Over the weekend, President Trump made it clear that he is strongly considering sending U.S. troops into Nigeria, to stop the killings of Christians by Muslim groups, killings he says are permitted by Nigeria’s government. You would think that most people, especially people of faith, would be outraged by what’s taking place in Nigeria, and welcome Trump’s words. Not so for Reverend Al Sharpton, who made that clear on the Sunday edition of MSNBC’s Politics Nation.
Sharpton’s guest was the House Democrat Whip, Congresswoman Katherine Clark of Massachusetts. He led off the interview by talking to her about the government shutdown, but before he let her go, he weighed in on the situation in Nigeria.
SHARPTON: Trump has threatened military action in Nigeria…He has directed the Pentagon to draw up plans to go in, quote, “guns a-blazing,” if the country doesn’t do more to address alleged mass killings of thousands of Christians by Islamic extremists. Trump of course offered no details or facts, or things that we could really lock down and say this is what we see happening.
“Alleged” massacre of Christians? This isn’t fake news, like Tawana Brawley’s claims. Take the European Parliament, which reported “Between 2019 and 2023, nearly 17,000 Christians were killed in targeted attacks because of their faith. In just the first seven months of 2025, more than 7,000 victims were reported.”
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Reverend Al the alleged Christian took it a step further.
SHARPTON: But he’s threatened to deny all aid to Nigeria if it doesn’t comply. He’s also reclassified Nigeria as a country of concern, as he had during his first term. I have to point out like Venezuela, Nigeria is a top oil producer, and it’s interesting, he’s only choosing non-white countries, where in Ukraine and other places, he seems to be a lot more — less aggressive with his language, in terms of coming in with guns blazing at Russia.
I’m sorry, did I miss Sharpton’s concern, any concern, one bit of concern, for the Christians who are, even allegedly, being killed by Muslims in Nigeria? And he wasn’t about to ask the Congresswoman what she might know about it. Instead, he wanted to know when Congress will “reclaim its war powers” from Trump. And Clark was more than happy to comply. Her answer made no mention of the Christians, but attacked Trump for “acting like a King” and for the hits on ships out of Venezuela, that are allegedly making drug runs.
Earlier in the interview, Sharpton did asked her about her comments made on October 16th to Fox News’s Chad Pergram, in response to a question about the risk that the Democrats could get blamed for the government shutdown, for failing to pass the bill to open the government in the Senate.
Sharpton said “Last month you said the shutdown would hurt the American people, but you were criticized by Republicans for calling it as a leverage point for Democrats.”
Clark didn’t seem thrilled but get a load of her response: “Well out of respect for you Rev, I will address the argument of Republicans from that I did a while ago, and just say that it is BS. It is a highly edited clip.”
Whoa! A highly edited clip. I think not. I recently watched the whole 28 minute interview. Here’s the Q and A, unedited that made news.
PERGRAM: I understand the math in the Senate. I understand the healthcare position for the Democrats. No responsibility on the Democrats? You don’t think that the public will perceive that the Democrats are responsible.
CLARK: I mean shutdowns are terrible. And of course there will be you know, families that are going to suffer, we take that responsibility very seriously. But it is one of the few leverage times we have. It is an inflection point in this budget process…”
She then immediately went back to Dem talking points. That answer was not edited. She said what she said.
All in all, it was quite a show. But let none of us lose sight of the fact that neither Reverend Al, nor the second ranking Democrat in the House, uttered one word of concern about the Christians of Nigeria. Sadly, going after “King” Trump trumped that horror.
