Associated Press
After a weekend spent stoking division, President Donald Trump on Monday went after NASCAR’s only Black driver and criticized its decision to ban the Confederate flag at its races and venues.
Exploiting racial tensions, Trump wrongly accused Bubba Wallace of perpetrating “a hoax” after one of his crew members discovered a rope shaped like a noose in a garage stall they had been assigned to. Federal authorities ruled last month that the rope had been hanging there since at least last October and was not a hate crime. Wallace has maintained the rope had been fashioned into a noose.
“Has @BubbaWallace apologized to all of those great NASCAR drivers & officials who came to his aid, stood by his side, & were willing to sacrifice everything for him, only to find out that the whole thing was just another HOAX?” Trump tweeted. “That & Flag decision has caused lowest ratings EVER!”
The tweet came after Trump used a pair of Independence Day speeches to dig deeper into America’s divisions by accusing protesters who have pushed for racial justice of engaging in a “merciless campaign to wipe out our history.” The remarks served as a direct appeal to the Republican president’s political base, including many disaffected white voters, with less than four months to go before Election Day.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended the president’s decision to wade into the Wallace case, saying in an interview on Fox News Channel that, “The president’s merely pointing out that we’ve got to let facts come out before we jump to judgment.”
Wallace, an Alabama native, has taken an active role in the push for racial equality. He has worn a shirt saying “I Can’t Breathe,” raced with a Black Lives Matter paint scheme in Virginia and successfully lobbied for NASCAR’s Confederate flag ban.
or more than 70 years, the flag was a common and complicated sight at NASCAR races. The series first tried to ban the Confederate flag five years ago but did nothing to enforce the order.
While Trump claimed NASCAR’s ratings are down, they are actually up.
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Republished with permission from The Associated Press.
7 comments
Tjb
July 6, 2020 at 11:52 am
Can you Baker Act the President?
S.B. Anthony
July 6, 2020 at 12:11 pm
lmfao, i’m sure he’s outlawed the Baker Act by executive order for exactly that reason.
S.B. Anthony
July 6, 2020 at 12:13 pm
How come everything the fake president doesn’t like is a “hoax?” In
tRumpspeak, “hoax” must mean “fact.”
Sonja Fitch
July 6, 2020 at 3:00 pm
Omg do not let this paranoid delusional racist sexist liar trump come to Jacksonville! Cancel the RNC!
LINDIESUE
July 6, 2020 at 2:58 pm
I personally hate the Confederate flag just as much as the Black Power flag. Neither should be allowed to be flown. It was heartwarming to see the hundreds of Nascar staff/drivers following Bubba in his car in support of him. Actually, this is the way most whites feel today in the U.S.A. Systemic racism no longer exists. It is a weapon used by the left every election period. Bubba, in spite of the fact that the FBI found no hate crime and discovered the garage pull has been hanging there since last Fall, still claimed it was a “noose.” This promotes division. Growing up I’d see these ropes with loops at the end on neighborhood garage doors. A rope with a loop is much easier to use pulling down a heavy garage door. False accusations have been flung for 11.5 years now since the day Obama was inaugurated. There are so many examples. The worst, for me, is knowing how it affects my conservative biracial sons when they are told that they are traitors to their race and that they are not black enough. We’re fed up with being falsely accused and the left/Dems/MSM perpetuate these accusations to cause strife and division.
Ocean Joe
July 6, 2020 at 4:36 pm
Mr. Trump: a carpetbagger wrapped in a confederate flag, overstuffed with bs like a bloated burrito of hate.
jon
July 10, 2020 at 4:03 pm
GOD BLESS DJT! MAGA2020
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