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King should be role model

How would the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. have reacted to President-elect Donald Trump? On the eve of our national celebration of the civil rights leader’s life, and less than a week before Trump becomes chief executive, it’s a pertinent question. That is so especially because of accusations that Trump is a racist.

King might have viewed the situation through a moral, faith-based lens.

But the words “moral” and “politics” aren’t often seen in the same sentence.

How would King have viewed Trump politically?

In all likelihood, King would have worked tirelessly for Trump’s opponent in the presidential election, Hillary Clinton.

Once she lost, however, I think he would have adopted a much less hardline, vindictive approach than have many of Trump’s foes. King would have done that partly because he had been disappointed too many times by politicians he trusted — and surprised on occasion by some in whom he had faith.

King and others in the civil rights movement were delighted when John F. Kennedy won the 1960 election. But after he was inaugurated, they were informed political realities made it impossible for Kennedy to push for the civil rights legislation King and others wanted.

Then Lyndon Johnson, a southern Democrat many in the movement did not like, became president. And guess what? Johnson, in effect, kept his promise. It was LBJ’s hard-nosed brand of politics that made the Civil Rights Act of 1964 happen.

So King had learned by experience that appearances can be very deceiving in politics. Your friends may let you down. Your enemies may surprise you pleasantly.

It has been nearly half a century since King was assassinated, and much has changed about America. That, too, would have influenced King, had he lived long enough to interact with Trump.

For one thing, King would have seen a convincing demonstration that while racism still exists, there is no way it can be viewed as a defining feature of our nation. Barack Obama’s election as president made that clear.

That fact would have influenced King in many ways, including how he approached Trump.

He would have approached the president-elect. Above all, King was a practical reformer. He understood there was no need to make enemies unless that was unavoidable. Better to get what you can out of people by being at least civil toward them than to score points with what politicians now refer to as their base by insisting that one’s foes have horns growing out of their heads.

Above all, King’s experience had taught him that prejudging people, either favorably or unfavorably, is more than just morally wrong. It’s also not very smart politically.

Martin Luther King Jr. should be a role model in many ways. Not the least of them is that he was interested more in getting results than in name calling.

Quite a few people on the national stage today could learn from him in that regard.

Mike Myer is the executive editor at the Wheeling Intelligencer and Wheeling News-Register. Myer can be reached at mmyer@theintelligencer.net.

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