CNN’s Jeffrey Lord: Think of Trump as ‘Martin Luther King of healthcare’

CNN political commentator and President Trump supporter Jeffrey Lord on Thursday called the president the “Martin Luther King of healthcare,” arguing that Trump has worked to rally support around healthcare reform like King rallied support around the Civil Rights Act.

“Think of President Trump as the Martin Luther King of healthcare,” Lord said during an appearance on CNN. 

“When I was a kid, President Kennedy did not want to introduce the civil rights bill because he said it wasn’t popular, he didn’t have the votes for it, et cetera,” he added. “Dr. King kept putting people in the streets in harm’s way to put the pressure on so that the bill would be introduced. That’s what finally worked.”

{mosads}The comment drew immediate backlash from Democratic strategist and fellow CNN commentator Symone Sanders, who warned Lord against King comparisons. 

“Jeffrey, you do understand that Dr. King was marching for civil rights because people that looked like me were being beaten,” she said. “Dogs were being sicced on them. Basic human rights were being withheld from these people merely because the color of their skin. 

“So let’s not equate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize winner, to the vagina-grabbing President Donald Trump.”

Lord has emerged as one of Trump’s biggest boosters on CNN and has become known for his daily appearances on the network defending the president.

A GOP plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act failed in the House last month as Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) pulled the legislation amid dwindling support. The bill’s failure handed Trump the first major legislative defeat of his presidency.

He has since revived his talk of healthcare reform, saying that he wants to pass healthcare legislation before trying to tackle tax reform.