September 25, 2017

LeBron James Just Dunked On Donald Trump Again

“The people run this country—not one individual. And damn sure not him.” 

Following a weekend of demonstrations at pro football games across the country, NBA star LeBron James didn’t mince words about President Donald Trump’s role in fueling divisions in the United States on Monday. 

“The people run this country—not one individual,” James told reporters at the Cleveland Cavaliers’ media day on Monday. “And damn sure not him.” 

The remarks came after dozens of NFL players linked arms, knelt, and, in some cases, didn’t show up at all while the national anthem played before games on Sunday. The players’ demonstrations erupted after Trump, at a rally in Alabama on Friday, encouraged NFL owners to fire any “son of a bitch” who protested racial injustice during the national anthem, including former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. 

“We are at a time where the most powerful position in the world has an opportunity to bring us closer together as a people and inspire the youth and put the youth at ease on saying that it is okay for me to walk down the street and not be judged because of the color of my skin or because of my race,” James told reporters. “And he has no recollection of that. He doesn’t even care. Maybe he does. But he doesn’t care.”

James told reporters he didn’t regret calling Trump a “bum” on Twitter after the president announced he would withdraw an invitation to the Golden State Warriors to visit the White House. “He doesn’t understand the power that he has being the leader of this beautiful country,” he told reporters. 

“I’m not going to let one individual, no matter the power, no matter the impact he should have, or she should have, ever use sport as a platform to divide us,” James continued, adding that if he owned an NFL team, he’d sign the free agent Kaepernick to a contract “today.”  

Watch his full comments below (h/t @BenAxelrod): 

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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