MS NOW host Lawrence O’Donnell on Monday once again compared President Donald Trump to his reviled predecessor Richard Nixon, arguing the now-annual “No Kings” protests are historic because of the one central difference between them.

“If Donald Trump had ended his war in Iran the week before, all of the same people still would have turned out for the ‘No Kings’ protest,” he said. “They were protesting Donald Trump himself, the first person in American history to earn a nationwide protest against him.”

The “Last Word” host continued, “And that protest actually became worldwide on Saturday. And once again, Donald Trump, as an object of protest himself, set a record for the biggest mass protest in American history.”

He was reminded of David Podoff, an ex-board member of the Social Security Administration. O’Donnell, who was chief of staff at the Senate Finance Committee in the 1990s when he hired Podoff, said he was “the smartest person I have ever known” and didn’t like Trump.

O’Donnell recalled receiving an email from Podoff ahead of last year’s “No Kings” protests, detailing his plan at 85 to get arrested “on the green” in Lexington, Massachusetts, “where the revolution started getting rid of one king,” as an act of defiance against Trump.

O’Donnell explained that Podoff never got the chance, as he began having trouble breathing that day, required hospitalization, and died two weeks later. He noted that Podoff’s generation had continued protesting U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, even into old age.

“But then came Donald Trump,” said O’Donnell. “And on Saturday, Americans of all ages, from children to people in their 90s, came out to protest something America has never protested before. They were protesting a person. That had never happened before.”

He continued, “Plenty of Vietnam War protesters hated Richard Nixon, but they were not actually protesting Richard Nixon. They were protesting his war. If Richard Nixon had ended the Vietnam War, the protests would have stopped.”

O’Donnell went on to note that the “No Kings” protest, however, is specifically about Trump.

O’Donnell said he was reminded of Podoff after spotting a protester’s sign that read, “Smart People Don’t Like Me,” which Trump admitted about his own supporters last year, and said, “When he’s right, he’s right. But now there are Trump voters who don’t like him.”

Then, O’Donnell went on to play a clip of a former Trump voter from Staten Island, noting it’s “the only Republican section of New York City,” saying he was “a MAGA supporter from the very beginning” — but now feels “betrayed” by the president and his war on Iran.

“I believed in him,” said Giuseppe Palazzolo. “I thought he would end wars like he said in his campaign. He said he wouldn’t start wars. Say he’d bring peace to the Middle East. Now look at us. We’re knee deep in an illegal war. He hasn’t found the congressional approval. Now we’re further from peace and closer to catastrophe than ever before. I feel so betrayed.”

Watch the full “Last Word” segment on MS NOW’s YouTube account.

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