NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar appeared on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” on Thursday to discuss his on-going feud with GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump, where the all-time NBA leader in points said Trump was the Constitution’s “biggest enemy,” to which Trump replied that Abdul-Jabbar does not “have a clue about life.”
Abdul-Jabbar said Trump attacks journalists to “silence criticism” to “stifle public discourse,” and his style is “attractive,” but as time goes on, he will have to show some “substance.”
Abdul-Jabbar also added that Trump’s candidacy “will not last very long” once he starts to show some substance.
“It bothers me because the First Amendment is such an essential part of the what our democracy is about. And when you attack journalists in order to silence criticism, are you really stifling the public discourse? The fact we can engage in some critical analysis of what someone says and ask them questions, that makes our democracy work. It makes us able to understand what the issues are and where people’s hearts are and what they are going to do as our elected officials. When you try to suppress that, I think you are trying to stifle criticism and avoid being accountable. I didn’t like the tone of what that meant in this political campaign. It’s very important.”
He later continued, “Political campaigns are about style and substance. Mr. Trump’s style is very attractive. The reason he’s able to get all of this attention and have the following that he does is because he says things in a way that inspires people or makes them feel good about the things he’s saying. Pretty soon there’s going to have to be some substance. When we hear what the substance is of what his programs are for his vision of America, I don’t think that his candidacy will last very long beyond that.”
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