Donald Trump– president at the moment of the US– has disinvited basketball great from a White House visit with his team, the Golden State Warriors.
Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team.Stephen Curry is hesitating,therefore invitation is withdrawn!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017
The result is a Twitter storm. Just prior to this, Trump attacked exiled NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick in what many consider a racist speech in Alabama last night.
“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, you’d say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He’s fired,” Trump said to loud applause.
Trump added: “You know what’s hurting the game?” he asked. “When people like yourselves turn on television and you see those people taking the knee when they’re playing our great national anthem.”
On Twitter and among people with an IQ over 3, “those people” is clearly directed at black players who are taking the knee, and not standing for The Star Spangled Banner. Kaepernick and Curry are both African Americans.
Curry had stated earlier on Friday that he would decline the invite from the White House. “My views haven’t changed at all. I don’t know if anybody’s changed. But that’s where I stand right now,” Curry said on Friday during the Warriors’ press day. “I don’t want to go. That’s my nucleus of my belief.”
Trump is really taking some major risks now. Sports is bigger than politics, and he’s gambling on creating twin controversies in basketball and football. Second, as with President Obama, the people he’s attacking are black. As with John McCain– who he called a loser for being captured in the Vietnam War– Trump is creating enemies with long memories.
