A report in The Hill published this week incorrectly identified former Alabama Gov. George Wallace as a Republican when, in fact, the infamous segregationist was a Democrat.
“Actor Kiefer Sutherland sees similarities between GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump and former Alabama Gov. George Wallace (R),” the Hill’s Mark Hensch wrote Wednesday. The Hill has since corrected the error.
The article, titled “Kiefer Sutherland: Trump recalls segregationist George Wallace,” details how Sutherland, a Canadian-born actor, sees the GOP front-runner as a modern day version of the infamous segregationist.
“You have to go back to that first Nixon campaign where Wallace managed to garner [9 million] Republican votes spewing kind of similar rhetoric to that of Donald Trump,” Sutherland said. He added that the 2016 election has been “one of the most unusual political cycles” that he has ever seen.
“But that’s why he didn’t get the nomination and why he ultimately lost the election,” Sutherland said, referring to the former governor’s multiple failed bids for the White House.
Wallace, who first ran for president in 1964 as a Democrat, and again in 1968 as an independent, is perhaps best remembered for declaring during his 1963 inaugural address, “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever!”
Hensch isn’t alone in claiming incorrectly that Wallace belonged to the GOP. In 2013, during an evening broadcast of “All in With Chris Hayes,” an MSNBC banner identified the Alabama governor as a Republican.
Hayes later apologized for the error.
“It’s a stupid, inexcusable and historically illiterate mistake. We’ll correct it on-air tonight,” Hayes said in a statement provided to TheBlaze. “I should have caught it and apologize to viewers for not catching it.”
The MSNBC host made good on his word and issued an on-air apology for the mistake.
