MSNBC Guest Jon Meacham, executive editor of Random House, compared President Trump to segregationist Alabama governor George Wallace when discussing today’s politics compared to the politics of 1968 Monday on Morning Joe.
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“The system is being tested in ways that the we really would never have chosen here, but the system by and large so far is working and the rule of law is working,” said Meacham. “One of the points of the country was to try to defend against the rise of the demagogue, and we’re living through that right now.”
“The final point on this is to me the most prescient part of 1968 was the performance of George Wallace, the Alabama governor who carried five states in 1968, won 13 percent of the vote, and one of the dispiriting things about this half century is we’ve gone from someone like Wallace being on the fringes to someone like Wallace being president,” commented Meacham.
George Wallace is infamous for his strong support for segregation. He famously stood in front of the University of Alabama in 1963 to block black students from entering the school after the school was desegregated.