Al Sharpton wants you to imagine if Thomas Jefferson or James Madison, two of the founding fathers, had overthrown a government.
Reacting to former President Donald Trump’s third criminal indictment on MSNBC, Sharpton on Wednesday tried to provide meta-perspective about the significance of what is happening.
“This is just as low as it gets. I’ve never heard of three cases on one individual in three jurisdictions, so this is serious,” he said
“But on the other side of it: One day, our children’s children will read American history, and can you imagine our reading that James Madison or Thomas Jefferson tried to overthrow the government so they could stay in power?” he continued. “This is narcissism with steroids, and to think that he could get this whole country divided and split, and commit these crimes and have others commit crimes off his own self-aggrandizement, is as sick as it gets.”
Sharpton’s comments invited a wave of mockery because, after all, literally every American can imagine Jefferson and Madison overthrowing a government because that’s exactly what they did.
Those founding fathers — Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence, and Madison, who drafted the Constitution — were central players in the revolution and formation of the United States.
Reaction included:
- “Lol, yeah, we’re so lucky those guys were not revolutionaries,” cartoonist Scott Adams mocked.
- “Apart from him misrepresenting what the challenges to the 2020 election were based on, Wait until MSNBC learns about the founding of the country! I’m not sure what’s better — that he said this or that MSNBC decided to highlight it for their Twitter followers,” conservative commentator Mollie Hemingway responded.
- “It always amuses me when Democrats praise slave owners. It’s just an added bonus that these guys actually did overthrow a government they didn’t like,” conservative commentator Derek Hunter pointed out.
- “Does anyone at @msnbc even history, bro?” actor Nick Searcy asked.
- “The best part is that MSNBC chose to clip this because they thought it was a good look,” TheBlaze host Auron MacIntyre mocked.
- “At the risk of pedantry, Jefferson argued toward the end of his life that democracies ought to have revolutions about every 20 years,” another person pointed out.
- “King George III didn’t have to imagine it,” another person said.
Trump is not accused of trying to overthrow the government. He was indicted on four counts related to conspiracy and obstruction. Missing from the indictment are charges of incitement or seditious conspiracy.
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