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Three UCLA basketball players got themselves in trouble in China for shoplifting. Their stupid actions embarrassed themselves, UCLA, and to some extent America. Many celebrities have come out to scold these basketball players including Whoopi Goldberg. While Donald Trump hasn’t championed this move as much as the right wing, he apparently had the basic expectation of a thank you from LaVar Ball, father of the thieving LiAngelo Ball. Trump did not receive a thank you as LaVar Ball would rather channel his Trump-hatred than acknowledge that the President did what he didn’t have to do for his son. Trump’s used to that but still he fired back letting the world know he didn’t have to pull strings while on his trip to China.
Now that the three basketball players are out of China and saved from years in jail, LaVar Ball, the father of LiAngelo, is unaccepting of what I did for his son and that shoplifting is no big deal. I should have left them in jail!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 19, 2017
Perspectives
LaVar Ball dismisses idea of Donald Trump helping his son
LaVar Ball didn’t have much time for the idea that the President of the United States helped his son, LiAngelo, out of a potentially crippling situation for his basketball career.
“Who?” Ball told ESPN. “What was he over there for? Don’t tell me nothing. Everybody wants to make it seem like he helped me out.”
LiAngelo Ball, Cody Riley and Jalen Hall were all caught shoplifting during UCLA’s trip to China to play a game against Georgia Tech. All three players returned to the States this week and are indefinitely suspended by the program.
“As long as my boy’s back here, I’m fine,” Ball told ESPN. “I’m happy with how things were handled. A lot of people like to say a lot of things that they thought happened over there. Like I told him, ‘They try to make a big deal out of nothing sometimes.’ I’m from L.A. I’ve seen a lot worse things happen than a guy taking some glasses. My son has built up enough character that one bad decision doesn’t define him. Now if you can go back and say when he was 12 years old he was shoplifting and stealing cars and going wild, then that’s a different thing.“Everybody gets stuck on the negativity of some things and they get stuck on them too long. That’s not me. I handle what’s going on and then we go from there.”
Donald Trump’s retort guarantees LaVar Ball exactly what he wants: More attention
Most world leaders would surely have ignored LaVar’s graceless barbs or resisted the temptation to respond to basketball’s biggest loudmouth dad. Trump, of course, played right into LaVar’s hands by doing exactly the opposite. For better or worse, Trump is never one to let an insult roll off his back. The result is the most 2017 feud imaginable, one nobody wanted but perhaps everybody deserved. It pits two polarizing figures and shameless attention seekers who have risen in stature and prominence in similar ways over the past couple years.Some of LaVar’s marketing strategy seems like a pick and roll out of the Trump playbook. He floods the airwaves with outrageous comments sure to generate strong opinions in order to guarantee that he remains at the forefront of the news cycle.
One of LaVar’s most effective tactics has been to increase his own stature by trying to pick a ridiculous fight with someone more famous. He did it by insisting that the Warriors would be better off with his son, Lonzo, at point guard than Stephen Curry. He did it by saying he’d have beaten Michael Jordan one-on-one in his heyday. And he did it by saying his three sons were better set up for basketball success than LeBron James’ because the four-time NBA MVP’s pedigree will tougher to live up to.
Trump may have landed a blow with his tweet Sunday morning, but LaVar is winning this fight.
Reactions
LaVar Ball vs. Donald Trump is the epic clash of the intellectual titans America deserves.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) November 19, 2017
First LaVar Ball picks a fight with Michael Jordan and now President Trump and I'm trying to figure out what demographic group he's trying to sell sneakers to. Meanwhile, his son could have grown old in a Chinese prison. For Real
— Charles V Payne (@cvpayne) November 19, 2017
https://twitter.com/OliMauritania/status/932319361142083584
https://twitter.com/Pink_About_it/status/932315815755616263
Final Thoughts
Trump’s frustration, though immature, is understandable. We are all human. Therefore when we do something that helps someone else out, we have a certain expectation for gratitude. These athlete-students could have spent a long time in a Chinese jail missing out on March Madness and possibly a quality education. All for what, being too arrogant to pay for something? Trump pulled some strings and got them freed. Lavar Ball should be grateful he got his son back when he otherwise could have ended up like Otto Warmbier or as some sort of political piece in a geopolitical Chinese checkers match. This is a rare moment where we can’t blame Trump for his tweets seeing as he’s simply lamenting his frustration.
But I’m disagreeing with the perspective above, Trump has won this fight and argument. As far as fathers go, Trump has managed to expose his children to wealth and fame without them becoming delinquents. In downplaying the seriousness of the situation, LaVar Ball sees little issue in shoplifting, and comes off as having a boys will be boys mentality with the situation. Stealing is wrong. We need to instill in our children a respect for people and their property. And we also should say thank you when someone bails our children out of a mess they created. As we celebrate Thanksgiving, we should acknowledge those who helped us and not belittle their role.
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