Al Sharpton Asks: Can You Imagine If Thomas Jefferson and James Madison Tried to Overthrow the Government?

Following the latest indictment of Donald Trump, this one relating to January 6th, MSNBC’s Al Sharpton tried to emphasize just how big a deal this was by arguing that our founding fathers would never try to overthrow a government.

“One day, our children’s children will read American history, and can you imagine our reading that James Madison or Thomas Jefferson tried to overthrow the government so they could stay in power?” Sharpton asked, presenting history as a scary hypothetical. 

Watch below:

As Jefferson himself wrote to Madison in 1787; “I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions indeed generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the people which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions, as not to discourage them too much. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government.”

And of course, Trump did not try to overthrow a government on January 6th as Sharpton is implying. On January 6th, Trump encouraged his supporters to march to the Capitol “peacefully and patriotically,” which are words the media doesn’t want you to hear. When ABC News covered the latest indictment earlier this week, they edited that part of his January 6th speech out.

Matt Palumbo is the author of Fact-Checking the Fact-Checkers: How the Left Hijacked and Weaponized the Fact-Checking Industry and The Man Behind the Curtain: Inside the Secret Network of George Soros