Daily Show host debunks Trump’s claim that his Jan. 6 crowd rivaled MLK Jr.’s March on Washington

The daily program The host has destroyed Donald TrumpThe wild claim that the crowd of supporters who turned out to see him speak on January 6 rivaled the crowd who turned out to hear Martin Luther King Jr.’s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington.

Trump held a news conference at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on Thursday as his campaign looks to attract the attention of Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

During the lie-filled press conference, Trump made a number of false and outlandish claims, and one in particular raised eyebrows: his boast that he had drawn crowds comparable to MLK Jr.’s.

“I’ve spoken before very large crowds. Nobody has spoken before larger crowds than I have,” Trump said.

The former president then compared MLK Jr.’s infamous “I Have a Dream” speech to his speech on January 6, 2021, just before his supporters stormed the US Capitol.

“When he gave his speech, his big speech, and if you look at ours, the same space, everything was the same. If you look at the image of his audience, my audience, we actually had more people,” he said.

MLK Jr.’s iconic speech at the 1963 March on Washington drew an estimated 250,000 people.

In contrast, an estimated 53,000 people attended Trump’s speech on January 6, 2021, according to the House Select Committee’s investigation.

Meanwhile, Harris and Walz have been riding the wave of their campaign, filling venues to capacity across the country. More than 12,000 people attended their first joint event in Philadelphia on Tuesday.

Trump’s bragging came when a reporter mentioned the large crowds Harris is drawing to her campaign events.

“Oh, give me a break,” he fumed.

Thursday night The daily programMichael Kosta didn’t mince words when he said that “Donald Trump hasn’t been having the best time lately,” joking that Trump was “really pissed” at the question, saying, “Okay, man, look, just tell us how big your crowds are and try not to be weird about it.”

Kosta then criticized Trump’s wild claims about his audience, but offered a comparison he could make to MLK Jr.

“No, no, no. Wait, okay? Let’s be careful not to compare ourselves to Martin Luther King,” he said.

“I know they were both investigated by the FBI, but that’s it. Don’t try to say they were more popular,” he added, referring to Trump’s legal troubles as the first president to be charged with a federal crime.

The late-night host went on to mock Trump for the comparison.

“Long story short, Trump was asked about the size of the crowd for Kamala, and his answer ended up being, ‘I’m better than MLK,’” Kosta said.

I mean, it’s probably not the best answer, but it could have been worse.

Referring to the former president’s controversial claim that Harris recently “turned black,” Kosta said: “Trump could have said, ‘And out of nowhere, MLK decided he was black. When did that happen?’”

At the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention in Chicago on July 31, Trump made racially charged comments about Harris and questioned her heritage, prompting widespread backlash and accusations of racism.