In the sports sphere, the reception has not been warm to President Donald Trump. Players in the NFL and MLB are kneeling during the national anthem, NBA players are being vocal and even NHL players are throwing in their two cents. By now, everyone knows how frequently the president uses social media. He often sends more than three tweets a day, and recently, Trump’s focus on social media has been directed toward various athletes.
It is tradition for professional sports teams to make a visit to the White House after winning a championship. That’s what the Golden State Warriors were supposed to be doing this year, until Trump rescinded the invitation. The reason being that one of the Warriors’ players, Stephen Curry, decided to vocally reject the invitation. Trump’s response was, as expected, not good.
It’s clear that Curry rejected the invitation as a form of protest. Regardless, it’s still strange that Trump acknowledged him alone. When the New England Patriots visited the White House this year, several players skipped the visit. Trump did not have nearly the same reaction that he did with this case. This is why Curry’s words were so critical. The fact that Trump actually reacted shows that Trump notices.
What’s more important is the timing of this whole fiasco, occurring simultaneously with the crises in Las Vegas and Puerto Rico. The fact that the president spent any time speaking out on this issue instead of shifting his attention to the stupendous loss of life and property shows a serious lack of true leadership skill.
The president did acknowledge the hurricane approaching Puerto Rico on Sept. 19, but did not tweet on the issue until six days later. On Sept. 25, the president did eventually send “comforting” tweets directed toward Puerto Rico, but while simultaneously promising food and water, he spoke on the debt the island country owed to Wall Street.
The debt does exist, yes, but this is not the time to bring that up. Right now, America needs a leader that can assure the government will do everything they can to support them. Trump has massively failed to display empathy to Puerto Rico in the face of great crisis.
Immediately following this, Trump wrote several tweets bashing the NFL for kneeling. There is no telling whether or not the president actually cares about the issues in Puerto Rico, but judging from the volume of his tweets, it would appear that he’s more concerned with fighting with celebrities rather than speaking out on natural disasters.
This is a frightening predicament. It is so difficult to discern whether or not the president is concerned about an issue. Usually with natural disasters and other crises, political leaders make their intentions clear quickly. But it seems like Trump is speaking out on the Puerto Rico issue because he is expected to, not because he wants to.
Never in my life I thought I’d say that the President of the United States is in a war of words with a basketball player. It’s a prime example of Trump’s serious impulsivity and his own insecurities.
This has to be the reason why the president adores Twitter. It’s so easy to speak about what he’s feeling at any given moment. I can almost guarantee that the president has impulsively said something on Twitter that he later regretted. The war of words with Curry is likely an example of this.
I applaud Curry for his protest against visiting the White House. Trump’s response is yet another example of his serious lack of focus and crippling impulsivity. This is a terrible precedent, which has existed since Trump assumed office.
