Thanksgiving: The Quality of Gratitude

So let me see if I’ve got this straight.

 

LiAngelo Ball and a couple of his UCLA Bruins teammates are picked up for shop[lifting in China. Uh oh! Li’l Baller and his buds are off to Chinese jail where’s they’ll have to subsist off moldy bread with only their own urine to drink and maybe get their hands cut off because, well, you know, the Chinese, man! They don’t fuck around, right? 

 

Well, Donald Trump happen to be passin’ through about the same time and reportedly asks President Xi if he could see his way clear to get Li’l Baller and his buds out of Chinese jail. 

 

So American president talks to Chinese president which is followed by American people getting out of Chinese jail. Cause& effect, people! Trump saves the day! YAY!

 

OK, so how much influence if any Trump had on getting LiAngelo Ball and his pals out of China is not quantitatively known. All we know is from Trump’s own self-serving boasting after the fact that he saved these young men from the hell of a Chinese prison.

 

He also immediately wondered if LiAngelo Ball or his friends would bother to thank him. So right off the bat, Li’l Donnie looks like he’ spoiling for a fight.

 

Well, the young men did say thank you to Trump but Li’l Donnie was unimpressed by what he considered insufficient genuflection, I guess. He regarded their thanks as insincere, that LiAngelo Ball and friends werer not properly grateful and maybe he should’ve let them stay in Chinese jail. 

 

Now LiAngelo ‘s dad, LaVar Ball enters the picture. LaVar is brash businessman with limited intellect and limitless bravado. LaVar is also the father of several elite basketball players.  And LaVar ain’t having what Trump is selling. Basically, LaVar ball questions the veracity of Trump’s claims of being instrument in the release of his son and his friends from Chinese jail. LaVar said there were people on the ground in china who were working towards getting these young men released.

 

So Li’l Donnie stamped his foot and threw the following temper tantrum on Twitter:

It wasn't the White House, it wasn't the State Department, it wasn't father LaVar's so-called people on the ground in China that got his son out of a long term prison sentence - IT WAS ME. Too bad! LaVar is just a poor man's version of Don King, but without the hair. Just think, LaVar, you could have spent the next 5 to 10 years during Thanksgiving with your son in China, but no NBA contract to support you. But remember LaVar, shoplifting is NOT a little thing. It's a really big deal, especially in China. Ungrateful fool!

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 22, 2017

Whoa.

Say what?!?!

Really?

Really, dude?

 

There is so much to unpack there but it depresses me to look so closely at Li’l Donnie’s ignorance and immaturity in such a concentrated form.

 

Instead, let’s look at the ignorance and immaturity of Trump’s supporters. 

 

Get a load of this article that posted on Salon.com yesterday.  

 

"The ongoing war of words between LaVar Ball, the simple-minded windbag father of several elite basketball players, and President Donald Trump, the simple-minded windbag leader of the free world, is perhaps the most garbage story of 2017."

 

"Trump supporters, who apparently cannot tell the difference between two black men who have similar first names, have been attacking "Reading Rainbow" and "Star Trek: The Next Generation" star LeVar Burton over the internet in the false belief that he is somehow LaVar Ball."

 

Here are some of the tweets sent Burton's way. 

 

LaVar Burton broke the rules of good manners. He insulted our president and the president of China. He should be ashamed that his son dishonored him by stealing.

— Heather Marie Fraser (@heathermfraser) November 19, 2017

 

@levarburton you sure don’t do much for the black cause with your unlawful ungrateful parenting skills.

— Steven Epps (@Steven_L_Epps) November 20, 2017

 

@levarburton VERY UNGRATEFUL! https://t.co/UNJ4As8t1r

— Kim (@kglass1957) November 21, 2017

 

@levarburton You're a has been actor with a thief for a son and Trump is the president of the United States. Get the picture?

— markconte (@proseman) November 21, 2017

 

'MERICA! Hot damn!

Here’s what leVar Burton had to say about all this: 

 

One of many sleights I am having to endure these days. Thanks! @Lavarbigballer... #bydhttmwfihttps://t.co/uYkoDOV6yZ

— LeVar Burton (@levarburton) November 21, 2017

 

And LeVar’s ST:TNG co-star Brent Spiner added this:

 

If you cared about our President, you’d change your name.

— Brent Spiner (@BrentSpiner) November 21, 2017

 

In case you’re wondering why an American president would get into a petulant slapfight over all this, remembers these points:

 

• Donald Trump Is President Of Only the Parts of the United States That Actually Voted For Him. Believe me, there are millions of ignorant white men and women who are eating up that their guy is slapping down some ungrateful n*****s. And do not doubt for a second that’s how they’re seeing it. Sorry for the oblique reference to the N word but Trump’s base isn’t thinking “people of color” or “African American” or “black”. Nope, these morons are thinking THAT word.
• Li’l Donnie is a petulant, spoiled baby in an old, flabby man suit.
• And we are so well and truly fucked.

But it’s Thanksgiving y’all! Remember all the blessings in your life and be thankful for them! 

And be thankful for LeVar Burton because, well, he seems like such a nice guy.