Trump doesn’t mess with LeBron on his home turf
Donald Trump insulted LeBron James from afar but passed up an opportunity to criticise him on his own turf.
Donald Trump insulted LeBron James from afar but passed up an opportunity to criticise him on his turf, sticking to Democrats and the media during a campaign rally in the basketball star’s home state of Ohio.
When Mr Trump took the stage in a sweltering high-school gymnasium north of Columbus on Saturday night (yesterday AEST), his late-night tweet deriding James’s intellect had already generated hours of online buzz in defence of the all-star from Akron who had just opened a school for at-risk children in his hometown.
Even first lady Melania Trump provided an assist to James, her spokeswoman saying it appeared to the President’s wife the Cleveland Cavaliers forward was “working to do good things on behalf of our next generation” and Mrs Trump would be open to visiting his “I Promise” school.
CNN’s Don Lemon spoke to James at the school and the interview included a negative assessment of the President, whom James said has “kind of used sports to kind of divide us”.
Just before midnight on Friday, Mr Trump tweeted: “Lebron (sic) 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!”
Among the athletes jumping to James’s support was “Mike,” also known as NBA legend Michael Jordan, who said: “I support LeBron James. He’s doing an amazing job for his community.”
James retweeted a post from the “I Promise” school and said: “Let’s get it kids!! Love you guys”.
Mr Trump rarely allows a slight to pass unanswered, but James appeared off-limits by the time the President crossed the Ohio border to campaign for state senator Troy Balderson in Lewis Centre, Orange Township. Senator Balderson is the Republican in a special US House of Representatives election tomorrow.
His opponent, Democrat Danny O’Connor, tweeted: “I don’t have to tell *anyone* what LeBron James means to Ohio”.
In remarks lasting more than an hour, Mr Trump assailed many other critics while arguing that Republicans needed to control congress and casting the midterms as a referendum on himself.
He questioned the idea that, historically, the party that controls the White House suffers in the midterms, declaring “but I say why?”.
“Why would there be a blue wave? I think it could be a red wave,” Mr Trump said of his party’s prospects in November.
“They want to take away what we’ve given. And we’re doing a lot of things people don’t even know about.”
He blasted the media as “fake news”, saying journalists “were terrible people”, and went on a screed against illegal immigration.
Mr Trump touted Senator Balderson’s record on crime and immigration and claimed that Mr O’Connor, if he won, would be a “puppet” of Nancy Pelosi, who stands to reclaim the House speakership if Democrats seize control of the body in November.
He also gave an onstage hug to representative Jim Jordan, who is under siege after allegations that, as an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State University, he knew of alleged sexual abuse by a team doctor but did not report it.
The Ohio rally was Mr Trump’s third of the week and he has pledged to accelerate his pace as the midterms approach.
He travelled to Orange area from his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey, where he is on an 11-day holiday.
AP
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