Jesse Jackson has turned away from denouncing America’s faults to proclaiming, “This is the best America’s ever been!”  If you’re wondering what brought about this miraculous transformation, the answer is simple: Donald Trump.

Margaret Talev of Bloomberg reports on a rally (or was it a church service?) Jackson addressed at tax-exempt (and therefore supposedly nonpartisan – Hello, IRS! Oh wait, that’s right: the rules don’t apply to Democrats) First Nazareth Baptist Church in Columbia, South Carolina yesterday:

The morning after Donald Trump won the state’s Republican presidential primary, Jackson, the longtime civil rights figure and past presidential candidate, came to this large church a mile from where the Confederate flag finally came down last year with a prayer, and a prophecy. He was blunt: If they don’t turn out to vote in the general election in November, Republicans, perhaps at the hands of a billionaire reality-TV star, will tear down the progress of Barack Obama’s two terms as the nation’s first black president.

“I hear the phrase, ‘Make America great again,’” said Jackson, reciting Trump’s campaign slogan with a tone of disbelief. “This is the best America’s ever been!”

But before you start giving Trump credit for transforming Jackson’s heart, Jackson is claiming that Trump is speaking in racist code:

He called Trump’s slogan a “throwback in time,” a coded message to appeal to white voters with a nostalgia for the Old South, and said there is a “tug of war for the soul of America” under way. By not voting, Jackson said, "We're building our own wall."

“So much we’ve fought for is now in jeopardy again,” Jackson said. “There’s a toxic wind blowing in the country today” and a “violent undercurrent” to the political debate.