Occasional gadfly of the American political scene Al Sharpton appeared on MSNBC recently to discuss Trump, January 6th, and America. His comments were just as absurd and ignorant as one would accept from Sharpton, as he proceeded to show either a complete lack of understand of what he was saying or what happened during the American Revolution.
What drew the most scorn from Sharpton’s appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” was when he tried to attack Trump by characterizing Trump as unamerican, saying, “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? That’s what we’re looking at. We’re looking at American history, and how it will play out is going to be very important.”
Predictably, that comment got absolutely ripped on Twitter. Taking the easiest line of attack, Vivek Ramaswamy pointed out that overthrowing the government is exactly what they did, saying, “It was called the American Revolution. We were successful. We won.”
Further, as to Jefferson specifically, he wrote the Declaration of Independence, which provides “whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
Joining Vivek was Federalist co-founder and CEO Sean Davis, who tweeted, “Oh I can definitely imagine reading that James Madison and Thomas Jefferson overthrew a corrupt government.” Joining him, Federalist editor-in-chief Mollie Hemingway tweeted, “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.”
Another commenter tweeted, “At the risk of pedantry, Jefferson argued toward the end of his life that democracies ought to have revolutions about every 20 years.”
That reference is to a 1787 letter Jefferson wrote to William Smith, the son-in-law of John Adams, saying, “God forbid we should ever be 20. years without such a rebellion. The people can not be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions it is a lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. We have had 13. states independant 11. years. There has been one rebellion. That comes to one rebellion in a century and a half for each state. What country before ever existed a century and half without a rebellion? And what country can preserve it’s liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it’s natural manure.”
“We’re looking at American history”
“Can you imagine our reading that James Madison or Thomas Jefferson tried to overthrow the government so they could stay in power?”
“This is narcissism with steroids”
-@TheRevAl on @Morning_Joe pic.twitter.com/qZqpZj6Zvp
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) August 2, 2023
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
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