Some people love to add gasoline to an already smoldering dumpster fire.
Enter Donald Trump, Jr.
He has repeatedly shown support for the anti-vax movement, co-opting it into the Republican, Trumpism agenda.
He recently urged Republicans to vehemently oppose vaccine passports, calling the measure potentially the “greatest affront” on American freedoms in recent history.
Kyrie just sacrificed more than Kaepernick ever did! https://t.co/bMNryRnIlI
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) October 12, 2021
The former president’s son weighed in on the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination saga currently surrounding Kyrie Irving. The Brooklyn Nets have decided not to let the guard play or practice with the Brooklyn Nets until he is eligible to become a full participant under local COVID-19 vaccination requirements.
As usual, Trump Jr. poked the bear of controversy because, well, that’s what he does.
“Kyrie just sacrificed more than Kaepernick ever did!” He tweeted.
Virtue Signaling Much?
Whoa. Did somebody call for a loaded statement?
Baby Trump has mirrored his father’s famous hubris as a lifestyle. Consequently, he understands how being polarizing keeps him relevant in the news cycle.
However, like his father’s legendarily toxic tenure as the “leader of the free world,” Don Jr.’s agitator stance is as much marketing as it is lunacy.
Kyrie Irving 30 years later waking up from the same nightmare: Candace Owens and Donald Trump Jr. cheering him on at court sidelines… pic.twitter.com/GB9VGEbhke
— Jermaine (@JermaineWatkins) October 13, 2021
With so many unanswered questions about Kyrie Irving’s current vaccination position, Trump Jr. makes a massive leap of assumption. Although the Brooklyn Nets have now suspended Irving for not being compliant with New York City’s vaccine mandate, he has never pledged allegiance to the cult of anti-vaxxers.
However, perception is a reality for many, and the Trump machine is a master of manipulating the narrative.
Apples To Oranges
Comparing Colin Kaepernick’s peaceful protest and exit from the NFL to Irving’s vaccine choice is a horrible analogy.
Additionally, it is a philosophically slippery slope for Trump Jr. to descend upon.
Kaepernick decided to kneel on the field in protest of police brutality inflicted upon Black people in America. Kaepernick’s stance grew to represent the overall injustice stitched into the fabric of America.
Y’all know in the movie Joker where Arthur Fleck finally snaps and goes from just “odd” to dangerous.
That’s what today was for Kyrie Irving.
That man became a hotep and is now a champion among the likes of Donald Trump, Jr and RAFAEL TEDWARD CRUZ!
— Trey Ferguson (@PastorTrey05) October 12, 2021
He decided to stand as the example for justice in the face of opposition, namely Trump Sr., who famously called him and other players “sons of bitches”.
The Trumps were the chief leaders of the Kaepernick smear campaign that steered the on-field protests into support for the armed forces conversation. It distracted people from the injustice at hand and into a distorted sense of patriotism that created more division and actual hysteria.
Remember the Capitol riots, anyone?
The ire the Trumps stoked about a “stolen election” encouraged a group of their disillusioned supporters to storm the Capitol looking for rough “justice.”
Kaepernick is the modern-day Muhammad Ali, who rejected the draft into the Vietnam War. Subsequently, Ali took a ban from boxing for three prime years of his iconic career. Kaepernick is still not on a team from a peaceful protest he initiated in 2016.
Wonder if @CPAC will invite @KyrieIrving to be a featured speaker this year. Would he go before or after Donald Trump Jr?
— eLone (@eLonePB) October 12, 2021
History’s Untenable Cycle
Additionally, most professional Black athletes cite America’s history of using Black people as guinea pigs. From the Tuskegee experiment to J. Marion Sims’ exploitation of Black women to become the “father of modern gynecology,” Black bodies were historically devalued through medicine.
With Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn, the Radical Nets have become the party of Ted Cruz, Donald Trump Jr., and David Duke! pic.twitter.com/wN3kJYwO9Z
— Dolan J. Trump (@Dolan_J_Trump) October 12, 2021
Although Irving’s reasoning for not being vaccinated is not publicly defined, you cannot extract his race from the decision not to be vaccinated; the two are inextricable.
Don Jr. attempts to co-opt the issue with Kyrie Irving as a bow on top. Irving has never shown public support for the Trump family.
Not Your Poster Boy
Irving was the staunchest advocate of not restarting the NBA season in 2020 within the bubble in Orlando. Irving wanted the world to focus on the racial justice movement stemming from the death of George Floyd.
According to reports from The Athletic in June 2020, Irving said, “I don’t support going into Orlando. I’m not with the systematic racism and the bulls–t. Something smells a little fishy.”
https://twitter.com/stoptweetingyoo/status/1447981324351021063?s=20
That is Kyrie Irving. His stances have a meaning for him that makes sense for him and not for a campaign-able moment. However, interlopers are always looking for a rallying cry to agitate from in this current divisive culture of soundbites and Twitter fingers.
Add Don Jr. to that list, and if the financial loss isn’t enough of a reason for Kyrie Irving to get vaccinated, then perhaps opposing the poster boy machinations of Don Jr. will be.
