“When will Trump take office? On MLK Day, unfortunately,” lamented Margaret Hartman, The Intelligencer’s senior editor, in a new article.
Hartman noted the “sad” news that President-elect Donald Trump will be sworn in for his second non-consecutive term on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Presidential inaugurations sometimes fall on the federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr., which is held on the third Monday in January each year, close to King’s birthday on January 15.
“If you’re not a big fan of Donald Trump, you’re probably used to hearing a lot of stupid and/or depressing political news in recent months,” she wrote in The Intelligencer, a New York magazine. “I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but as the Biden administration comes to a close, there’s another unpleasant fact that you may not have thought of: Trump’s second inauguration will take place on January 20, 2025, which will be the inauguration of Martin Luther King Jr. . day.”
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A view of American religious and civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (center) at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, as he delivers his “I Have a Dream” speech, Washington, D.C., August 28, 1963. (Photo by Roland Sherman/Getty Images)
Other inaugurations have occurred on MLK Day since its inception, including Bill Clinton’s second inauguration in 1997 and Barack Obama’s second inauguration in 2013.
Hartman was equally dismayed that Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost to Trump in the general election, would not get her historic moment in the spotlight.
“If Kamala Harris becomes the first black woman elected president…yes,” she wrote simply.
But instead, Hartman laments, “We will be swearing in the man who spent MLK’s first day of his presidency playing golf, and who recently bragged that his pre-revolution speech on January 6, 2021, drew a larger crowd than King’s first.” “You have a dream letter (that’s not true).”
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Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to a crowd during the annual King Day Parade at the Statehouse Dome on Monday, January 15, 2024. The event was first started in an effort to remove the Confederate battle flag from the Statehouse grounds. ((Photo by Sean Rayford for The Washington Post))
Trump defeated Harris by 312 to 226 electoral votes, carrying all seven swing states in the process, and also won the popular vote.
During Trump’s first term, he commemorated the 50th anniversary of King’s assassination.
“This year marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Dr. King, who was tragically assassinated on April 4, 1968,” Trump said in a White House announcement in January 2018. “As we approach this solemn milestone, we acknowledge our nation’s continued efforts. Dr. King stood for the world we still demand — where the sacred rights of all Americans are protected, where rural and urban communities from coast to coast thrive, and where our own communities thrive. Our limits and opportunities are determined not by the color of our skin, but by the content of our character. We remember the tremendous promise of freedom that lies at the foundation of our great republic, the responsibility it demands of all of us who claim its benefits, and the many sacrifices of those who have gone before us.”
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The civil rights hero is particularly remembered for his famous “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963, as well as overseeing the Montgomery bus boycott in protest of segregation. He also participated in the Selma March, which helped pass the Voting Rights Act.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, speaks to thousands during his “I Have a Dream” speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, in Washington. (AP photo) (AP)
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Fox News Digital’s Maureen Mackey contributed to this report.
