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Donald Trump has used Twitter to talk about LeBron James for years. Through Twitter advanced search, users can see that the president’s tweets about LeBron go back years. When LeBron was about to win his second NBA Championship with the Miami Heat in May 2013, the president wrote in response to a question, “Do you like LeBron as a player and person?” The president replied, “LeBron is a great player and a great guy!”
Twitter/Donald Trump
James, who has been in the media to discuss a school he is opening for at-risk youths, told CNN’s Don Lemon in an interview that aired on August 3 that he felt Trump was “using sports to divide us.” Trump responded on Twitter saying, “Lebron James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, Don Lemon. He made Lebron look smart, which isn’t easy to do. I like Mike!” In June 2018, President Trump said that he would not be inviting LeBron James, or the Golden State Warriors’ Steph Curry, to the White House, after the NBA Finals.
Twitter/Donald Trump
That statement is at-odds with what Trump has said about LeBron in the past. In July 2013, Trump wrote on Twitter, “Congratulations to @KingJames on winning Athlete of the Year in last night’s @ESPYS. LeBron is also a great guy!”
Twitter/Donald Trump
Trump’s first tweet about LeBron came in 2012, “As one of Miamii’s largest landowners, I am pulling for the @MiamiHEAT in the @NBA finals. Lebron’s time is now! @KingJames.”
Twitter/Donald Trump
In May 2015, Trump wrote on Twitter, “Great shot by @KingJames yesterday. Lebron is a tough competitor who delivers under pressure.”
Trump was also pictured smiling with LeBron’s mother, Gloria, and First Lady Melania Trump, at the 2003 NBA Draft in New York City.
The New York Daily News reported in June 2010, prior to “The Decision,” that Donald Trump had offered to insert LeBron into Manhattan’s high society if King James came to play for the Knicks.
