Martin Luther King Jr.’s Daughter Slams Donald Trump’s MLK Comparison

Donald Trump incurred the wrath of Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter, Bernice, after boasting he drew a bigger crowd at his January 6, 2021 rally than the civil rights leader did when he made his iconic “I have a dream” speech during the March on Washington. 

On Thursday (August 8), Trump was asked whether he considered the end of his term as a peaceful transfer of power in light of the violence of the January 6 insurrection.  

“The biggest crowd I’ve ever spoken before was that day,” he said at the news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate. “If you look at Martin Luther King, when he did his speech, his great speech, and you look at ours. Same real estate, same everything. Same number of people, if not, we had more.” 

Trump then compared his rally outside the White House that preceded the violence at the Capitol to King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. 

“We actually had more people,” he said while acknowledging that official estimates put his crowd size as significantly smaller than Dr. King’s. 

Donald Trump’s MLK Claims Fact-Checked

An estimated 250,000 people showed up to watch Dr. King speak at the 1963 March on Washington. By contrast, the House Select Committee investigation estimated Trump’s January 6 speech drew in an estimated 53,000 people. 

However, Trump’s remarks were swiftly fact-checked by multiple people, including Dr. King’s daughter Bernice King. “Absolutely not true,” she wrote on X (Twitter). “I really wish that people would stop using my father to support fallacy.” 

The NAACP also shared crowd images from both days, slamming Trump’s comparison. 

“Not only is that completely false, but here’s what is more important: MLK’s speech was about democracy. Trump’s was about tearing it down,” the post read. 

Other users also shared comparison shots of Donald Trump and MLK’s crowd, with one posting an aerial view. 

The Daily Show host Michael Kost ripped Trump’s MLK comparison.  

Let’s be careful comparing yourself to Martin Luther King here,” he said during Thursday’s episode.“I know you were both investigated by the FBI but that’s about it. Do not try to say that you were more popular.”