LeBron James said he has no plans to argue with Donald Trump ahead of the 2020 presidential elections.
In an interview with The New York Times published on Wednesday, October 21, the Los Angeles Lakers star discussed the president, misinformation, and the power of the Black vote.
Referencing Trump’s recent comments about the Black Lives Matter movement, James said that his focus is getting more and more Black voters to the polls on Election Day.
“I don’t go back and forth with anybody. And I damn sure won’t go back and forth with that guy,” he said.
James added that he’s on a mission to fight political misinformation within the Black community through his voting rights organization, More Than a Vote.
“It’s simple. We believe that Black people, our community, we’ve been pushed away from our civic duty. We’ve been fed misinformation for many years. And I’m in a position where I can educate people and, through More Than a Vote, educate people on how important this movement is, and how important their civic duty is. Not only to empower themselves, but to give back to their community as well.”
Later, the basketball superstar discussed his off-the-court activism and why he won’t endorse a particular candidate this year. James, who campaigned with Hillary Clinton in Ohio in 2016, said his focus this presidential election is combating voter suppression in the Black communities.
As reported by The Inquisitr , Trump recently had harsh words for the athlete, as well as the Black Lives Matter movement. In an interview with Rush Limbaugh earlier this month, the president called the Lakers star a “hater” and a “very nasty” spokesman for the Democratic party.
In the same discussion, Trump said that Black Lives Matter is “terrible” and “such a racist term.” He then called the movement “Marxist” and accused its supporters of creating division within the country.
James has been publicly criticizing Trump for years. In 2018, during a CNN interview with Don Lemon, James said he would never sit down at a table him, as The Inquisitr reported. The Lakers star added that he thought Trump was using sports to divide the country.
Shortly after James’ comments, Trump took to Twitter to respond. In a now-deleted tweet, he questioned the basketball star’s intelligence. In the same tweet, he called Don Lemon the “dumbest man on television,” adding that he made James look smart.
Trump received criticism for the tweet in question, with renowned journalist Dan Rather slamming the president for his “racist” criticism of James and Don Lemon.