the wee hours of the morning of New Year’s Day. After plowing a rented pickup truck into a crowd on historic Bourbon Street and killing 14 victims at 3:15 a.m., he exited the vehicle to exchange gunfire with police before officers returned fire, killing him.
Later that morning, at about 8:40 a.m., an active duty Army master sergeant, Matthew Alan Livelsberger, drove a rented Tesla Cybertruck manufactured by Elon Musk in front of the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas. Livelsberger used a handgun to kill himself just before pre-set explosives detonated, engulfing the vehicle in flames. Seven casualties were recorded with no fatalities. Both men used the same mobile application, Turo, to facilitate renting their respective vehicles. Aside from the similarities in which a motor vehicle was used as a lethal weapon to maim pedestrians, both perpetrators were terrorist extremists prompted to express their views via violent methodology. One was Black, the other was White. Both were paratroopers and veterans of the Afghan conflict.
Jabbar had been radicalized since separating from the service, possibly due to difficulties adjusting to civilian life. A black flag symbolic of the terrorist faction Islamic State (IS) was found in his truck.

Livelsberger, a decorated army careerist and a Trump supporter, was opposed to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and regularly posted rants against what he called “weak” government on social media.
Quick to jump on the bandwagon, Trump seized upon early information from Fox News alleging that Jabbar was a foreign national hell-bent on committing mayhem within the United States.

“When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the fake news media, but it turned out to be true.” Trump allies quickly mobilized to support their chief. “Biden’s parting gift to America—migrant terrorists,” moaned biological heir Donald Trump Jr.
“New Orleans terrorist attacker is said to have come across the border in Eagle Pass TWO DAYS AGO!!! Shut the border down!!!” echoed Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.
Most recent information indicates that he was an American, born and bred in the southeastern Texas town of Beaumont.

Political flip-flopping
“Those at the lowest economic level, the poor white and Negro, the aged and chronically ill, are traditionally unorganized and therefore have little ability to force the necessary growth in their income. They stagnate or become even poorer in relation to the larger society.” —from “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community,” the final book by Martin Luther King.

During his era, King strove to erase economic inequality in speeches and printed material like the 1967 book “Where We Go From Here.” The contents of this manuscript included the observation that there were “… twice as many white poor as Negro poor in the United States.” More than a half century later, the same conditions exist and likely are a reason behind the embrace of Trump by marginalized Whites.
Since the post-World War Two era, Republicans traditionally were the party of the upper class, opposed to excess taxation and social programs benefitting those under them. The selection of Vice President-elect J.D. Vance underscores this shift, as evidenced by the title of his autobiography, “Hillbilly Elegy,” and the motion picture spinoff.
Through clever political chicanery and cherry-picking selected words and phrases, the reverend doctor’s words have been reversed diametrically from their original intent. During his first term, Trump dramatically presented a first-edition set of writings from Martin Luther King Jr. during an audience at the Vatican in 2017. After, Martin Luther King lll suggested the president might do well to read the volumes himself.
“What I would implore the president to do is to get those books for himself and to read them, and then he can begin to understand who Martin Luther King Jr. was,” King lll commented.
Perhaps we all could do with a rereading of his words.