‘Vile’: Twitter STUNNED When Trump Adviser Stephen Moore Calls Coronavirus Protesters ‘Modern-Day Rosa Parks’

Stephen A. Moore, a member of the “Opening Our Country Council” announced by Trump this week, drew fierce backlash for saying that demonstrators protesting social distancing measures are like civil rights icon Rosa Parks, who was arrested for refusing to obey a racist segregation law.

On Friday, The Washington Post published an article in which Moore compared the protesters — some of whom carried Confederate flags and signs featuring swastikas — explicitly with Rosa Parks:

“I think there’s a boiling point that has been reached and exceeded,” said Stephen Moore, a conservative economist. Moore is a member of both the White House council to reopen the country and a coalition of conservative leaders and activists seeking to push government officials to relax stay-at-home orders.

“I call these people the modern-day Rosa Parks — they are protesting against injustice and a loss of liberties,” Moore said of the protesters.

The comparison drew stunned reactions from prominent Twitter users. Moore’s quote really blew up when Bill Kristol tweeted about it, calling it “strikingly stupid and deeply offensive.”

Congratulations to Trump adviser Stephen Moore on a comment at once strikingly stupid and deeply offensive.
“I call these people the modern-day Rosa Parks — they are protesting against injustice and a loss of liberties.” https://t.co/2V1mhWFDC9 pic.twitter.com/TJIa4EZnap

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) April 18, 2020

Journalists and other prominent figures piled on Moore, and defended the towering legacy of Rosa Parks.

Stephen Moore, who has never met a black woman he didn’t love to interrupt, is comparing the people protesting the stay-at-home protestors to Rosa Parks. https://t.co/lWE7lNnsZS pic.twitter.com/SeSyASnfsz

— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) April 18, 2020

I remember when Rosa Parks was waving around a confederate flag because she wanted to go back to some pork plant and work for minimum wage before contracting a virus and dying.

They don’t teach you that in the history books

— Imani Gandy ☄️?? (@AngryBlackLady) April 18, 2020

A guy who said Trump's first act as prez was kicking a black family (the Obamas) out of public housing says right-wing activists protesting social distancing measures to protect the public from a deadly virus are like Rosa Parks.

Just let that one set in. https://t.co/IJt23zUtXC

— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) April 18, 2020

#RosaParks couldn’t eat where she wanted, sit where she wanted, get jobs she was qualified for or vote. The right-wing protesters incited by #Trump demand the right to endanger everyone so they lawn fertilizer and get their roots dyed. #Coronavirus https://t.co/CxjA50a9Fx

— Maya Wiley (@mayawiley) April 18, 2020

Could you have imagined the outcome if Rosa brought a gun to the bus?

White House adviser Stephen Moore repeatedly compared right-wing protesters who oppose coronavirus safety measures to Rosa Parks, the civil rights icon who fought for racial equality. https://t.co/u9ozzAtXpO

— Scott Huffman For Congress (@HuffmanForNC) April 18, 2020

Rosa Parks and every other soul that participated in the Montgomery Bus Boycott endured more than 380 days of harassment, assaults and firebombings. They woke up on 380 mornings, one after the other, knowing they were putting their lives at risk. https://t.co/gorXJFQjce

— Brian Lyman (@lyman_brian) April 18, 2020

Well, they’re close to Rosa Parks. They would have been driving the bus. https://t.co/GIC52px7RA

— Peter Sagal (@petersagal) April 18, 2020

“I call these people the modern-day Rosa Parks—they are protesting against injustice & a loss of liberties,” Stephen Moore said of protesters who want to leave their houses.

A bunch of selfish assholes are…Rosa Parks? Vile, even for Moore https://t.co/9kjIodUuc2

— Lauren Wolfe (@Wolfe321) April 18, 2020

Rosa Parks is in the news today—for the wrong reasons. If your kids ask you about her, here’s an excellent introhttps://t.co/orqnKybtKf @NGKids

— David Beard (@dabeard) April 18, 2020

sure juuust like Rosa Parks https://t.co/k5lpWMxESI pic.twitter.com/ybqR39H72W

— Daniel Burke (@BurkeCNN) April 18, 2020

White House economic advisor Stephen Moore says Americans protesting stay-at-home orders are “modern-day Rosa Parks.”

“I call these people the modern-day Rosa Parks — they are protesting against injustice and a loss of liberties.”

A clip to remind everyone who Moore is: https://t.co/zobg4uzKJR

— Dr. Hana Ali (@Hana4House) April 18, 2020

.@StephenMoore is a dangerous charlatan and fool. He calls the protesters he's egging on, modern-day Rosa Parks. Seems he knows less about history than he does about economics. #coronavirus

— Gregg Gonsalves (@gregggonsalves) April 18, 2020

“Modern-day Rosa Parks”https://t.co/HTJRBkuVWZ

— jessica from 6’ away? (@jessicashortall) April 18, 2020

Stephen Moore is one of the least qualified people in America to speak on Rosa Parks. https://t.co/66FPaTyFe9

— Max Burns (@themaxburns) April 18, 2020

Moore made similar comments on a Youtube show several days earlier, when he told Freedom on Tap’s John Caldera that he was helping to organize the protests, and saying “This is a great time, gentlemen and ladies, for civil disobedience. We need to be the Rosa Parks here and protest against these government injustices.”

“So this is a great time, gentlemen and ladies, for civil disobedience," Moore said. "We need to be the Rosa Parks here and protest against these government injustices.”

— Patrick Marley (@patrickdmarley) April 17, 2020

Watch the video here (Not to mention another unbelievable clip of Moore).

In this case, Moore appears to be comparing himself to Rosa Parks, as well.

Vile, indeed.