Trump’s Twitter slam of LeBron renews charges of racism
President Donald Trump faced renewed accusations of racism Saturday after mocking the intelligence of Los Angeles Lakers player LeBron James and broadcaster Don Lemon of CNN.
Trump took to Twitter late Friday night to bash Lemon after his interview Monday with James and ended up slamming the celebrity athlete, too. In the interview, James reiterated his criticism of the president as racially insensitive.
“Lebron James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, Don Lemon. He made Lebron look smart, which isn’t easy to do. I like Mike!” Trump posted, apparently in reference to former NBA superstar Michael Jordan.
In stark contrast, a spokeswoman for first lady Melania Trump issued a statement on her behalf Saturday praising James and complimenting his work on behalf of children.
Trump’s criticism of the intelligence of James and Lemon, who are both Black, comes after he has repeatedly referred to Rep. Maxine Waters, DCalif., one of the most prominent African-American members of Congress and a fervent Trump critic, as being “an extraordinarily low IQ person.”
During his campaign and presidency, Trump frequently has used racially charged language, particularly in talking about Latino immigrants. He faced his strongest backlash nearly a year ago.
PORTLAND— The now-disbanded voting integrity commission launched by the Trump administration to investigate the 2016 presidential election uncovered no evidence to support the president’s claims of widespread voter fraud, according to an analysis of administration documents released.
In a letter to Vice-President Mike Pence and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who are both Republicans and led the commission, Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap said the documents show there was a “preordained outcome” and that drafts of a commission report included a section on evidence of voter fraud that was “glaringly empty.” “It’s calling into the darkness, looking for voter fraud,” Dunlap, a Democrat, told The Associated Press. “There’s no real evidence of it anywhere.”
Republican President Donald Trump convened the commission to investigate the 2016 presidential election after making unsubstantiated claims that between 3 million and 5 million ballots were illegally cast. Critics, including Dunlap, reject his claims of widespread voter fraud. The Trump administration last month complied with a court order to turn over documents from the voting integrity commission to Dunlap. The commission met just twice and has not issued a report. Dunlap’s findings received immediate pushback Friday from Kobach, who acted as vice chair of the commission while Pence served as chair.
“For some people, no matter how many cases of voter fraud you show them, there will never be enough for them to admit that there’s a problem,” said Kobach, who is running for Kansas governor and has a good chance of unseating the incumbent, Jeff Colyer, in the Republican primary Tuesday.
“It appears that Secretary Dunlap is wilfully blind to the voter fraud in front of his nose,” Kobach said in a statement released by his spokesman.