Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump compared himself to Nelson Mandela on Saturday in an attempt to defend himself against his upcoming hush money criminal fraud trial in New York.
Trump faces criminal charges that he violated campaign finance law ahead of the 2016 election to silence two women who allege he had an extramarital affair. Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years for opposing racial apartheid that segregated Black residents in South Africa, later becoming the country’s first elected president and first Black head of state in 1994.
In a post on his social media app, Trump likened his legal woes to Mandela, which drew strong reactions from Black organizers.
“It’s a slap in the face to the legacy and sacrifices of Nelson Mandela and the worldwide impact his life experiences have had on people” around the globe, Antjuan Seawright, a Democratic strategist and CEO of Blueprint Strategy LLC, told theGrio in reaction to Trump’s comments.
“It is a desperate cry for attention that we will see more from this extremist leader as the election gets closer.”
Similarly, Angela Angel, senior advisor for Black Lives Matter PAC, told theGrio that Trump comparing himself to Mandela “is like comparing a circus clown to a Nobel laureate.”
“One spent nearly three decades in prison fighting against apartheid, and the other should be in prison for fraud, sexual assault, and orchestrating an attempted coup on the United States government.”
On his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump bemoaned a gag order issued by New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, the judge overseeing the former president’s hush money trial. Trump is accused of falsifying business records to cover up the hush money payments made by his former lawyer Michael Cohen to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Trump, known for his public assails against judges and prosecutors, was placed on…
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