Table of Contents
Watch Trump taking a dig at LeBron James
Understanding the situation
Donald Trump, the former president of the United States, spoke at a Save America rally organised in Greenwood, Nebraska on Sunday to support a Republican gubernatorial candidate, Charles Herbster. Trump first mentioned transgender athletes when he asked LeBron James to join his fictitious women’s basketball team.
Trump has previously expressed interest in becoming a basketball coach. Trump stated last year that if he were to coach women’s basketball, he would only recruit transgender athletes. He also mentioned King James at the time, but now he’s asking the Lakers star if he’d ever consider changing his gender.
“I’d love to have you on my basketball team”
On stage at the Nebraska Save America rally, the former president mocked NBA star player LeBron James, asking him to join his imaginary basketball team.
“If I were a basketball coach, I would have five men on my team, I swear to you! Because I wanna win. I’ll get the toughest, tallest, strongest men in history that wanna go in the women’s sphere and I will have the greatest basketball team in the history of the world! -said the former President, invoking laughter from the crowd.
“I’ll say this to LeBron James who I don’t like very much. I’ll say, ‘LeBron, did you ever have thoughts about going woman? Because if you did I’d love to have you on my basketball team,'” Trump said. As soon as Trump mentioned James, the crowd chanted “Boo!”, giving the star player a thumbs down, and erupted into laughter.
An hour into making remarks, the former President revealed the reason he was there – to support Charles Herbster, who has recently found himself amidst a whirlwind of sexual misconduct accusations. Trump claimed that Herbster had been targeted and “badly-maligned” and that he was a good man. “He’s been badly maligned and it’s a shame. That’s why I came out here. It would have been easy for me to say, ‘I’m not gonna come.’ I defend my people when I know they’re good.” -said the former president, who has been accused of sexual misconduct himself several times, all of which he has denied.
On Sunday, Trump claimed that he had met several of Herbster’s friends who defended him before Trump took the stage on Sunday.
Trump’s rally was initially scheduled for Friday, 29th April but was postponed to Sunday, May 1st, due to the threat of severe weather. He emailed a statement around 3pm on Friday announcing the news, which read, “Thank you to all who waited in line for our Save America Rally tonight in Greenwood, Nebraska. Because of severe weather, including the possibility of 60 mph+ wind, hailstorms, and maybe even tornadoes, I will not be coming to Nebraska tonight, but rather, weather permitting, will be there this Sunday night, May 1st.”
