Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Ken Martin is getting hammered by Republicans for comparing the United States under President Donald Trump to Iran’s Islamic theocracy, accusing both of showing “authoritarian behavior.”
The comments from Martin came amid protests in Minneapolis and across the nation in the wake of last week’s fatal shooting of a 37-year-old Minnesota woman and mother of three by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent and in the midst of a wave of massive demonstrations against Iran’s cleric-controlled government in recent weeks.
“From Tehran to my birthplace of Minneapolis, people are rising up against systems that wield violence without accountability. In Iran, brave protestors confront a far-right theocratic regime that crushes dissent and denies basic freedoms,” Martin wrote.
The DNC chair, a former longtime Minnesota state party chair, first made the comparison in a social media post last Sunday.
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He added, “Here at home, tens of thousands are marching after the fatal ICE shooting of Renee Good — demanding justice, transparency, and an end to an unchecked federal force that takes lives and tears families apart. Solidarity across borders means opposing authoritarian power everywhere and defending the right to live free from fear and state violence.”
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, a top Trump ally in the Senate and a longtime proponent of a muscular U.S. foreign policy, bashed Martin.
“Number one, Ken Martin is a worthless piece of crap,” Graham charged in an appearance on Fox News’ “Hannity.” “Can you imagine this guy fighting for freedom? To compare President Trump and the Trump regime to the ayatollah means you got the worst case of Trump derangement syndrome in the world. Go to hell.”
The DNC chair, reacting to Graham’s attack, claimed the senator is “a sniveling coward and a Trump bootlicker who hasn’t had a strongly held conviction in decades. I will wear his condemnation as a badge of honor.”
And in an MS NOW interview earlier this week, Martin argued that “people are very concerned that basic rights and human rights in this country are being violated by its own government … this is now who we should be as America, but it’s unfortunately who we’ve become under this administration.”
But RNC national press secretary Kiersten Pels claimed Friday in a statement to Fox News Digital that “this is a desperate ploy from a man who drove the DNC into financial ruin and political irrelevancy. Ken Martin is so unhinged that he’s comparing Tehran to Minneapolis and encouraging violent obstruction of federal law enforcement.”
Democrats are energized, thanks in large part to their pushback against Trump and his sweeping and unprecedented moves in his first year back in the White House. And Martin’s controversial comments appear to be getting a thumbs up from his own party.
“I think everyone is giving Ken a pass because he is from Minnesota and Minnesota has not been able to catch a break recently,” a DNC committee member who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely told Fox News Digital. “So this is very raw, very personal, and very hurtful for him.”
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Asked about Martin’s comparison, DNC committee member and longtime Democratic strategist Maria Cardona told Fox News Digital, “Ken Martin is not comparing Iran’s autocracy to Trump’s America. He is comparing Iran’s autocracy to Trump’s autocracy, specifically the absolute immunity Trump has given these lawless ICE agents, their lack of training, their being hired without background checks, and the $50,000 bonuses that guarantee that those ICE agents out there have no interest in and have no idea how to follow the law and how to properly and lawfully track down violent criminal undocumented immigrants.”
And veteran Democratic consultant Joe Caiazzo, asked about Martin’s comments, charged that “from the rhetoric deployed to policies enacted, and executive orders issued, it’s clear Donald Trump would love to be a dictator.”
A source at the DNC told Fox News Digital “everyone is supporting the general gist of what he is saying.” Meaning, a spokesperson for the rival Republican National Committee (RNC) argued on Friday that Martin is “unhinged.”
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The conservative-leaning Wall Street Journal editorial board, in an opinion piece, criticized Martin.
“Overwrought rhetoric on domestic affairs is one thing. Yoking a false image of U.S. authoritarianism to the freedom struggle in Iran is morally obtuse. It’s a slur against his own country,” the board wrote in an opinion piece. “It also undermines the Iranian people, who count on the U.S. and call desperately for its help, to say that America is yet another murderous tyranny, comparable to their own. Mr. Martin essentially told Iranians that the U.S. is on the side of their regime.”
After Martin’s comparison sparked fiery backlash on social media, he doubled down.
“If comparing the U.S. to Iran makes you angry, ask why. Killing protesters. Crushing dissent. Kidnapping and disappearing legal citizens. Ignoring courts. Threatening critics. Terrorizing communities. That’s authoritarian behavior—anywhere. If you’re rushing to defend it, maybe the problem isn’t the comparison. Trump keeps pushing it, Americans aren’t buying it, and Minneapolis won’t be silent,” Martin said in an additional post on X.
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The trio of national polls released this week indicated that a majority of Americans give a thumbs down to how ICE is carrying out Trump’s push for the mass deportation of millions of undocumented migrants. But there’s a wide partisan divide, with Republicans supportive of ICE and the president.
Cardona emphasized that “Trump and ICE are losing public opinion over this, as a majority of Americans know that this should not happen in the United States of America.”
And Martin, in his appearance on MS NOW, argued that “if Donald Trump thinks what he’s doing in Minneapolis is going to improve his poll numbers, I think he has another thing coming.”
Meanwhile, in Iran, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reports at least 2,677 people have been killed in the protests. Other reports say the death toll is over 3,000, with the real number likely to be significantly higher.
The protests against Iran’s dire economic conditions, which have rapidly escalated in recent days, are seen as some of the most violent since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that installed the current system of clerical rule.
