The NBA's 'In Big Trouble': Trump Rips the NBA for Bowing to China While They Protest the US
The president of the United States has never been known to hold his tongue, especially when it comes to athletes disrespecting the American flag and national anthem.
On Tuesday morning, during an interview on “Outkick the Coverage” with Fox Sports Radio host Clay Travis, Trump called out the NBA for its political hypocrisy.
While the league almost universally condemns the perceived inequality that supposedly runs rampant in America’s institutions, the majority of players, coaches and league officials have remained silent when it comes to the very real and provable human rights abuses being perpetrated by the country of China, one of the league’s most lucrative partners.
When asked about anthem kneeling, Trump argued that the NBA’s poor ratings have been directly caused by players disrespecting the flag and the country.
“I think it’s been horrible for basketball. Look at the basketball ratings, they’re down to very low numbers, very, very low numbers. People are angry about it,” Trump said.
“They have enough politics with guys like me, they don’t need more,” the president continued. “And there was a nastiness about the NBA the way it was done, too.
“So, I think that the NBA’s in trouble, I think it’s in big trouble, bigger trouble than they understand.”
Travis then brought up the NBA’s hypocrisy. While NBA coaches, players and officials are more than happy to fire back at Trump and criticize so-called “systemic racism” in America, they won’t do the same to the Chinese Communist Party.
“The NBA is taking billions of dollars from China. There are all sorts of human rights violations going on in China right now and none of the players and none of the coaches will say a word about that,” Travis said.
“Does it feel hypocritical that they will rip the United States, they won’t stand for the anthem, they’ll rip you as the president, but they won’t say a negative word about China at all?”
Trump didn’t hold back in his response.
“The way they cater to China, the way they bow to China, it’s a disgrace, frankly and they make a lot more money here than they do from China, but we have a system that allows you to disrespect your system and that’s too bad for them,” he said.
“They don’t appreciate what they have here.”
Not only has the NBA ignored the many crimes committed by the communist Chinese government, a recent report also suggest that the league may, in fact, be complicit.
According to an ESPN report published late last month, young players are being abused in the NBA’s China academies. The report also alleged that coaches had repeatedly warned league officials about the abuse, yet nothing was done to stop it.
One American coach went as far as to describe the project as “a sweat camp for athletes.” Another coach described the atmosphere as akin to “World War II Germany.”
Nonetheless, the NBA and its players have remained largely silent on China, instead opting to criticize a country that has offered more freedoms to more people than any other nation in the history of the planet.
On of the most vocal NBA players when it comes to criticizing America is none other than Lakers superstar LeBron James.
At the end of his interview with Trump, Travis asked the president to answer the one debate that has captured the minds of basketball fans for years — who is the better all-time player: Michael Jordan or James?
The president answered without skipping a beat.
“Michael Jordan. Well, I’ve seen them both. Michael Jordan is. Plus he wasn’t political so people like him better,” Trump said.
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