LeBron James latest Twitter debacle was so stupid and so mean-spirited that our favorite troll-in-chief, Former President Donald Trump couldn’t resist chiming in.
After the 36 year-old NBA star targeted a Columbus, Ohio police officer with a nefarious tweet aimed at getting his 50 million supporters enraged at him, Trump got up to his old tricks and delivered a searing rebuke to the athlete that was circulated online.
Of course, Trump isn’t on Twitter anymore, so his chiding of the L.A. Lakers main man came in the form of an official letter sent out from the former president’s office. Pro-Trump accounts circulated the terse response on Twitter, so it almost felt as if the president tweeted it out himself.
In the fancy, “official” letter, Trump refused to pull his punches. While he acknowledged that LeBron is a “great basketball player,” he said the mega millionaire ball player and Black Lives Matter supporter was a “racist” who is contributing to the political divide in the United States. And in true Trumpian fashion, the 45th president also made sure to remind James that the NBA ratings were at record lows. Classic.
Trump wrote on April 22, “LeBron James should focus on basketball rather than presiding over the destruction of the NBA, which has just recorded the lowest television ratings, by far, in the long and distinguished history of the league.” It’s almost as if the guy never left.
The former president continued: “His RACIST rants are divisive, nasty, insulting, and demeaning.” Say what you want about Trump’s tone, he’s not wrong. LeBron tweeting out an image of a white police officer with a caption stating “YOU’RE NEXT,” based on false assumptions about police officers’ treatment of the African American community is racist and demeaning – not to mention dangerous.
The police officer in question unfortunately killed an African American teenager who, in video footage, was clearly about to stab another child. Of course the loss of life was tragic, but for LeBron to ignore the harsh realities of the incident, paint it as a situation where a white officer with a gun targeted a poor black girl due to racist intent, and then encourage a mob to show him its version of justice is exactly as bad as Trump described.
Trump concluded his short address to the NBA champion saying, “He may be a great basketball player, but he is doing nothing to bring our Country together!” It is quite ironic, when several of James’ tweets featured his cry for “ACCOUNTABILITY” for the justice system, but he uses his platform of nearly 50 million followers to spread lies about that system.
Trump’s right about James. If his recent tweets aren’t divisive then what the heck is?
