Not really. The First things reveal the motive of the comparison. He could have chosen countless civil disobedience examples. He chose the one he chose of a reason. It matters profoundly. He is morphing into a good liberal by using an emotional example.
My point is that people equate “compare” and “equate”. It’s a dishonest trick. Making a comparison is not the same as saying they are the same. In fact, comparisons are more often made to point out differences.