Following the election of Donald Trump last November, the political divide among the American people has only gotten wider. That divide is highlighted on a daily basis across cable news, especially when die-hard supporters of the president clash with those who oppose him at every turn.
CNN tension
When Donald Trump first announced his intention to run for president back in the summer of 2015, battle-lines were quickly drawn after he accused illegal immigrants from Mexico of being "rapists" and "murderers." The reaction to the president was negative among most in the mainstream media, Democrats, and liberal Americans, but the rhetoric was able to resonate with conservative Americans and those who have long championed a more strict immigration system in the country.
Over the next year and a half, the former host of "The Apprentice" would use his controversial campaign style to not only win the Republican primary, but also to achieve the ultimate goal of being the next commander in chief. Since then, Trump's executive orders, cabinet selections, policy proposal, and rhetoric have caused the country to be even more divided than ever before. One issue that the president has focused on has been health care reform and the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. Last month, Trump worked together with House Speaker Paul Ryan to put forward an alternative plan, but it failed to even gain support with Republicans and the bill was pulled before a vote could even take place.
As Trump continues to harp on the issue, it was a highlighted discussion during a heated CNN segment on April 13.
On Thursday, CNN host Poppy Harlow ran a clip of Donald Trump's recent interview with the Wall Street Journal where the president proposed freezing health care subsidies for low-income Americans in order to force Democrats to compromise on the repeal of Obamacare. Joining the show to speak about the issue were Trump supporter Jefferey Lord, and former Bernie Sanders press secretary Symone Sanders.
The conversation went as expected until Jeffery Lord labeled Donald Trump the "Martin Luther King of health care," comparing the president to the fallen civil rights leader in the process.
"When I was a kid, the president (LBJ) didn’t want to introduce the civil rights bill because he did not have the votes for it," Lord said, before noting that MLK allegedly put people "in harm's way" in order to get the bill passed in Congress. At this point, Symone Sanders lost it, firing back at Lord.
Heated exchange
"Dr. King was marching for civil rights because people that looked like me were being beaten," Symone Sanders pointed out. The liberal activist went on explain that Martin Luther King Jr. was fighting for "basic human rights," and scolded Lord for having the nerve to compare him to the "to the vagina-grabbing President Donald Trump."