Political pundits are struggling to comprehend Donald Trump’s rapid ascent to the Republican presidential nomination.
On MSNBC and in the New York Times, he’s been likened to segregationist George Wallace. Louis CK and Glenn Beck have compared him to Adolf Hitler.
Donald Trump has rejected these comparisons. But he is here to help.
Trump has humbly offered a number of historical antecedents for people seeking to place his candidacy in context.
Martin Luther King Jr.
On the Sunday before Memorial Day, Trump gave speech to a gathering of “Rolling Thunder” bikers on the National Mall. He said his expectation was that it would mirror Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have Dream” speech.
“I thought this would be like Dr. Martin Luther King where people were lined up from here all the way to the Washington Monument,” Trump said. 250,000 people attended MLK Jr.’s speech.
WATCH: @realDonaldTrump says he thought Rolling Thunder rally in D.C. would be like MLK’s March on Washington:https://t.co/9HuaDSawUx
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) May 29, 2016
He allowed that, in fact, far fewer people were in attendance. He blamed security for not letting “hundreds of thousands” of people in.
Rolling Thunder estimated about 5,000 people attended Trump’s speech.
Thomas Jefferson
Speaking in Montana in May, Trump said that, after his presidency, he would like a statue built in his honor in Washington, DC. He suggested it might be fitting for him to share a location with Thomas Jefferson.
George Washington
In 2011, Trump said that if he ran for president and won, he would be “better than anybody” and “do the best job.” He then compared himself to George Washington:
And, you may say, ‘Oh, gee, that doesn’t sound like George Washington.’ Well, guess what? Before George Washington ran, he didn’t sound like George Washington either. I will … do a great job, if I run and if I win.
Mahatma Gandhi
In February, Trump tweeted an image comparing his effort to secure the Republican nomination with Gandhi’s struggle for freedom through nonviolence.
#Trump2016 #TrumpInstagram: https://t.co/tzHtny48nQ pic.twitter.com/BpKZcISeKi
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 29, 2016
Abraham Lincoln
In March, Trump batted back suggestions that he wasn’t presidential enough for the Oval Office. Trump said that he and Abraham Lincoln would rank as the two most presidential presidents of all time.
Trump allowed for the fact that Lincoln would edge him out as most presidential.
Babe Ruth
In a rally in Baltimore in April, Trump compared himself to legendary slugger Babe Ruth.
Trump said that his “instinct” to create jobs was akin to Babe Ruth’s ability to hit homeruns.