In a break from past presidential traditions, including his own first term, President Donald Trump has not recognized January 19, 2026 as Martin Luther King Jr. Day. through any statement, proclamation or official activity.
The federal holiday honoring the slain civil rights leader’s work to end segregation and racism falls on the third Monday in January.
Trump spent the day at his Mar-a-Lago estate. He is scheduled to attend the College Football Playoff in Miami this evening.
The White House did not immediately respond when asked on January 19 whether Trump planned to recognize the day, or King’s legacy.
Trump’s only social media post on the morning of Jan. 19 called for voter ID requirements, a measure opposed by civil rights groups because racial minorities are more likely to lack state-issued identification. White House social media accounts posted about ICE and Trump’s accomplishments in his first year in office after being contacted by USA TODAY.
Congress created Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and only he can stop its official observance. President Ronald Reagan signed the King Holiday Bill into law on November 2, 1983, designating the third Monday in January as a federal holiday in observance of the civil rights leader.
Trump is the first president not to issue an official proclamation recognizing Martin Luther King Jr. Day. since Reagan made it a holiday.
Most presidents, including Trump in his first term, have also acknowledged the holiday through acts of service, memorial celebrations, speeches or laying a wreath at the King monument on the National Mall.
For example, in 2023 President Joe Biden gave a speech at Martin Luther King Jr.’s church. In 2008, then President George W. Bush spoke at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library. in Washington, DC In 2007, Bush participated in a day of volunteer service at a local high school.
President Donald Trump has declared that peace is not “purely” his priority after the Nobel Peace Prize snub as he defends tariffs on control of Greenland.
Trump’s return to the White House on January 20, 2025 was a historic convergence with Inauguration Day coinciding with Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The then President Joe Biden signed a proclamation before leaving office.
Trump has made rolling back diversity, equity and inclusion programs a top priority of his second administration.
Last year, the Pentagon stopped the observance of Black History Month and this year the Trump administration eliminated Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth from the National Park Service’s lineup of free days (and added Trump’s birthday instead).
Trump marked the holiday during his first term. Before his inauguration in 2017, Trump called on Americans to observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day. and “celebrating all the many wonderful things he stood for” shortly before meeting Martin Luther King III at Trump Tower.
In 2018, he signed an official proclamation, but was criticized for not appearing in public.
Then in 2019 and 2020, Trump signed a proclamation and made visits to lay a wreath at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, DC in the holiday. He also signed a proclamation in 2021 before leaving office.
Trump’s most recent proclamation, signed on January 16, recognized Religious Freedom Day. It is the third proclamation he has signed since the beginning of the new year.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donald Trump does not recognize Martin Luther King, Jr. Day