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On Saturday, LeBron James — the most important athlete in America — denounced the most powerful man in the world on Twitter. James called out president Donald Trump, saying that America “deserves better” than the 45th president after he led the country through another week of chaos.
The tweet came hours after a car slammed into counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, killing at least one person. It also came after Trump chose not to condemn the Nazi/white supremacists the counter/protesters who were hurt or killed were there to counter-protest in the first place, instead saying that “many sides” were responsible for violence at the Unite the Right march. And it came after a week where Trump taunted North Korea with threats of nuclear war.
James’ political leanings are no mystery at this point in his life. He heavily supported Democratic candidates for president in the last three elections, including Hillary Clinton against Trump last November. His politics undoubtedly influenced his belief that America deserves better than Trump in the White House sending out neutral messages of unity without disavowing the hatred of some of his supporters. And he was not the only person in the NBA to condemn Nazis on Saturday.
But James publicly challenging the president like this is unique among athletes because of who LeBron James is. It’s easy to get lost in the minutiae of his celebrity. There’s just so much coverage of everything he does that it’s easy to forget how important a public figure he really is. This offseason, for example, he’s sniped at a current teammate over a trade request. Every Instagram video he’s posted has been analyzed to decipher exactly what he’s trying to say about Kyrie Irving. But his addressing of Trump in this way is much more than that.