Just one day after it was revealed that Donald Trump called African nations and Haiti “shithole countries,” he was flanked by his Black supporters as he honored Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy at the White House.
The Trump administration announced earlier this week that they would be upgrading Martin Luther King Jr.’s birth home, church and burial site from national historic sites to a national historic park.
President Donald Trump signed the bill, co-sponsored with Georgia Democratic Rep. John Lewis, on Monday — a week before Martin Luther King Jr. Day The new bill gives these locations one of the highest designations within the National Park Service, according to NBC News. It also establishes Georgia’s first National Historical Park.
It was my great honor to sign H.R. 267, the “Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park Act,” which redesignates the Martin Luther King, Junior, National Historic Site in the State of Georgia as the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park. https://t.co/Qe0b6HBFTYpic.twitter.com/QTgaqTawPT
Trump was joined by King’s niece Alveda King, nephew Isaac Newton Farris Jr., and Bruce Levell of the National Diversity Coalition for Trump. King’s daughter, Bernice King, was missing and she has yet to comment.
“It was my great honor to sign H.R. 267, the “Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park Act,” which redesignates the Martin Luther King, Junior, National Historic Site in the State of Georgia as the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park,” Trump tweeted Tuesday.
But after a speech honoring the civil rights icon on Friday, Trump refused to answer questions about his own racist remarks.
From Business Insider:
“Mr. President, are you a racist?” one reporter repeatedly asked. Others asked whether the president had, in fact, used the word “shithole” to refer to the countries. Another asked whether Durbin was lying about his version of the meeting.
While Trump took to Twitter to deny saying any derogatory remarks about Haiti, he did not explicitly deny the “shithole” comment.