Washington Post National Political Reporter Eugene Scott set the stage Sunday evening:

Bracing myself for a slew of MLK quotes Monday from folks who have spent nearly every other day of the past year fighting against CRT …

— Eugene Scott (@Eugene_Scott) January 17, 2022

Sure enough, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio was only too happy to oblige, on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

The Florida Republican, who almost daily posts a Bible passage to Twitter, is notorious for being among the many conservatives who are battling Critical Race Theory, the right’s latest non-existent boogey man.

Rubio has introduced legislation with far right extremist U.S. Senators Mike Braun (R-IN) and Kevin Cramer (R-ND), to “prohibit federal funding to promote divisive concepts, such as Critical Race Theory.” A companion bill was introduced in the House by U.S. Representatives Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) and Virginia Foxx (R-NC).

Just as Scott warned, Senator Rubio posted a tweet that reads:

“When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.” Dr. Martin Luther King (1963)

It’s from the third paragraph of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech, and it exposes Rubio’s ignorance and hypocrisy.

New York Times opinion columnist Jamelle Bouie was among those who asked, “so, uh, what’s the next line?”

Bouie offered Rubio the answer:

“It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given its colored people a bad check, a check that has come back marked ‘insufficient funds.'”

— b-boy bouiebaisse (@jbouie) January 17, 2022

He was far from the only one to chastise and expose Rubio.

Equality Florida’s Press Secretary Brandon Wolf, a survivor of the Pulse Nightclub anti-LGBTQ hate crime massacre (which Rubio used to reverse his promise to never run for office again):

Here:

“It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds’.”

— Brandon Wolf (@bjoewolf) January 17, 2022

“And yet you filibuster his dream over and over,” tweeted American Independent Senior Writer Joshua Israel.

Nikole Hannah-Jones, the award-winning New York Times journalist and creator of “The 1619 Project”:

Missing smthg: It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked insufficient funds. https://t.co/tIxoPKyNIj

— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) January 17, 2022

More:

The whole speech is about how that promissory note is a bad check! Thieves, liars and cheats hand out bad checks that’s what King was saying about YOU and your government.

— Matt Deitsch (@MattxRed) January 17, 2022

You know that promissory notes aren’t a good thing, right? It’s an acknowledgement of a debt, something you owe. We inherited their debt.

The founders enshrined slavery and racism into our Constitution. The debt is paid when all citizens really are equal under/before the law.

— IrrevLyn is wearing a Bast-damned mask & BLM! 😷😾 (@Reverend_Lyn) January 17, 2022

https://t.co/GX9Bg6WChH

— The Mean Progressive ™ (@MeanProgress) January 17, 2022

No. You don’t get to invoke his name in any righteousness cause you think you have. He called it exactly for what it is. The Jim Crow Filibuster

— Christopher Ryan (@FFChristopherRy) January 17, 2022

“The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.”
___

“It’s a cruel jest to a bootless man to say he ought to lift himself up by his own bootstraps.”

– Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. https://t.co/ld0I2Ej6jZ

— Mattison (@Mattison) January 17, 2022

You want to celebrate this day and this American hero? Support the John Lewis Voting Rights Bill. Otherwise, your words are performative drivel.

— David Sugerman (@DavidSug) January 17, 2022

pic.twitter.com/Bcw5ti5ShL

— Grandma Antifa 😷🌊🌈🎗 (@jenclark95624) January 17, 2022

Marco is taking a break from quoting the Bible out of context to quote Martin Luther King out of context. https://t.co/mR2LHACRJI

— Radioactive Dinosaur (@JeffSaysStuff2) January 17, 2022

Don’t quote him unless you plan on ending the filibuster and protecting voters’ rights.

— Zingamomma 🎶🇺🇸😷🇺🇸🎶 (@tubawidow) January 17, 2022

Fox host Lara Trump either has a new conspiracy theory, or she is very confused.

Hosting the 5 p.m. EST hour, Trump was ranting about Microsoft Word’s Clippy and the suggested changes to words like “postman” into “letter carrier” and “mankind” into “humankind.” It’s part of the right’s latest attack on “wokism,” which they define as anything done in polite society that makes them uncomfortable.

“Someone is reading this?! And assessing what I’m writing?” Trump said, assuming that a person was actually watching and reading what she was typing in Word instead of an AI programed into what they call “office assistant.” It was once named Clippy, and it was never a real person.

According to Trump, the “office assistant” is a lot like her fancy new car that doesn’t require a key, just a push-button to start it. She said that the car wouldn’t start if she didn’t jingle the keys around. That’s false. Push-button start cars use safety technology that requires your foot on the break, the car in park, and the key fob in the car with you. It’s essentially a small low-frequency transmitter. So if the car won’t start, it’s likely that you need to replace the batteries.

According to Microsoft, the assistant doesn’t have to be turned on.

“The checker can be turned on and off in a menu called ‘Grammar & Refinements’, which lists everything it checks: Age bias, Cultural bias, Ethnic slurs, Gender bias, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Gender-Specific Language, Racial Bias, Sexual Orientation Bias and Socioeconomic Bias,” said the statement.

See Lara Trump’s rant below:

Donald Trump’s most recent rally in Arizona brought many opportunities for his supporters to explain why they think the former president will be back in office any day.

Politico spoke to a few MAGA folks on the ground at the event and got their thoughts on what’s next in the Trump movement.

“I hope states decertify the election. I want to hear him say it’s over, we are ready to move on and hold a new election,” Politico cited Ray Kallatsa from Tucson. “I do think it’s possible, very possible.”

His thoughts echo those of pillow mogul Mike Lindell, who spoke to the crowd ahead of the former president. He cited QAnon language.

“Can you feel the storm building? It’s America,” he said using the allusion of “the storm” which is part of the conspiracy group’s messaging.

The storm, “refers to excessive social conflict that is predicted to occur prior to society reaching the point of ‘The Great Awakening,’ explained Murray State University.

See the photos from the event at Politico.