Astros All-Star Alex Bregman rips Donald Trump over LeBron James tweet
Houston Astros infielder Alex Bregman wasn’t interested in sticking to sports on Saturday. The 2018 All-Star Game MVP instead took to Twitter to rip President Donald Trump following the president’s social media attack on NBA star LeBron James.
In a brief yet clear message, Bregman called James an amazing role model for his community work. Bregman also labeled Trump’s tweet “embarrassing” for a person in his position.
LeBron is an amazing role model and has helped so many people. Embarrassing that our Pres. would tweet this… I’ll go back to sticking to sports. Sorry everybody https://t.co/Yy8aniHHHQ
— Alex Bregman (@ABREG_1) August 4, 2018
Bregman is just one of several athletes who have backed James. Many of the most vocal supporters are James’ peers in the NBA.
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The backlash stems from a tweet Trump posted late Friday night after James was interviewed by CNN anchor Don Lemon. The interview mostly covered James’ recent community work, including the opening of the I PROMISE school for at-risk 3rd and 4th-graders in his hometown of Akron, Ohio.
Trump was brought into the conversation too. At one point, LeBron stated that he felt Trump was using sports to divide the country. That was presumably enough to trigger Trump’s Twitter fingers. While the interview was overwhelmingly positive, Trump felt a need to overshadow that while taking digs at James and Lemon.
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 4, 2018
The tweet concluded with an awkward endorsement of Michael Jordan.
On Saturday, Jordan also released a statement supporting James.
NEW: Jordan sides with James over Trump tweet. NBA legend Michael Jordan tells NBC News through a spokesperson: "I support LJ. He’s doing an amazing job for his community.”
— Geoff Bennett (@GeoffRBennett) August 4, 2018
Bregman’s response arguably packed a more powerful punch.
The 24-year-old infielder is one of MLB’s fastest rising stars. He was a major contributor for the Astros World Series championship team last season, and he’s blowing that production out of the water this season. Entering Saturday, he’s hitting .279/.381/.526 with a team-leading 22 homers and 71 RBI.
Bregman is looking like a possible franchise cornerstone for Houston with the potential to become one of the many faces featured by MLB. More importantly though, he’s clearly not afraid to use his voice.
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