Rev. Jesse Jackson Was An Outspoken Critic Of Donald Trump For Years

It was announced on February 17 that Rev. Jesse Jackson died at the age of 84. He was a Baptist minister known for his civil rights activism, working with Martin Luther King, Jr., and his two times running for the presidency. He was slowed down in later years by disease — he revealed he had Parkinson's disease in 2017, and Jackson and his wife were hospitalized for Covid in 2021. But despite any physical ailments, he stayed interested in politics and current events. And that meant that he butted heads with Donald Trump at times.

In a Truth Social post about Jackson's death, Trump said, in part: "He was a good man, with lots of personality, grit, and 'street smarts.' He was very gregarious – Someone who truly loved people." What Trump didn't mention were the times that Jackson called him out over his policies, particularly in the lead-up to and during Trump's first term as president.

The two men spent time together before Trump got into politics, and Jackson said then that Trump was supportive of his bids for the presidency in the 1980s. "When many others thought it was either laughable or something to avoid, he came to our business meeting here in New York because he has this sense of the curious and the will to risk to make things better," Jackson explained, according to Newsweek. And he thanked Trump for providing free space in one of Trump's New York buildings for his Rainbow PUSH Coalition, a civil rights advocacy group. But somewhere along the way, it seems as though Trump's position flipped, and Jackson wasn't afraid to call him out on it.

Before Donald Trump was elected, Jesse Jackson made it clear that he wasn't impressed with Trump's support of the conspiracy that Barack Obama was actually Kenyan and needed to produce his birth certificate. For years, Trump had pushed the idea that Obama wasn't an American, even after Obama released his long-form birth certificate from Hawaii. It wasn't until September 2016 that Trump admitted in a press conference that Obama had been born in the U.S.

In an appearance on Bloomberg the same day as Trump's press conference, Jackson said that with the birth certificate conspiracy, Trump "saw a lie as a victory." Jackson went on to say, "If [Trump] were sincere, he would apologize to President Barack Obama for disparaging his name and his family name." Trump has not apologized.

Jackson also said that even if Trump did say sorry over the birth certificate conspiracy, it would be hard to believe "after he's burned the house down, then he apologized amidst the ember and the smoke." Jackson explained why he felt that way. "He has used these last seven years to mobilize the anti-Martin Luther King, anti-civil rights, anti-Barack's victory forces into a solid force of fear and anger based upon that lie," he added.

Jesse Jackson pointed out thaat some of the policies that Donald Trump promoted didn't match what he would do as president in his Bloomberg interview. Jackson was asked about Trump's campaign appearances in minority communities like Flint, Michigan, where the drinking water was making people sick and there was a slow government response to fix the problem. Jackson appeared to think that Trump's appearances were more performative than substantive.

"He decries poverty in the inner cities, yet he votes against... a living wage being raised and against affordable healthcare," Jackson said. "He decries the violence in the cities and yet will not ban assault weapons or support a background check on guns."

After Trump won the election, Jackson continued his fiery takes on the president. One example was during a speech at the National Action Network's "Ministers March for Justice" in August 2017. One of his issues was Trump's immigration perspectives. "Trump says you must be able to speak the language of English, [be] qualified, and have a job skill. Jesus would not qualify to come in[to] Trump's country. He would not qualify to get into Jesus' kingdom," Jackson shared (via Christian Post).

Jesse Jackson had some harsh words for Donald Trump in the wake of the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. As a quick recap, white nationalists came to the city to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee. They clashed with counterprotestors, and an Ohio man drove his car into a group of counterprotestors, killing one person and injuring others.

Jackson spoke out about Charlottesville, decrying those who would work to keep up statues of the likes of Lee and those associated with the Confederacy, via Associated Press. Jackson said that the American people should be considered "under one big tent" but that Trump as president saw people as "a few in and many out, and it's not working. The emperor has no clothes." Jackson gave examples of what Trump did that he felt helped embolden white supremacists, including Trump's anti immigration stance and his claims that a judge with Mexican ancestry couldn't rule fairly.

In his original public response to what happened in Charlottesville, Trump denied that all the protestors were white nationalists or neo-Nazis, via NBC News. He also said that both sides had a role in what happened. In his criticism of Trump over Charlottesville, Jackson also called for those politicians who didn't like Trump's response to not just post about it on social media, but to change legislation.

Jesse Jackson also spoke in support of the NFL players, most notably San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who were taking a knee during the national anthem as a protest against racism and police brutality. And this placed Jackson in opposition to Donald Trump.

Trump got angry over the protests, saying at a speech in Alabama in September 2017, "Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, 'Get that son of a b**** off the field right now," he exclaimed (via The Guardian).

A day after Trump's speech, Jackson shared his opinion on the situation. "They should all kneel, not against the flag, but against the interference by Mr. Trump with their First Amendment rights," Jackson told The New York Times. "If the cotton pickers don't pick cotton, the industry doesn't move; the NFL and NBA players don't play the game, it doesn't move."

Jesse Jackson was unimpressed with Donald Trump's attack on four Democratic congresswomen in July 2019. Trump posted on X (then known as Twitter), "Why don't they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came." While he didn't name names, it was largely understood that he was referencing Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley, who became known as "The Squad."

In response to Trump's post, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition issued a statement from Jackson that read: "Do not be afraid of that man behind the curtain in the White House. It's only Donald Trump, the Distractor in Chief, pushing the 'send' button on his computer, spreading division and pain across the country. His tweet attacking the four United States congresswomen of color was racist. It was not reckless. He knew exactly what he was doing."

In August 2019, Jackson spoke with the Associated Press and seemed to reference the social media post. He called the tactic and those like it from Trump "dangerous, divisive and diversionary." Jackson also voiced his fears that there might be Russian interference in the 2020 election on behalf of Trump.