Donald Trump refuses to go away, which isn’t surprising. But, when an uninvited guest keeps showing up, at some point, discovering how they manage to get there becomes imperative. The former occupant of the White House discovered that using Black athletes for his benefit is the best vehicle.
It’s time America recognizes that.
On Saturday night, the 20th anniversary of 9/11, Trump will “provide commentary” during a boxing event that will be headlined by Evander Holyfield, as he will take on Vitor Belfort.
Why is the 58-year-old Holyfield fighting?
Probably for the money.
But, the real question is, “Who thought getting Trump to do this was a good idea?”
During the ‘80s and ‘90s, Trump was heavily involved with the sport when it was still at its peak. He would often be seen ringside, as heavyweight battles would frequently take place at one of his casinos. But, that was when he was a sleazy civilian. Now, he’s a former President with an agenda, which includes doing anything and everything that will keep his name in the news since he’s still banned from social media.
In case you forgot, Trump’s entire “political career” was kick-started by the birther movement – which was a lie – that was aimed at questioning the validity of the citizenship of a former high school basketball player and avid golfer. Barack Obama.
And after questioning whether or not a sitting President was a “real American,” he started to take jabs at Obama for playing golf – a sport that most leaders of the free world play to unwind. In 2018, SBNation counted at least 27 tweets in which Trump tweeted about Obama playing too much golf. It was something he regularly brought up during his many rallies to rile up his followers. And don’t think for one second he didn’t know that the idea of a Black man playing a country club sport wouldn’t infuriate his audience. Ironically enough, in 2020 Statista discovered that while Trump was in office, he made at least 285 visits to golf clubs, often at a course he owned, wasting an estimated $142 million of taxpayer’s money. Trump has never been able to accept the fact that Americans could elect and love a Black man with lineage from one of those “sh*thole countries” he hates so much.
Next up was Colin Kaepernick — the kind of Black man that racist white men have always felt inferior to — whose kneeling during the anthem would serve as a wave that Trump would ride into the White House and for the duration of his presidency, as he knew that Kaepernick was a symbol of something that white America hates doing the most – accepting their bigotry, discrimination, and hatred.
While Obama and Kaepernick served as the “uppity nrs” that Trump could use to rile up his base, he was smart enough to realize that at some point, he would need some Black athletes to stand with him. And all he had to do was return to the golf course to find one. Tiger Woods, the “Cablinasian” who hates being Black, was happy to help. Trump honored Woods with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, an award that even Bill Belichick knew to turn down.
This brings us to 2021, where the GOP is “trying” to ostracize itself from Trump and his politics while still attempting to keep his base in the party. And without the services of social media, Trump turned to another Black athlete in a pivotal state – Georgia – to be his mouthpiece.
Enter Herschel Walker.
“He’s a great guy, he’s a patriot and he’s a very loyal person, he’s a very strong person. They love him in Georgia, I tell you,” Trump said of Walker in June, as he backed him in the race for the U.S. Senate in Georgia as a Republicans will try to defeat Sen. Raphael Warnock in 2022 — whose election in 2020 helped turn Georgia blue, leading to the Democratic Party taking control of the senate. Trump and Walker have a long history, going back to when Trump, then the owner of the USFL’s Generals, drafted Walker. This of course was before Trump ran the league into the ground.
It should be no surprise that a man like Trump — who has over 20 allegations of sexual misconduct — is backing someone like Walker, who has a history of accusations of stalking and threatening women. “Over the years, two other women — Walker’s ex-wife and an ex-girlfriend — have also accused him of making threats, telling authorities Walker claimed he would shoot them in the head,” read a recent report from CNN. “Their years-old accounts have resurfaced in recent weeks as Walker, who won national fame as a college football player at the University of Georgia, launched a campaign for the Peach State’s battleground Senate seat. The third woman’s account has not been previously reported.”
On Saturday night – like it or not – Evander Holyfield will become the latest Black athlete that Donald Trump has used as a prop. And what might be a quick money grab for the former heavyweight champ who’s filling in for Oscar De la Hoya – who is battling COVID – at the 11th hour, could also wind up being a black eye on his reputation, or just part of the plan.
Never forget that Holyfield once fought Mitt Romney in a charity event.
Some of you may be wondering why these men keep letting Trump use them. But, at this point, we should be more concerned with who’s next. Because by now, it’s become clear that these have become willful – and terrible – decisions.
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