Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has joined a wave of critics mocking Fox News guest and law professor Jonathan Turley after he compared what is happening with Canada’s “freedom convoy” to Martin Luther King.
Mr Turley, of George Washington University, said what the truckers were doing in Ottowa was “civil disobedience” and called it “good trouble”, adopting a phrase from the late civil rights icon and US Representative John Lewis.
“And so the troubling aspect of what is coming out of the prime minister’s office is that by this rationale, they could have cracked down on the civil rights movement. They could have arrested Martin Luther King,” Mr Turley said on the network.
Martin Luther King Jr was in fact jailed 29 times, for misdemeanour charges including acts of civil disobedience.
Twitter users swiftly seized on Mr Turley’s comments, including New York Democratic Rep Ocasio-Cortez.
Referencing recent efforts by conservatives to ban literature about race and gender in schools, she wrote: “Fox News analysts already reaping the benefits of banning books, I see.”
“Who’s gonna tell Johnathan Turely what they did to Martin Luther King?” tweeted Elie Mystal, justice correspondent at The Nation.
“Turley here is simultaneously conflating human rights advocates such as Martin Luther King with a bunch of a**holes s***ting up international borders because their disinformation handlers told them to and telling racists that white people get the worst treatment,” said another Twitter user.
“Jonathan Turley is so disappointing. A wolf in sheep’s clothing,” a third wrote.
After a barrage of online criticism, Mr Turley tweeted out a response to his comments on Fox News.
“Not to feed the trolls, but I never said that Dr King was not arrested. I said that the Canadian policy could be used to arrest MLK for the same acts of civil disobedience. The point is that such acts of civil disobedience are not viewed as ‘terrorism’ or ‘insurrection’.”
The Independent has contacted Fox News for comment on the reaction to its guest Mr Turley.
