Yes, that’s the kind of argument that I’m writing against. I’ve not heard anything re: abuse, but yes, there are allegations of extramarital affairs and of plagiarism. In my view, they are insignificant relative to the good things. I love Trump, but can accept that he’s clearly not been perfect in his marriages, and likely not even in his business affairs.
And yes, appealing to King could be seen as pandering, but I don’t think so. His leadership, and the movement he led, did help correct a certain degree of mismatch between our founding ideals and our actual practices (caused mostly by Democrats not coincidentally). In doing so, in my view, they reinforced the power of those founding ideals, and thus contributed substantially to the greatness of America.
Have you looked at Selma lately?