LONGTIME civil rights activist Al Sharpton has accused President Donald Trump of “trying to make Black Lives Matter look like ‘hoodlums and thugs.'”
The 65-year-old host of MSNBC’s PoliticsNation denounced the president on Thursday afternoon as he pointed out the differences between Joe Biden and Trump’s visits to Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Democratic presidential candidate Biden and Trump separately visited violence-plagued Kenosha this week in the aftermath of the police shooting of Jacob Blake last month.
The shooting on August 23 prompted Black Lives Matter protesters to continue demonstrations across the country.
Sharpton slammed the president for “projecting those that are violent” and said “he tries to act like Black Lives Matter and Antifa is the same thing.”
Antifa is the left-wing political protest movement that gained prominence after the white supremacist Unite the Right rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.
The Black Lives Matter movement is the civil rights group that came about in response to extreme police brutality.
“We had this big March on Saturday, tens of thousands of people, not one arrest, no violence, all of the families there, you didn’t hear one tweet from the president,” Sharpton said on MSNBC.
“[Trump] never mentioned it. Because he cannot afford to deal with it when he can’t make you look like hoodlums and thugs.
“How do you have a mass march of that size, less than a mile from where he was at and he never tweets one thing about it.
“Because he wants to project us as violent and out of control when we’re not that and that’s what Joe Biden showed today by going to a family and going to church, talking to people. That’s who we are.”
Sharpton also praised Biden for “boxing Trump out” by connecting him to looters, school openings, and police reform.
“You’ve got people across the ideological spectrum who are open to the idea that change is really needed right now,” he added.
His comments came as former vice president Joe Biden and his wife met with Blake’s relatives at Milwaukee airport.
Biden also talked with the gun victim himself over the phone.
Blake was left paralyzed after a white cop shot him at least seven times on August 23.
During Biden’s visit, he joked he’d be “shot” if he spoke any longer about his plan to increase taxes on the wealthy.
The shocking statement is just one of the many recent Biden gaffes which has led people to question his mental sharpness.
On Tuesday, Trump witnessed first hand the “destruction” caused on the streets of Kenosha and branded rioters as “domestic terrorists.”
The president also condemned Democratic leaders for “allowing” the chaos to take place as he spoke with local store owners.
Trump said: “They just don’t want us to come in and then destruction is done.
“These governors don’t want to call and the mayors don’t want to call. They have to ask.”
The president also spoke out in support of law enforcement.
