Bernice King sets low bar for Trump: Just don't tweet something "offensive" on MLK Day

In fact, it is Trump’s behavior — whether hateful, ignorant, or childish, or some combination thereof — that is making the United States look foolish, and worse.

And as Martin Luther King Day approaches, he is being given the lowest of low bars to clear in the hope that he won’t add to our collective national embarrassment on such a hallowed day.

King’s daughter, Rev. Bernice King, had what ought to be a very simple and easily achievable goal for Trump as he marks the first MLK Day of his time in office.

“Don’t let the King Holiday find you using your Twitter account in an inappropriate way,” she told The Associated Press in an interview. “If he can dare to do that, I would be proud on that day that our president honored Dr. King by not doing things that are offensive.”

That the holiday is coming just days after Trump spewed a despicable attack on a host of countries made up predominantly of people of color, including basically the entire continent of Africa, makes King’s plea all the more urgent.

“Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” Trump whined during an Oval Office meeting on immigration, specifically referencing Haiti and El Salvador, as well as apparently all 54 African countries. He also suggested the U.S. bring in more people from Norway.

Ponder for a moment the main difference between Norway and the other countries Trump mentioned.

After the White House initially confirmed Trump’s comments, Trump later tried to deny he had made them. But Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, who was at the meeting, smacked down that transparent attempt.

“He said these hate-filled things, and he said them repeatedly,” Durbin noted.

And California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein was very clear: Trump’s “vile comments [are] despicable and beneath the dignity of the presidency.”

“If the president can’t control himself … then he shouldn’t be the president,” she declared.

Trump’s bigoted remarks were immediately and resoundingly condemned in much of the media, as well as the rest of the world — though of course, the GOP has been largely and very noticeably silent or dismissive of the importance of denouncing Trump.

Whether Trump manages to restrain himself on Martin Luther King Day and not tweet something offensive remains to be seen, and is far from guaranteed.

But even if he does, it would do vanishingly little to compensate for the ever-increasing racism and filth with which he is tarnishing the nation.