Former President Donald Trump is frequently compared to Jesus Christ by some of his followers and he's put himself out there as a modern-day Abraham Lincoln.
But it was his effort to stand alongside Nelson Mandela that saw him brutally roasted by a Washington Post columnist Friday.
Trump last week compared his struggles with the legal system, specifically the criminal hush money trial that's set to start on Monday, with those Mandela, the South African dissident who spent 27 years in prison and helped defeat Apartheid, before rising to found the country's modern government.
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The comparison proved Trump is "definitely delusional," Mandela's grandson Zwelivelile “Mandla” Mandela told the Times of London.
And Dana Milbank of The Washington Post demonstrated the absurdity with a scorching and sarcasting op-ed outlining just how the two figures are "alike."
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"The similarities are uncanny!" wrote Milbank.
For example, he rattled off:
"Mandela led the African National Congress. Trump led white nationalists to attack Congress.
"Mandela did 18 years of hard labor on Robben Island. Trump made the hard decisions for 14 seasons on 'The Apprentice.'
"Mandela won the Nobel Peace Prize with F.W. DeKlerk for abolishing apartheid. Trump won both the Club Championship trophy and Senior Club Championship trophy at Trump International Golf Club.
"Mandela built the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to heal South Africa. Trump built Truth Social after he got kicked off of Twitter."
Veering into seriousness, Milbank pointed out a quote from Mandela that represents the antithesis of the Trump movement's values: “It is not our diversity which divides us; it is not our ethnicity, or religion or culture that divides us. Since we have achieved our freedom, there can only be one division amongst us: between those who cherish democracy and those who do not.”
This contrasts with Trump's repeated attacks on the democratic process and his vow to be a dictator "on day one."
In that sense, Milbank concluded, Trump "is heir not to Mandela but to his jailers."
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