Trump goes after LeBron

[Fuzzy Bear]

Obviously, Trump hates and fears successful black people. How one could not come to this conclusion is beyond me. He regularly mocks any black person who attacks him and he's shown quite a bit of disdain for African American achievements.

He is a quintessential racist for that reason. The only thing that angers him more than an 'insubordinate' woman is an 'insubordinate' black person. He will (very rarely) acknowledge those few that support him, but the ones that stand opposed to him or are neutral, enrage him.

He regularly mocks ANYONE who attacks him, regardless of race, ethnicity, or gender.  This isn't how I'd go about being President, but let's be real about context here.  

Lebron James relentlessly attacks Trump.  He's getting the pushback Trump gives everyone who opposes him.  Part of equality means that when you step into political arenas, you take on flak just like a white male would.  Truthfully, I can't think of an example of someone who Trump has flamed in a Tweet that was someone who was sincerely offering some kind of olive branch.  He flames his enemies; people who wish him ill.  A moral argument can be made that Trump should be "bigger" than this.  A practical argument is that the political graveyard is full of "bigger" folks.  Trump's about "winning".  This sort of sets the course, does it not?  People can make up their own minds about this at the ballot box.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Obviously, Trump hates and fears successful black people. How one could not come to this conclusion is beyond me. He regularly mocks any black person who attacks him and he's shown quite a bit of disdain for African American achievements.

He is a quintessential racist for that reason. The only thing that angers him more than an 'insubordinate' woman is an 'insubordinate' black person. He will (very rarely) acknowledge those few that support him, but the ones that stand opposed to him or are neutral, enrage him.

He regularly mocks ANYONE who attacks him, regardless of race, ethnicity, or gender.  This isn't how I'd go about being President, but let's be real about context here.  

Lebron James relentlessly attacks Trump.  He's getting the pushback Trump gives everyone who opposes him.  Part of equality means that when you step into political arenas, you take on flak just like a white male would.  Truthfully, I can't think of an example of someone who Trump has flamed in a Tweet that was someone who was sincerely offering some kind of olive branch.  He flames his enemies; people who wish him ill.  A moral argument can be made that Trump should be "bigger" than this.  A practical argument is that the political graveyard is full of "bigger" folks.  Trump's about "winning".  This sort of sets the course, does it not?  People can make up their own minds about this at the ballot box.

Did you read anything I wrote? Evidently not.

Yes I did, and I can derail politically self-serving narratives as well as the next poster.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Let's see...

White right-wing regularly complains black culture is all thugging, rapping, and fking.  Black man starts school to help disadvantaged black and brown kids so they can either go to college or learn a trade.

What does white right-wing, especially its leader, the President of the United States, do?

Bitch and complain about black people!!

That's fine, but Lebron jumped into the political arena with both feet.  It's not like he's some small charity director who made a negative comment about Trump in a local newspaper and Trump pounced on it.  Lebron is actively marshalling opposition to Trump, and he has the media access to do this effectively.

[Fuzzy Bear]

He regularly mocks ANYONE who attacks him, regardless of race, ethnicity, or gender.  This isn't how I'd go about being President, but let's be real about context here. 

Lebron James relentlessly attacks Trump.  He's getting the pushback Trump gives everyone who opposes him.  Part of equality means that when you step into political arenas, you take on flak just like a white male would.  Truthfully, I can't think of an example of someone who Trump has flamed in a Tweet that was someone who was sincerely offering some kind of olive branch.  He flames his enemies; people who wish him ill.  A moral argument can be made that Trump should be "bigger" than this.  A practical argument is that the political graveyard is full of "bigger" folks.  Trump's about "winning".  This sort of sets the course, does it not?  People can make up their own minds about this at the ballot box.

How about it's just wrong and disgusting what he said, regardless of what they may have said about him...

or whether he's done this before...

or whether he's President or not...?

When you enter the political arena, you get pushback.

Lebron James entered the political arena against Trump.  He gets pushback for that.

[Fuzzy Bear]

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Looks like the Orange Tangerine's "great plan of attack" has backfired. Even with his own wife.
Oops.

LOL

Hillary wouldn't have double-crossed Bill that way, lol.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Trump's comments were incredibly stupid, as have his general fights with professional athletes.  But, it is also equally stupid that LeBron James, who I believe has a very good heart as evidenced by his charity work, supports Democrats.  If Democrats had their way, we would never have known who he was, as he was their perfect candidate for abortion (in that he was born to a lower class, single, teenage mother).  Thankfully, his mom chose life and we get to witness one of the greatest athletes of all time, but the abortion rate for his exact circumstances of conception probably pushes 50%.

How exactly is abortion relevant to this discussion?

ExtremeConservative is notoriously obsessed with abortion.

He's the epitome of a one-issue voter. 

He views abortion as the taking of a fully human life, as I do.

Unlike ExtremeConservative, I'm not convinced that the GOP really wants abortion to be outlawed.  They talk a lot about it, but they expend no political capital to advance the pro-life cause.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Obviously, Trump hates and fears successful black people. How one could not come to this conclusion is beyond me. He regularly mocks any black person who attacks him and he's shown quite a bit of disdain for African American achievements.

He is a quintessential racist for that reason. The only thing that angers him more than an 'insubordinate' woman is an 'insubordinate' black person. He will (very rarely) acknowledge those few that support him, but the ones that stand opposed to him or are neutral, enrage him.

He regularly mocks ANYONE who attacks him, regardless of race, ethnicity, or gender.  This isn't how I'd go about being President, but let's be real about context here.  

Lebron James relentlessly attacks Trump.  He's getting the pushback Trump gives everyone who opposes him.  Part of equality means that when you step into political arenas, you take on flak just like a white male would.  Truthfully, I can't think of an example of someone who Trump has flamed in a Tweet that was someone who was sincerely offering some kind of olive branch.  He flames his enemies; people who wish him ill.  A moral argument can be made that Trump should be "bigger" than this.  A practical argument is that the political graveyard is full of "bigger" folks.  Trump's about "winning".  This sort of sets the course, does it not?  People can make up their own minds about this at the ballot box.

But....by every empirical and fair standard conceivable...Trump deserves it.

Has Trump EVER done or said anything this decade that truly warranted "extending an olive branch"?

In a word, no.

No one deserves forgiveness, either.

The drug dealers on streetcorners or wherever that are selling drugs for easy money that Lebron James provides a certain amount of apologia for though his advocacies don't DESERVE forgiveness.  They deserve PRISON TIME, hard and swift.  They are death merchants, just as surely as pill mill doctors are, and their tough personal circumstances don't make their victims any less dead when they overdose.  They may not deserve as much prison time as the man that ran over a woman at Charlottesville, VA, but they don't deserve forgiveness any more than he does.

The remorseless criminals who live in the midst of the neighborhoods Lebron James professes to care about (and I believe he really does care) don't deserve forgiveness.  They deserve to be removed from the communities they live in, so that those who do not commit violent crimes can be safe from those who do.  The persons in those communities who refuse to call police on those who knowingly perpetuate violence do not deserve forgiveness; they deserve public scorn and shaming for their cowardice, especially when they decide to become vocal about issues involving the police (who are NOT the main source of danger in those communities).  They may deserve some understanding of their circumstances that a white, middle class person (we'll call that person, say, "Rural" Meyer") covering up the domestic violence of his assistant, but they are no more deserving of forgiveness.

Al Sharpton does not deserve forgiveness for putting innocent police officers through ordeal during the Tawana Brawley hoax.  Jesse Jackson does not deserve forgiveness for calling New York City "H----town" in 1984, publicly, and unapologetically.  None of these people are any more deserving of forgiveness than David Duke and his ilk.  Mike Nifong, who maliciously prosecuted members of the Duke Lacrosse team is no more DESERVING of forgiveness than the prosecutor who unjustly prosecuted the Scottsboro Boys (even though one may deserve a harsher penalty than the other).

And, yet, God commands us to Love Our Enemies.  Jesus commanded this of his Disciples; it was not a suggestion.

This is why our criminal justice system ought be tempered with mercy.  Why it should safeguard the rights of all accused.  Why the judgments of Courts should be based on facts, and not on coercing indigent defendants into pleas.  Why conditions of confinement ought be humane, for adult felons as well as for juvenile detainees of ICE.  And why there ought to be the possibility of RESTORATION; the possibility of restoring one's good name after a grievous mistake, and a clear pathway toward that end.  And there ought to be an end to laws that PRECLUDE mercy.  While my sympathies are with victims of crimes moreso than with defendants, Scripture does say, "Vengeance is Mine; I will repay!" saith the Lord of Hosts.

I do believe that a person ought to be judged by the whole of their life.  I find much unsavory about Jackson and Sharpton, but they have also, in both of their careers, worked to alleviate suffering and poverty.  But a certain amount of this involved an extending of Olive Branches.  A good example of that is the relationship between Sharpton and NYC Mayor Ed Koch, who once had Sharpton arrested at a noisy demonstration:

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ed-koch-al-sharpton-enemies-admirers-article-1.1253664

One party extended an olive branch to the other, and both of these men embarked on endeavors that, indeed, gave Second Chances to people who had made grievous mistakes at young ages.  Would this have happened if each had spurned the other?  

Donald Trump, sadly, does not readily present himself as the person who is going to be the "bigger man" in a feud.  I do wish he were different in that manner, but he is who he is.  Koch and Sharpton were egomaniacs; that didn't stop them from overcoming their differences and doing constructive work.  Trump, however, has the potential to be of great help to someone like Lebron James in his sincere initiatives, and he probably would like to do so, but Trump isn't keen on helping people who freely rag on him.  He HAS, however, shown some evidence to put aside past issues for pragmatic concerns in the present.

If Lebron James claims to be the bigger man in this (and he well may be that), let him walk that talk out.  Real good MIGHT come of it, and if it doesn't, nothing is lost.  Trump's stubborn to a fault on things like this, but if I woke up every morning and listened to people on the media scream how I'm to blame for Hiroshima, the Kennedy Assasination, and their latest outbreak of hemorrhoids, I'd be defensive as well.  And Trump's wife has actually given him an opening to do so.  This is actually a chance for something good to happen.  Perhaps the reason Don Lemon hasn't gotten much love in all of this is that people realize he's not helpful at all.